6 myths about sleep disorders

[daelic]

found this article today, and found it interesting, so I thought I would share.

http://www.medopedia.com/sleep-myths

[gasp]

Quote from article: To use an example, a lack of sleep can inhibit the ability of the body to properly manufacture insulin, thereby bringing on diabetes."

Very interesting. I'm going to do a bit more research on this. This would certainly explain apnea and weight gain (excluding other weight gain factors).

[DP]

Quote from article: To use an example, a lack of sleep can inhibit the ability of the body to properly manufacture insulin, thereby bringing on diabetes."

Very interesting. I'm going to do a bit more research on this. This would certainly explain apnea and weight gain (excluding other weight gain factors).

This is indeed true. During Stage IV sleep the body releases what is called insulin like growth hormone. This hormone actually helps the body burn fat. As you know when you have sleep apnea you generally get very little stage IV sleep.

[sharon1965]

gasp said:

Very interesting. I'm going to do a bit more research on this. This would certainly explain apnea and weight gain (excluding other weight gain factors).

if you google weight gain and sleep apnea you will find articles explaining the imbalance in the hormones ghrelin and leptin, one of which tells your brain you're full and the other which tells you to store fat...the ghrelin begins to undersecrete and the leptin oversecretes, causing you to eat more and store more...there are some interesting articles on the website http://www.about.com under health/sleep

considering all that goes wrong with the body with osa, i feel like i never had a chance!

[gasp]

Quote from article: To use an example, a lack of sleep can inhibit the ability of the body to properly manufacture insulin, thereby bringing on diabetes."

Very interesting. I'm going to do a bit more research on this. This would certainly explain apnea and weight gain (excluding other weight gain factors).

This is indeed true. During Stage IV sleep the body releases what is called insulin like growth hormone. This hormone actually helps the body burn fat. As you know when you have sleep apnea you generally get very little stage IV sleep.

No wonder I've gained weight. I saw a thread regarding weight - think I'll take a closer look and see if others have had a similar experience. I keep thinking my slow weight gain was the result of less exercise since I've become a slug - always tired.

[arthuranxious]

Some of this stuff might be true for one person and not for another, I am hopeful that CPAP will do some good for me when I get my next set of blood tests

[sharon1965]

No wonder I've gained weight. I saw a thread regarding weight - think I'll take a closer look and see if others have had a similar experience. I keep thinking my slow weight gain was the result of less exercise since I've become a slug - always tired.

gasp

sadly, i gained 40 lbs in six months without making any changes in my diet, -which is very healthy since my hubby does all the cooking and shopping-living a very active lifestyle, including walking my 90lb dog 4x/week, rollerblading, swimming, playing baseball and working at a job that keeps me running all day...i suddenly started gaining 2 lbs/week, feeling weak and sluggish and sleeping round the clock...i haven't gained beyone the original 40, but i'm still very depressed about the weight gain, as i'm really short and every pound shows like 5! i'm hoping i can get back to being active and feeling good, although i was gaining the weight while i was still able to be active, so who knows what's in store for me...

it's amazing how many things are affected by sleep apnea!

sharon1965

[bgalb]

All of the six except the first seem to be obvious based on an intelligent observation of life around us. The first is not obvious to me. The Pancreas is the organ that produces all of the insulin that the body uses. How it is affected by poor sleep is uncertain to me without seeing some proofs.

All of these so-called myths are presented without any references to scientific studies to support the conclusions. This is the kind of stuff that is rampant on the internet. I refuse to accept anything presented as fact on the internet as truth unless there is authoritative supporting evidence presented.

Be extremely wary of unsupported declarations of fact on the www.
(including this post)

[gasp]

No wonder I've gained weight. I saw a thread regarding weight - think I'll take a closer look and see if others have had a similar experience. I keep thinking my slow weight gain was the result of less exercise since I've become a slug - always tired.

gasp

sadly, i gained 40 lbs in six months without making any changes in my diet, -which is very healthy since my hubby does all the cooking and shopping-living a very active lifestyle, including walking my 90lb dog 4x/week, rollerblading, swimming, playing baseball and working at a job that keeps me running all day...i suddenly started gaining 2 lbs/week, feeling weak and sluggish and sleeping round the clock...i haven't gained beyone the original 40, but i'm still very depressed about the weight gain, as i'm really short and every pound shows like 5! i'm hoping i can get back to being active and feeling good, although i was gaining the weight while i was still able to be active, so who knows what's in store for me...

it's amazing how many things are affected by sleep apnea!

sharon1965

Maybe if the stars align just right maybe I'll lose weight when I get on the machine. Did you experience weight loss when you went on the machine?

[Janine]

Yeah, I would be careful about this, especially around the insulin.

To say: "To use an example, a lack of sleep can inhibit the ability of the body to properly manufacture insulin, thereby bringing on diabetes." is rather vague. How? Says who? Diabetes is very complex, the role of insulin in the body is very complex. My first clue to poor scholarship around diabetes is not specifying WHICH type. It makes a difference.

I have has insulin dependent diabetes for almost 30 years, and while I know there have been lots of discoveries surrounding insulin resistance, I would need to see studies that are peer reviewed and replicatable.

I would LOVE there to be a link between treating sleep apnea and losing weight (please please please) but some evidence and references would be good.

[sharon1965]

Maybe if the stars align just right maybe I'll lose weight when I get on the machine. Did you experience weight loss when you went on the machine?

gasp,
i'm still so new to this i can't really comment, considering that after 3 months of struggling i had that nasal surgery and have been off cpap for 1 month, plus i don't have the capability to monitor my therapy, so i don't feel qualified to comment...i did drop 10lbs in the 2 weeks following surgery, as i couldn't smell or taste anything and had to force myself to eat...i have kept that off so far, so who knows? the friend who caused me to realize i needed to be checked for osa lost 25 lbs in his first year on cpap, but then again, he's a man, and my experience has been that men think about losing weight and 10 lbs fall on the floor, so again, not really representative...my sleep doctor did tell me about the leptin/grehlin imbalance, which made sense to me, because at the time i was gaining, i was in awe of the fact that no matter what i ate and did, i was putting on weight...i think, though, that taking it off will be the same old same old...reduced calories and exercise
take care
sharon1965