Sleep apnoea has been associated with increased cancer mortality in a new study.
Over 5,600 patients from seven different sleep clinics in Spain were analysed to investigate whether the disruptive sleep condition, causing sufferers to stop breathing for short periods, could signal wider health concerns.
People who spent more than 14% of their sleep time with low levels of oxygen saturation caused airway blockage, had approximately double the relative risk of death due to cancer, than people without the condition.
The results showed that this association was even higher in men and younger people.
Have you come across these strange sleep conditions?
7 Sleep Conditions
Sleep Paralysis(01 of07)
Open Image ModalREM Sleep Behavior Disorder (02 of07)
Open Image ModalSleep Walking And Talking (03 of07)
Open Image ModalSimilarly to sleep paralysis, sleep-walking and sleep-talking occur when part of the brain is awake but the rest of it is asleep, Gehrman said. "With sleep-walking, people are mostly asleep but you're engaging in what are usually kind of basic routine behaviors," Gehrman said. "So typically, people sleep walk and go to the bathroom, or go down to the kitchen and get something to eat, but it's all usually very routine." Because sleep-walking and sleep-talking occur in non-REM sleep, since non-REM sleep only produces bland, boring dreams, whatever the person is saying or acting out is not related to what they may actually be dreaming about, he said. However, Gehrman said that there is not yet a clear answer as to why we say or act out the things we do when we are sleep-walking or sleep-talking.Sleep-walking isn't inherently dangerous, but if a child is prone to sleepwalking, Honaker recommends that parents take safety precautions by locking windows, putting safety latches on doors, etc., so that sleep-walking children don't accidentally hurt themselves. (credit:alamy)
Bedwetting(04 of07)
Open Image ModalBedwetting, also known as enuresis, is defined as involuntary urination by a child who is older than age 5 or 6 (either in the day or night), according to the A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia. Sarah Morsbach Honaker Ph.D., a pediatric sleep psychologist at the University of Louisville, told HuffPost that bedwetting is very common in children, and that most kids outgrow it as they get older, many times without any intervention.Honaker said a possible cause for bedwetting is maturational delay, meaning a child's body hasn't yet matured to maintain bladder control throughout the night."You wouldn't expect a 2-year-old to be dry throughout the night," Honaker told HuffPost. "For some kids, this ability matures later than others." In addition, some kids may just have a lower arousal threshold, meaning that it takes more to rouse them from sleep if their bladder is full, she said. "Because enuresis is outgrown, there's a tendency in some cases for healthcare providers to make the decision not to treat it," Honaker said. "However, there has been research to suggest it impacts self esteem and can have social consequences." Because of that, she suggests that kids whose lives are strongly impacted by bedwetting to consider an intervention like a bedwetting alarm, which senses moisture and goes off so the child wakes up to go to the bathroom. (credit:alamy)
Night Terrors (05 of07)
Open Image ModalNight terrors, also known as sleep terrors, occur more often in children, who tend to outgrow them by adolescence, Honaker said. She also clarified that they are not the same thing as nightmares. "When a child has a sleep terror, they're asleep, so typically what will happen is they will be inconsolable, seem very upset, crying, screaming, and don't even seem to recognize the parent when the parent comes into contact with them," Honaker said.Sleep terrors can go on from 2 minutes to 20 minutes or longer, and they can be very scary for parents, she said, but parents should rest assured that sleep terrors are not at all harmful for the children."They're asleep, so there's no lost sleep, and we don't see them feeling fatigue the next day," she said. "There's typically no recall, and that's a hallmark with a sleep terror." Honaker said that anywhere from 1 to 6 percent of children will experience a sleep terror, with the typical age of onset being between 4 and 12 years old. For parents, the best thing to do is not wake the child up -- "it can actually make the episode worse because the child doesn't see them as a parent," she said. (credit:alamy)
Teeth Grinding(06 of07)
Open Image ModalExploding Head Syndrome(07 of07)
Open Image ModalObstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a condition that causes interrupted breathing during sleep, according to NHS Choices, and leads to low levels of oxygen in the blood (less than 90%).
People with sleep apnoea can be treated using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine that generates a stream of air to keep the upper airways open during sleep.
In the study, patients who were not using this device consistently had an increased relative risk of death from cancer.
Study author Dr Miguel Angel Martinez-Garcia from La Fe University Hospital in Valencia, Spain, said in a statement: "We found a significant increase in the relative risk of dying from cancer in people with sleep apnoea.
"This adds to evidence that found for the first time a link between cancer and sleep apnoea mortality. Our research has only found an association between these disorders but this does not mean that sleep apnoea causes cancer.
"We hope the findings of our studies will encourage people to get their sleep apnoea diagnosed and treated early to help maintain a good quality of life."
The research was presented at the European Respiratory Society's (ERS) Annual Congress in Vienna.