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Can sleep apnea extend one’s life?

Written by: David Castillo on March 22nd, 2010

Can sleep apnea extend one’s life? | read this item

Challenging today’s conventional wisdom, two leading sleep researchers say that moderate sleep apnea can actually extend the life of older people. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder wherein an individual experiences pauses in breathing during sleep.

Around 20 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, and most cases are undiagnosed. It is linked to cardiovascular complications, stroke, high-blood pressure, and drowsy driving.

In their study, Professor Peretz Lavie and his wife Dr. Lena Lavie examined more than 600 senior citizens in a span of five years.

Lavie said that the new research showed elderly patients with moderate sleep apnea had a lower mortality rate compared to the general population.

The researchers say that elderly people with sleep apnea get blood from a larger number of arteries. And this protects them from heart attacks, wrote Lavie.

Aside from that, these patients also produced higher levels of a protein called VEGF in their blood.

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