Obesity related problems seemingly affect sleep

Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. This results in poor sleep quality that makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.

Insulin resistance, the progression of liver disease, and living a less-than-active life were all found to be associated with the common breathing disorder, regardless of people's weight, according to reports published in the February issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

According to a study by John Hopkins University a strong tie exists between insulin resistance (the body's inability to metabolize glucose) and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), pauses or other abnormalities in breathing while sleeping.

Study leader Dr. Naresh Punjabi, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in an American Thoracic Society news release, "What our research tells us is that SDB is characterized by multiple physiological deficits that increase the predisposition for type 2 diabetes mellitus."

Another Hopkins study found that obese people with chronic intermittent hypoxia, the lack of oxygen that occurs during obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), showed liver issues in proportion to the severity of the sleep disorder.

According to lead researcher, Dr. Vsevolod Y. Polotsky, of the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center, apotheosizes that severe obesity, per se, acts as a first hit in the progression of liver disease, inducing hepatic steatosis, whereas the presence of the chronic intermittent hypoxemia that often characterizes OSA acts as a second hit.

Enzyme levels and other findings, though, suggest that obesity and sleep apnea are not completely tied to each other, he said, meaning that each condition must be dealt with separately to also address the complications of both.

"Our data suggest that patients with OSA and severe nocturnal hypoxemia should be screened for liver disease, and, conversely, patients with liver disease should be screened for OSA," Polotsky said.

The third study found that excessive sitting or standing during the day causes a fluid shift in the legs during sleep that may have a role in the development of sleep apnea.