Some people experience Sleep Apnea. But does it actually affect one's bladder? Find out as Dr. Malik reveals the facts you should ...

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Is Sleep Apnea Actually Dangerous to the Bladder?! Urologist Reveals!

do you snore really loudly at night and are you also waking up multiple times to urinate well guess what they might be more related than you ever thought I'm Dr Rena Malek urologist and pelvic surgeon and today we're going to talk about how a condition called obstructive sleep apnea can impact your bladder function at the end I'm going to let you know what you can do to help yourself stop waking up at night so you can improve your ability to get some well-deserved rest also I have some interesting personal news which I'll be sharing also at the end of the video if you're interested stick around to find out to start off let's go over what obstructive sleep apnea is sleep apnea is essentially a sleep disorder where a person experiences pauses in breathing or shallow breaths during sleep now these events usually last for at least 10 seconds between breaths and actually reduce the amount of breath you're taking in these are often followed by brief Awakenings that last at least three seconds now these interruptions can happen multiple times throughout the night and can really disrupt your normal sleep cycle you might actually have sleep apnea if you've been told you snore loudly or you feel exhausted all day long or sometimes you'll even wake up with headaches in the morning also if you have kind of generally a very large neck circumference that's a sign that you very likely have sleep apnea now sleep apnea is the most common breathing related sleep disorder and it affects approximately 15 to 30 percent of men and 10 to 15 percent of women in North America now this is a serious condition because it's a risk factor for a lot of really serious problems like high blood pressure heart disease stroke and Studies have even shown a three times higher risk of death associated with having sleep apnea so if you have these symptoms but you don't have any urinary issues I still encourage you to see your doctor to get a sleep study and get treated if you are suffering with sleep apnea now Studies have shown that sleep apnea can also have an impact on bladder function particularly waking up at night to urinate frequently now one of the prevailing theories as to why this happens is that when there is a blockage or obstruction in the Airways during sleep it creates a negative pressure in the chest and it makes the body work harder to breathe so now the body's working harder and it sends a signal to the heart that there's too much fluid in the body in response the body says hey I'm going to release some different signals called atrial naturitic peptide and it also inhibits the secretion of antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone which can lead to increased urine production and ultimately the need to wake up more often at night to empty your bladder so the disease State itself also causes reduced oxygenation throughout the night because you're not breathing for a certain period throughout the night and this can actually prevent reabsorption of sodium in the kidney I mean there's more sodium in the urine which cause causes more water to be drawn into the urine making more urine volume now waking up at night to urinate might just seem like a huge bother but in reality it's a serious problem that's because we know that particularly in older patients who wake up two or more times at night there is a significantly higher risk of Falls and hip fractures and that is not a small issue I've seen so many patients in the hospital after a fall and they're there for long periods of time and it takes them a long time to recover so even though the nighttime urination is a problem there's also been some small studies that suggest particularly with severe sleep apnea they can also affect daytime symptoms meaning that you'll have more urgency more urgency incontinence and more frequency meaning you're going to the bathroom more often and you're getting this urge to go that you can't delay now here's the kicker treating your obstructive sleep apnea with a CPAP machine or a machine you wear at night that helps reduce the those episodes were used to reduce your breathing can significantly improve your urinary symptoms and it does this by decreasing the amount of urine production overnight and that makes sense because the hormonal changes that would normally cause you to make more urine are getting reversed allowing your body to concentrate urine better overnight and then reduce the amount you're making and wake up less so if you've got symptoms of sleep apnea and you're waking up at night to urinate don't wait go see your doctor right away get evaluated because not only might you improve your quality of life in terms of sleeping at night with better sleep but you might also improve your overall health so you're at a lower risk of things like heart disease and high blood pressure so I promise you guys an update this is actually the last video you're going to see of me in this background because I am moving to Southern California where I will be seeing patients in my own practice as well as at the veterans hospital so I know many of you often ask to see me or ask questions I will be also offering educational visits and I will be seeing patients virtually as well as in person I will be starting off virtually and I'll be seeing patients from Maryland New York Texas California Virginia and New Jersey and maybe Illinois we're still waiting on that one so if you want to see me feel free to schedule an appointment and I look forward to meeting you if you enjoyed this video you might also enjoy my video on how stroke affects your bladder and as always if you've liked my content please be sure to subscribe and share this Channel with your friends and as always remember to take care of yourself because you're worth it

Dr.

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