Significant Effects Of Sleep Apnea

Dry Mouth And Sore Throat

Another annoyance brought on by sleep apnea is the common dry mouth, from the irregular and open-mouthed breathing patterns the lack of oxygen causes individuals during the night, and the sore throat from the coughing and gasping to clear their airway at night. Besides the uncomfortable feeling these symptoms can bring, dry mouth can also lead to bad breath and accelerated tooth decay as many types of mouth bacteria thrive in the mouth when saliva is not present in large enough quantities to inhibit their growth and wash them away. Tooth decay from sleep apnea may not be an obvious connection, but it is definitely a reason to not ignore the other signs of sleep apnea.

Irritability And Headache

Much like fatigue, another common and unpleasant symptom of sleep apnea is a headache, typically due to the tiredness. These headaches are usually strongest in the morning but can easily persist all day. As many may know or have experienced, headaches can dampen anyone's day, and persistent day or week-long headaches can greatly impact an affected individual's level of happiness.

Patients with sleep apnea also tend to be irritable due to their disturbed sleep cycles. Most of us know how cranky we can be, as well as others, when we are tired or lack sleep. The interruptions in sleep due to sleep apnea can easily add up, resulting in a near-constant state of irritability, as if the affected individual were only getting a few hours of sleep each night, for weeks at a time.