Sleep apnea sends your cancer risk skyrocketing
If you’ve ever listened to someone with sleep apnea dozing away, you know it’s downright terrifying.
One moment they’re snoring like a buzz saw – and the next?
Total silence.
There are more than 18 million Americans who suffer from sleep apnea, where you actually stop breathing intermittently during sleep. And we’ve known for years that it can cause memory loss, diabetes, and even depression.
But if you’re still not taking your sleep apnea seriously, Wisconsin researchers are sounding an urgent alarm you need to hear.
They’re warning that sleep apnea could send your cancer risk through the roof.
According to a study out of the University of Wisconsin, if you’re alternating between sawing logs and dead silence, you’re FIVE TIMES more likely to die from cancer than the guy next door who gets a full night’s worth of uninterrupted sleep.
Even when the researchers removed other risk factors like age, sex, weight, smoking and more, the presence of severe apnea still drastically increased chances of dying from cancer.
And, believe it or not, this isn’t terribly surprising. Previous studies have shown that repeated breaks in oxygen supply can actually promote tumor growth in animals.
Now, rolling over on your side might stop the awful noise for a little while…until you end up flat on your back again.
But there’s something you can do while you’re awake that could help keep your apnea in check: lose weight.
Sleep apnea is a disorder commonly associated with obesity. And shifting to a Paleo diet – which is low on carbs and high on natural proteins, fruits, and vegetables – is the best way I know to shed pounds.
If your sleep apnea is a bit more severe, you may need to see a sleep disorder specialist, who’ll probably set you up with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine – a kind of sleeping scuba mask that forces oxygen down your pipes and keeps you breathing regularly throughout the night.
A CPAP machine just may end up saving your life – and your marriage.