Does Sleep Apnea Make Unwanted Thoughts More Frequent?

Sometimes, it’s really hard to prevent intrusive thoughts from keeping you awake at night. One thing can lead to another, and before you know it, the gears in your mind have been spinning for hours. It turns out that if you have obstructive sleep apnea, those unwanted thoughts can become even more frequent. Why is that? And what can you do about it?

The relationship between poor sleep quality and negative reflections is complicated. Fortunately, though, your sleep dentist can help by creating a sleep apnea treatment plan that addresses your unique needs. As your sleep quality improves, you’ll notice that it’s a lot easier to push negative images and words out of your mind!

How Obstructive Sleep Apnea Disturbs Your Sleep

If you have obstructive sleep apnea, overrelaxed oral tissue and jaw misalignment block your airway when you lay down for sleep, to the point where you stop breathing for just a couple of seconds. Because you’re not getting enough oxygen, your brain panics and jolts you awake. Now, you might not always wake up fully, but you will be pulled out of the deeper stages of sleep. Either way, your sleep cycle is disrupted, and your body doesn’t get the chance to rest the way it needs to.

The Link Between Poor Sleep and Unwanted Thoughts

Proper sleep is really important for regulating your body’s natural processes, like blood pressure, heart rate, healing, and hormone function. That last one is what makes it harder to suppress unwanted thoughts. As your hormones become unbalanced, your body can’t manage stress and anxiety very well, and in severe cases, this can even trigger a chronic fight-or-flight response.

Basically, when your body and nervous system are in “panic-mode,” it’s very difficult to think clearly and process emotions. This creates an unfortunate feedback loop where you ruminate and catastrophize, which makes it harder to sleep, which makes it harder to manage your thoughts, and so on and so forth.

Promote Your Mental Health with Better Sleep Quality

Make no mistake, anxiety, stress, and intrusive thoughts can be caused by a complicated web of problems. However, treating your sleep apnea symptoms and getting better quality sleep can promote your mental health by giving you the space you need to rest your body and mind.

The first step to managing your condition is getting an official diagnosis. From there, a qualified sleep dentist can help you find the solution that works best for you – whether that means CPAP, oral appliance therapy, or a combination of both. It’s also a good idea to consider talking with a mental health professional about your stress so they can suggest effective coping mechanisms. With professional guidance, you can clear your mind and enjoy sound, peaceful sleep!

About the Author

As someone who also struggles with sleep apnea, Dr. Jonathan Held knows firsthand how much of a difference treating this condition can have on your life. He takes each patients’ symptoms very seriously, and spends time getting to know them and their situation so he can provide quality, personalized sleep solutions in Prescott Valley. If unwanted thoughts and sleep apnea episodes are keeping you up at night, you can contact Dr. Held’s office in Sedona at 928-227-3024 or reach the Flagstaff location by calling 928-227-4029.