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Health knowledge made personal
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Health knowledge made personal
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I just posted an article on sleep-breathing problems during pregnancy and pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. (That's not my wife in the picture.)
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Sleep Apnea Can Lead to Diabetes and High Blood Pressure
Posted by Nirmala N.
According to researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, sleep apnea, a nighttime breathing disorder that disrupts sleep patterns, can result in an increased risk of diabetes and high blood pressure among pregnant women. The decrease in oxygen that occurs in the body at night can heighten the body's "fight or flight" response, which can lead to increased blood pressure. Also, hormones like cortisol are released, which leads to more glucose production and a decreased sensitivity to insulin, which can then lead to diabetes. Pregnancy during the third trimester, when weight gain is the highest, can particularly be taxing and affect sleep apnea. Also, if a mother's oxygen level drops, it can affect the oxygen level of the fetus. Solutions for this include continuous positive airway pressure, which sends air through a mask while the mother is sleeping.