Snoring is also known as obstructive sleep apnea hypoventilation syndrome. The harm of snoring to human body has been gradually recognized, high blood pressure and is also a very common disease. In our clinical work, we found that many snorers have high blood pressure, and their blood pressure remains high after taking various antihypertensive drugs for treatment.
Is snoring related to high blood pressure? Yes, the relationship between snoring and hypertension is very close!
The close relationship between snoring and hypertension is also gradually recognized. According to the literature, more than 50% of snoring patients have hypertension, and 30% of primary hypertension patients have chronic obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. These patients have also have the following characteristics.
(1) a predominance of men aged 40 years or older, most of whom have bad habits such as smoking and alcohol consumption.
(2) Taking multiple antihypertensive drugs with poor results.
(3) Most had physical signs such as obesity, thick and short neck, and some had small jaw deformities.
(4) Low basal oxygen saturation and nocturnal hypoxemia with long duration.
(5) Significantly higher blood pressure in the morning, and more pronounced elevated low pressure.
(6) Most of the symptoms are accompanied by morning sleepiness, fatigue and headache.
Causes of high blood pressure disease caused by snoring
The most important manifestation of snoring patients is apnea during sleep, and the gas cannot enter the lungs after the pause occurs, resulting in lack of oxygen and carbon dioxide retention in the body, endocrine dysfunction and hemodynamic changes. As we all know, people can’t leave oxygen for a moment, and all organs of the body need to get a good rest during sleep, but the total time of broken breath-holding in many patients’ sleep can be up to several hours, so all organs can’t get sufficient oxygen supply.
(1) Recurrent hypoxemia and hypercapnia activate chemoreceptors and sympathetic nerves, resulting in increased release of catecholamines, and remodeling and hypertrophy of vascular smooth muscle under the effect of chronic catecholamines.
(2) Recurrent hypoxia and carbon dioxide retention, which can cause pulmonary hypertension and right heart insufficiency.
(3) Hypoxia of the central nervous system can cause sympathetic excitation, release of adrenaline and other blood pressure-raising substances, and peripheral vasoconstriction, which can increase blood pressure.
(4) Low oxygen stimulates the central nervous system to make the patient suffocate and then return to normal, and so repeatedly suffocate and wake up, which happens more than dozens of times a night, resulting in low quality of sleep and lack of rest for the organism, which can cause blood pressure to rise.
How to release the close relationship between snoring and hypertension
In view of the close relationship between snoring and hypertension, we should fully analyze the relationship between snoring and hypertension in the treatment of snoring and hypertension, consider the whole picture and treat them comprehensively. In the pharmacological treatment of hypertension, for patients who are over 40 years old, have a history of snoring, bad habits such as smoking and drinking, and have physical features such as obesity, thick and short neck, congenital small jaw deformity, polysomnography should be performed to diagnose whether there is a combination of sleep apnea syndrome and treat accordingly.
First try to remove obstructive factors in the upper airway, and perform nasal and pharyngeal surgery if necessary.
Overweight people should control diet and increase physical activity.
Given that supine sleep can aggravate snoring, it is better for patients to sleep on their sides.
Transnasal positive pressure ventilator treatment can significantly improve the mid-sleep pause and increase the blood oxygen saturation