Smoking causes lung cancer, but it can also lead to further complications with sleep apnea. With a long list of risk factors, sleep apnea will increase if you smoke. In fact, smoking may even triple your risk of developing sleep apnea. Now that’s proof in itself that you should quit smoking now. Let’s take a closer look at this connection.
What is the connection?
Smoking causes the narrowing of your airway. When this occurs, your risk of sleep apnea increases. This is also the reason why unrelated physical features, such as enlarged tonsils or adenoids, can also lead to an increased risk of sleep apnea. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor to sleep apnea because, over time, smoking can cause the airway to become narrower. As a result, this can lead to an increased risk of airway obstruction while sleeping.
Cigarette smoke is an irritant, which can cause the upper airway to become inflamed. This irritation from smoking can also lead to increased fluid retention in the area. Inflammation and retained fluid combine to narrow the airway, which increases the likelihood of snoring and other sleeping complications.
It’s time to quit smoking
Treating sleep apnea requires several steps, but kicking your smoking habit plays a significantly larger role in improving the treatment process. While smoking might be an extremely tough habit to break, it is not an impossible one.
Reach out to us to learn more about the negative effects of smoking on the body, as well as its impact on sleep apnea.
