Poor sleep can not only make you fat and sick.
A university doctor warns that there is a risk of stroke and heart attack.
Tired, stressed, easily irritable - who does not know that when you have had a bad night's sleep.
Such symptoms are annoying but not dangerous.
But poor sleep can also make you sick and fat.
The sleep doctor Professor Joachim T. Maurer from the University Medicine Mannheim warns of this.
Lack of oxygen due to pauses in breathing while sleeping
Above all, heavy snoring is an alarm signal, because dangerous breathing stops can be behind it.
Those affected do not receive oxygen, and carbon dioxide accumulates in their blood.
Doctors speak of obstructive sleep apnea.
About 936 million people suffer from it worldwide.
"Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder," says sleep physician Maurer.
The tongue blocks the patient's airways and causes breathing pauses.
As a rule, those affected cannot remember it at all the next morning and are sometimes only made aware of the problem by their partners.
Maurer warns that it should not be taken lightly: "Untreated patients have a twice as high risk of stroke and a five times higher risk of
Neurostimulator against breathing pauses
In order to free the patients from their breathing interruptions, experts not only use breathing masks, but also a neurostimulator.
Prof. Maurer uses the so-called Genio system from Nyxoah, the costs are covered by health insurance companies.
These implants, invisible from the outside, are placed under the chin in a minimally invasive manner, where the electrodes stimulate the two branches of the sublingual nerve.
This moves the back of the tongue slightly forward, keeping the airway clear while you sleep.
Sleep disorder: Hormone balance is out of whack
Poor sleep can not damage the heart and brain, but also make you fat.
The medical background: When we sleep, the body releases a hormone called leptin.
It curbs the appetite.
On the other hand, when you are awake, your brain stimulates the production of the messenger substance ghrelin, which in turn makes you hungry.
"If this balance is shifted due to insufficient sleep, this can also lead to weight gain," warns the sleep doctor Maurer.
Lack of sleep weakens the immune system and ages the brain
In addition, the immune system can suffer from a lack of sleep.
Because sleep increases the activity of the natural defense cells against viruses and bacteria.
At the same time, it reduces the amount of stress hormones.
And: Lack of sleep ages the brain.
Neuroscientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich found this out in a study.
“A single night without sleep is enough to set processes of change in the brain in motion.
"It appears older afterwards," reports Professor David Elmenhorst.
However, he also has good news: a subsequent restful sleep reverses the changes in the brain.
You can read more about the scientists' findings here.
