How many times do you go to the bathroom, at night, to pee? If it's more
than one, this may be a big deal. Nocturia, ("Noct-" meaning night, and "urea"
meaning urination) In fact, it's (believe it or not) a
significant issue for your health and we're going to talk about that too in
this video. This is from the Sleep Apnea Organization, American Sleep Apnea
Association (ASAA) I'll put a link under the video, but this is an interesting
article regarding this issue. Night time urination is so prevalent in
sleep apnea patients, it's becoming - become a screening tool. In fact, one of
the top screening tools for it. One study showed that over 84% of
patients with sleep apnea reported frequent nighttime urination; 82% of
those acknowledged snoring; How many bathroom trips do you make per night? If
it's more - 1 is normal but if it's more than that, more than twice, you
really need to start thinking about this. I have sleep disorder breathing or sleep
apnea and - and and it is obstructive and I've - I don't think I've ever gone six
times per night but I tend to go three or four. Now people assume that this
disruption of sleep and having a small bladder is what causes the trip to the
bathroom. In fact, most of these - these people that are presenting with this
usually end up going to the gynecologist (if it's a woman) or to the urologist (if
it's a man) and it oft- and if the - they may find something else going on and it goes
down that path. Now, sleep researchers know that nocturia is a sign of sleep
apnea because of underlying mechanisms linking the two. Nocturia can be defined
as awakening from sleep to voluntary urinate and that's different from
urinating during your sleep which would be enuresis. Again, a little bit
different term and a different issue. How does sleep apnea cause nocturia? Well, it -
during these episodes of sleep apnea, the soft structures in the throat relax. They
close off the airway that sets into motion a chain of physiological events,
the oxygen decreases, carbon dioxide increases, the blood becomes more acidic,
heart rate drops, blood vessels in the lung constrict, the body's alerted that
there's something wrong. The sleeper has to wake up enough to reopen the airway.
By this time, you're starting to get the harsh heart racing. There's
catecholamines, adrenaline. Catecholamines are the adrenaline fight-or-flight type
of hormones. Those part of the hormones. Some of the hormones that are excreted
or cause the body to urinate more. So you
actually do get a diuresis. Diuresis means a physiologic increase in
urination. You get a diuresis from these hormones. Now, the good news is that
people with nocturia - once they get treated and get on CPAP or
a device, start having a much better experience including decreased trips to
the bathroom. So if you're going to the bathroom a lot, you get this checked out,
Now, skeptical about that impact of hormone release? Well, let's just look at
that for a second. This is a pic associated just with the impact of good
sleep on hormones. They help influence your - good sleep helps influence
hunger hormones; it decreases it; it affects the hormone that affects fat
storage. Youth - Juventud (J-U or Juventud) that's a word that you see Valter Longo
use a lot in his aging research. What we're trying -
what they're trying to do is improve and prolong the episodes of our lives or the
stage of our life when we are youthful, instead of trying to fight one old AIDS
disease at a time. Sleep impacts stress hormones. So, again, that's all about sleep.
That's - that's not about actual sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is different and it
has a significant worse effect, as we mentioned. You get decreased
parasympathetic activity. Parasympathetic is the opposite of sympathetic. It helps
you slow down, sleep, and relax; you get increased our heart rate; you get arousal;
Sympathetic - increased sympathetic activity, again, the fight-or-flight
principles, The catecholamines that I mentioned before include increased blood
pressure, reduced arterial oxygen, increased arterial carbon dioxide, high
blood pressure, atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia, left ventricular
hypertrophy, left ventricular dysfunction - meaning significant remodeling and
impact of these - this issue, chronically, on the major pump function of the heart.
Cardiac arrhythmias, like atrial fib, oxidative stress, inflammation, and
endothelial dysfunction. You ever heard of anything like that on this channel? So,
again, you got cute pictures - most people don't think it's a big deal,
think again. Thank you very much for your interest.