Negative Psychological and Physical Effects of Chronic Sleep Apnea

Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 7:38 AM

Long term chronic illness like sleep apnea can affect a person’s mental health as well as physical health.

Chronic illness is long term, and may never go away; sometime there is no perceivable cause for the illness. Conversely, a person with a chronic illness never regains a baseline of normal functioning.
Acute illness is what we experience when we do something like catch a cold or have bronchitis.

Sleep apnea is one of the most Common chronic illnesses aprt from arthritis, auto-immune disorders (Hashimoto’s Disease, Graves Disease), asthma, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, and severe joint and back problems.

Such types of chronic illnesses can be extremely detrimental to an individual’s mental health. The experience of feeling constant pain and/or experiencing fatigue, exhaustion, and lifestyle limitations can be demoralizing and isolating to the individual suffering.

It is common for patients to develop depressive symptoms and begin to view themselves as less fully human and whole than they did before the pain or illness occurred. This happens because they are often unable to complete meaningful work or home-related tasks and engage in social interactions as they once did.