Most Americans still make New Year’s Resolutions. This is a noble effort. People want to improve themselves and their lives, and take advantage of the occasion to inspire themselves to make the necessary changes.
Unfortunately, most people will abandon their resolutions by mid-January. It’s hard to make big changes in your life. One unknown factor that keeps people from improving is sleep apnea. With perhaps 80% of people with sleep apnea undiagnosed, most people with the condition don’t realize how it is affecting their lives, and potentially keeping them from making the changes they desire in their lives. Here’s how sleep apnea treatment can help people achieve the top seven most common New Year’s Resolutions.
Improving Fitness
Getting more fit is the most common resolution people make. It’s hard to get fit while you have untreated sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea saps your energy all day. It’s hard to find the energy to exercise when you have sleep apnea. In addition, sleep apnea depletes your body’s ability to exercise by diminishing your lung capacity.
Sleep apnea damages your heart, brain, and other organs, leading to numerous health complications that can make it harder to get and stay fit. You might experience conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure that can contribute to poor health and lower your overall fitness.
Plus, it affects your ability to lose weight in numerous ways.
Losing Weight
In addition to getting fit in a general way, people make a more specific resolution to lose weight. Sleep apnea can make this much harder. One of the things your body does during sleep is regulate your metabolism. Sleep apnea disrupts your ability to reach the deep levels of sleep necessary to do this properly. Hormone imbalances caused by sleep apnea can change the way your body uses calories, making it more likely that it will store calories as fat. In addition, it can make you more likely to overeat.
Studies show that when people on a diet get less sleep, they lose 55% less fat than they did when they were getting good sleep. This means that getting your sleep apnea treated will make a big difference in achieving your weight loss goals.
Saving More Money
Of course people want to improve their finances if they can. One of the top goals for people making New Year’s Resolutions is saving more money. We recently talked about how sleep apnea is costing you money right now, perhaps as much as $16,000 a year. If you want to increase your savings, putting that money back into your pocket would be a great start.
Improving Your Diet
Many people also want to improve the foods they eat in the New Year. They want to eat better foods to feel better, in addition to the benefit of losing weight. According to surveys, about two-thirds of people note that a lack of sleep caused them to crave junk food. More controlled studies also show that people are more likely to make unhealthy food choices when they aren’t getting enough sleep.
If you are looking to improve your diet, one good place to start is improving the amount of sleep you’re getting. If you have sleep apnea, it’s hard to get better sleep until you get the condition treated.
Pursuing a Career Ambition
If you feel you’re stuck in your job, you might think the New Year is a good time to finally get some movement. Maybe you’re looking for a new job. Other times, you might be looking to get a promotion so you can make more money and feel more fulfilled in your work.
It’s hard to get a promotion and get a new job when you’re not getting enough sleep. Poor sleep can diminish your energy, make it harder to remember key information, and reduce your ability to think clearly. If you really want to achieve your goals, sleep apnea treatment can be an important first step.
Spending More Time with My Family
With days that are too full, it often seems that we don’t have enough time for our families. That’s why people often resolve to spend more time–and more quality time–with their families.
Getting your sleep apnea treated can really help with this. With sleep apnea, you spend more time in bed, because you’re not getting enough rest no matter how many hours you think you’re sleeping. In the evenings, you have little to no energy left to spend time playing with the kids or talking to your partner. You’re more likely to doze off during TV or movies. You will likely spend a lot of the weekend trying desperately to catch up on sleep.
Treating sleep apnea will give you more time and energy to spend with family.
Taking Up a New Hobby
Another thing sleep apnea does is sap your energy and passion for life. People with sleep apnea often find they’ve lost interest in the hobbies they used to enjoy. If you have sleep apnea, it can be hard to take up a new hobby as well. It’s especially hard to take up hobbies that require quiet concentration, like reading, writing, or detailed crafts. You are more likely to doze off in the process.
With sleep apnea treatment, you will find it easier to stay up and actively work on new hobbies.
Sleep Apnea Treatment in Columbus
If you are finding that sleep apnea is making it hard to live the life you want in the New Year, we can help. Columbus sleep dentist Dr. Mike Firouzian can help you get your sleep apnea diagnosed. He can also help you find an alternative to CPAP if that isn’t working for you.
Please call (614) 683-4640 or use our online contact form today to schedule an appointment at Firouzian Dentistry in Columbus, OH.
