What does arrhythmia mean when you sleep?

Advertisements

Your heart is responsible for providing blood for every living cell in your body. To accomplish this important task, your heart must beat in a controlled way so that it can effectively fill and empty. Arrhythmias, or abnormal rhythms, can interfere with your heart's ability to pump blood and may even endanger your life. Arrhythmia can be caused by a variety of causes, including heart disease, electrolyte abnormalities, metabolic disorders or toxins. Arrhythmia during sleep may be caused by hypoxic oxygen levels caused by sleep-related breathing disorders or exaggerated changes in the normal rhythm associated with sleep.

Sponsored Links

span= "article-image inner caption-class"> Your arrhythmia may be caused by sleep disorder syndrome. (picture: bananastock/bananastock/getty images)

sleep structure

When you change from awake state to sleep state, profound changes will occur in your nervous and cardiovascular system, and further changes will occur when you change from one sleep stage to another. In some sleep stages, your heart rate usually slows down. In other cases, such as REM, or REM, sleep, your heart rate increases. According to researchers at the Institute of Cardiovascular Research, Harvard Medical School, these normal rhythm fluctuations may be amplified in some people with underlying heart or respiratory diseases, or slight electrical abnormalities in the heart, leading to a slow heart rate. Multiple sclerosis, sleep-related atrial fibrillation or other arrhythmias. Sleep-related breathing disorder is a condition used by doctors to describe the disturbance of normal breathing frequency or depth during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (osa) is one of the most common sleep disorders, characterized by intermittent episodes of upper respiratory tract obstruction during sleep. Arrhythmias are common in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), according to a 2010 review in the Chest Medical Yearbook. Male, old age and obesity are the main risk factors of osa. Other sleep disorders that may be associated with arrhythmia include central sleep apnea caused by abnormal central nervous system; obese hypopnea syndrome, characterized by reduced pulmonary motility due to thoracic compression; and upper airway resistance syndrome, caused by reduced airflow through the respiratory tract. < p > < H3 > hypoxia is a common cause of arrhythmia in patients with sleep-disordered breathing syndrome. When your breathing slows down or stops and your blood oxygen level drops, there are physiological events that increase the irritability of your heart and lay the foundation for arrhythmia. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in June 2009 showed that hypoxia, elevated carbon dioxide levels, stimulation of fight or escape reflexes and fluctuations in intrathoracic pressure were potential causes of night arrhythmia in patients with sleep disorders. Things syndrome. Many studies have shown that sleep apnea syndrome, especially obstructive sleep apnea, is associated with higher mortality. Heart failure and hypertension are more common in patients with sleep apnea. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in November 2005 showed that obstructive sleep apnea increases the risk of stroke or death from any cause. Sudden cardiac death during sleep is also more common in patients with sleep-related breathing disorders, and the higher incidence of arrhythmia may be the root cause. Drug-related arrhythmias are the most likely cause of night arrhythmias, but other factors can also change your electrical activity during sleep. According to a review in the 2008 Expert Opinion on Drug Safety, many antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs are associated with arrhythmia and even sudden cardiac death. Tricyclic antidepressants, such as imipramine (tofnin) and nortriptyline (pamilo), are commonly taken before bed to exert their sedative side effects, but these drugs are among the most likely to cause arrhythmia.

Arrhythmias are sometimes found in sleep laboratory evaluations of patients with sleep-disordered breathing syndrome. However, when a person wears a 24-hour cardiac monitor to assess irregular heartbeats or palpitations during the day, night arrhythmias may also be found. In the latter case, further studies in the sleep laboratory may reveal an unexpected sleep-disordered breathing syndrome. Night continuous positive airway pressure (CPap) therapy can often alleviate arrhythmia and many other complications of sleep respiratory disorder syndrome. Your doctor will determine whether your arrhythmia requires additional assessment or treatment.

Advertisements