There are many known carcinogens, cancer-causing agents or factors in our environment that damage the DNA in our body cells, transforming normal cells and tissues in our organs to grow uncontrollably and explosively, resulting in cancer which usually kills the patient.
Among these carcinogens are (1) Lifestyle factors–diet, tobacco, alcohol, sedentary life; (2) Naturally occurring agents (ultraviolet rays of the sun, infectious agents, radon gas, etc.; (3) Medical treatment, with radiation, drugs for chemotherapy, hormones, and others which weakens the immune system; (4) Pollution, air, water, land, noise; (5) Household cleaning chemicals, etc; (6) Workplace hazards (asbestos and dozens of toxic chemicals); and (7) Other cancer risks.
The last one on the list includes a surprising discovery: that sleep deprivation, lack of a restful sleep, is a carcinogenic factor, which increases the risk for cancer development, noted especially among those with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).
Sleep apnea is a condition where individuals, especially those who snore, have throat muscles that become limp allowing the tongue to fall backwards and block the airway. As a result, they hold their breathe, stop breathing, several times a minute, hundreds of times during their sleep. This breath-holding (called apnea) deprives them of normal level of oxygen (hypoxemia) and the severely insufficient oxygen level, night after night, triggers changes in the body’s homeostasis (akin to the Yin and Yang internal balance in the body to maintain health), that increase the risk for the development of cancer.
It is not surprising that lack of a good sleep is toxic to our body.
Sleep apnea and cancer link
Close to 30 million Americans have been diagnosed to have some type of sleep apnea and countless others remain undiagnosed. This is a grave concern because of the adverse effects of hypoxemia and OSA is often associated with obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular illnesses. Not to mention chronic tiredness, lack of concentration, higher risk of driving accidents, loss of productivity, stress as side-effects of sleep apnea or insufficient sleep from any cause.
There are two studies which revealed that individuals with sleep apnea, which leads snoring, throat muscle fatigue, and unsafe breath-holding during sleep, have an increased risk of cancer. This scientific investigation targets for the first time the relationship of sleep apnea and cancer in humans.
Dr. Joseph Golish, a professor of sleep medicine with the Metro Health System in Cleveland who was not involved in the research, says, “This is really big news…it’s the first time this has been shown, and it looks like a very solid association.”
This former chief of sleep medicine at the Cleveland Clinic stated that “the cancer link may not prove to be as strong as the well-documented relationship between sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease, but until disproven, it would be one more reason to get your apnea treated or to get it diagnosed if you think you might have it.”
Provocative and scary findings
The study conducted among on 5,200 patients at sleep clinics at La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital in Spain “found that those with the most severe forms of sleep apnea (oxygen level falling ‘below 90 percent for up to 12 percent of the total time they were asleep’) had a 68 percent greater risk of developing cancer of any kind,” compared to persons whose oxygen level did not plummet.
There is a linear correlation: the longer the time of oxygen deprivation, the higher the risk for cancer development.
A separate study among 1,500 government employees in Wisconsin “showed that those with the most breathing abnormalities at night had five times the rate of dying from cancer as people without the sleep disorder.”
In these studies, which were recently presented at the international conference sponsored by the American Thoracic Society, the researchers had adjusted the usual risks factors (age, tobacco, alcohol, sedentary life, obesity) and other variables, and yet “the association between cancer and disordered breathing at night remained,” suggesting the relationship could really be significant.
Researchers are aware that there could be some unknowns factors that may explain the association between apnea and cancer. The studies on this subject are ongoing in a number of medical centers around the world.
Laboratory observations
All these studies were inspired by a finding which showed that when mice with tumors were exposed to low-oxygen environment (which simulates the effects of sleep apnea among humans), their cancer grew more rapidly. The investigators then postulated that hypoxemia (low oxygen level, lower than 90 percent) had caused the body of the mice to develop more blood vessels, a condition that could act as fertilizer and enhancer of cancer cell growth, promoting faster spread of the cancer.
Comparative death rate
The research further revealed that the more severe the breathing problem and the hypoxemia, the higher the chance of dying from cancer. Those with moderate apnea had twice the rate of cancer death than those without OSA, and those with severe sleep apnea had a rate of 4.8 times compared to those who slept well. Chronic sleep deprivation in itself appears to also elevate the same risk. There is no question that sleep is vital to health. The increased risk for cancer is not limited only to those with sleep apnea but to any person who is always sleep-deprived or who has sleep impairment.
CPAP for OSA
These new findings, albeit observational, are quite convincing reasons for those who suspect they may have sleep apnea, with or without snoring, male or female, obese or not, to undergo a sleep study. If the diagnosis of OSA is confirmed, the standard therapy today is the use of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) during sleep. Knowing the statistics on the casualties of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, even among untreated physicians in their prime who had succumbed to OSA themselves. These deaths are highly preventable. I hail the CPAP regimen to be a most effective life-saver, literally speaking.
A restful sleep of 8 to 10 hours every night is a part of a healthy lifestyle. Calming down at bedtime for a peaceful slumber to re-energize our body, mind, and soul will go a long way in preparing us for another blessing–a great new day.
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