Sleep Disorders and Cardiovascular Health by Christie Dental


At the Florida Snoring and Sleep Apnea Center, Dr. Morris and his dedicated staff members are constantly working to find better ways to provide the most comprehensive care and treatment for our patients. In order to do so it is necessary to examine every aspect of a patients daily living. 

Cardiovascular health and sleep are integrally related.  Cardiovascular disease is common in people who have sleep disorders, and visa versa.  Conditions like hypertension, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, even diabetes can be related to sleep disorders.

There are multiple physiologic events taking place when a patient has obstructed breathing in their sleep. During the obstruction, which can happen many times an hour, a person’s oxygen level will decrease. This decrease can be low enough, and long enough, to harm the muscles of the heart. It can also lead to plaque buildup in the arteries – the start of the cascade of events leading to a stroke. 

It has been shown time and time again that untreated sleep disorders increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.  More recently it has been shown that treatment of sleep disorders can clearly reduce the risk from cardiovascular disease.  In addition, sleep disorders can contribute to daytime sleepiness and the danger of falling asleep at the wheel. 

The first step is to find out if there are signs and symptoms that lead us to suspect the presence of a sleep disorder.  Our main concern is obstructive sleep apnea.  There are other conditions such as loud snoring and upper airway resistance syndrome that can also disturb sleep and lead to cardiovascular consequences. 

We begin by asking you to take and fill out the Sleep Assessment Survey linked below.  Based on the results we can determine if you should be further screened with a home sleep study, literally done in the privacy of your own home.  This will confirm the presence and the severity of a sleep disorder.

We appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete the attached survey, and thereby help us to potentially reduce your risk from cardiovascular disease.

Thank you,

Dr. Morris and Staff.