Can Sleep Apnea Cause Vertigo & What to Do About it

Sleep apnea is a quite common condition, affecting about 26% of adults ages 30 to 70, in which your breathing stops and restarts many times while you sleep and can sometimes be dangerous to the sufferer. The 3 types of sleep apnea include:

• Obstructive sleep apnea – This is the more common form of sleep apnea, and it is when your upper airway becomes blocked many times throughout sleep, reducing or completely stopping airflow.
• Central sleep apnea – This occurs when your brain doesn’t send the proper signals needed to breathe.
• Complex sleep apnea syndrome – This is a combination of both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.

The symptoms from these different sleep apneas are very similar and may be hard to diagnose. Some sleep apnea symptoms include:

• Loud snoring
• Gasping for air during sleep
• Waking up with a dry mouth
• Morning headache
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Difficulty paying attention while awake
• Irritability
  

  

Can Sleep Apnea Cause Vertigo?

While there are many causes of vertigo as well as sleep apnea, studies have shown a connection between sufferers of vertigo and sleep apnea, especially when the vertigo occurs in the morning shortly after waking up.

Lower Oxygen Levels

The exact link between the two are still being researched, but one theory is that the vertigo is caused by lowered oxygen levels in the brain during sleep.

Sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea experience breathing cessation or shallow breathing, which leads to a low concentration of oxygen in the blood while sleeping, which could lead to dizziness and vertigo symptoms.

Inner Ear Issues

Another possible cause is linked to the inner ear. Those with sleep apnea deal with airflow interruptions as they sleep, which can lead to air pressure changes in the ear, and in turn, this may lead to dizziness or vertigo symptoms.

Can Spine Misalignment Cause Sleep Apnea?

If you suffer from sleep apnea and vertigo, these symptoms could be linked to abnormalities in the spine and nerve function, improper spinal alignment may cause vertebral subluxations. These subluxations can disrupt the way your nerves connect to your brain and respiratory system, which may be causing sleep apnea, vertigo or both. Seeing a corrective chiropractor for sleep apnea could be the answer for you.

Getting Treatment for Sleep Apnea and Vertigo

Whether you’re wondering ‘can sleep apnea cause vertigo’ or not, both issues must be addressed to find the root cause of both. Without properly diagnosing and treating sleep apnea, it can continue to wreak havoc on your life.

At Align Wellness Center, we have helped thousands of patients that have suffered with sleep apnea and vertigo and also asked the same question. Those patients are finally starting to see relief from vertigo as well as sleep apnea are feeling better overall for it. Sleep apnea can be corrected and vertigo can improve drastically through corrective chiropractic care.

If you or someone you know is having vertigo symptoms and think their sleep apnea may be the cause, they need to be looked at by a corrective chiropractor and ensure the cervical spine is in alignment as well as other areas of the body. If you’re looking for a chiropractor that will take a natural and holistic approach to helping you with your issues with vertigo and sleep apnea, give us a call, even if you’re out of our area, we can look to connect you with a chiropractor near you.

We offer an in-depth exam to determine exactly what we can do to help with as much detail for you as possible. It is called the 3-Dimensional BioStructural Analysis, and the process involves the following:  

• Timeline history
• Digital posture exam
• 3-Dimensional posture exam
• Chiropractic, Neurological, and Physical Exam
• Spinal radiographs (if needed)
• Digital biomechanical analysis of your spine
• Insurance verification (by our insurance team)
• Separate time to go over the results of your test within a day or two, where we will go over:
  • What is going on
  • If we can help
  • What the best next step is for you
  • Any investment in your health that is necessary

If you’re interested, you can schedule an appointment for a 3-Dimensional BioStructural Analysis here. If you’d like tips on how you can stay healthy and well without drugs and surgery, go ahead and check out other articles on this site. If you continue to struggle with vertigo give us a call at Align Wellness Center (847) 860-6599 or schedule an appointment online. Contact us today or stop by the office. We’re located at 900 Skokie Blvd., Suite 113, Northbrook, IL, 60062.