A study may have found a connection between CPAP treatment and improved sex life for sleep apnea patients.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which breathing is halted numerous times during sleep. With CPAP, or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, sleep apnea patients wear a mask that gives extra pressure with each breath. It is designed to cut down on these breathing disturbances.
Previous research has shown a correlation between sleep apnea and sexual dysfunction. This can include erectile dysfunction in men and painful intercourse and lack of arousal in women.
However, the new study found that those sleep apnea subjects who used their CPAP machine more than four hours a night reported better sexual quality of life.
While there was little difference between male subjects who used their CPAP machines and those who did not, women who regularly used their CPAP machines reported an improvement in their sex lives.
[Editor’s Note: The information provided should not be considered a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a sleep doctor or other medical expert if you have questions related to your own health.]
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We spoke with the study’s lead author, Dr. Sebastian M. Jara, He explained, “After accounting for other factors that can affect sexual quality of life – such as other medical conditions – we found, overall, that CPAP users experienced a greater improvement in sexual quality of life than the CPAP non-users.”
The Study
During the study, published in the JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery journal, researchers worked with 182 subjects struggling with “severe” obstructive sleep apnea.
Jara and his colleagues gave the subjects a questionnaire at the beginning of treatment and again one year later. Two of the 25 questions were in regard to sex drive and sex life.
In reference to “Because of medical problem unable to have sexual relations” and “Lack of desire for sexual relations,” the patients were asked to answer on a scale of 0-5. 0 meant “No problem” and 5 meant “Problem as bad as it can be.”
Out of the 182 person cohort, 72 said they used their CPAP machine more than four hours a night while 110 did not. Out of the group who used CPAP regularly, many reported an improvement in their sex lives.
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However, those who saw their sex lives improve were mostly all women. Men in the study did not report a significant change in their quality of sex life.
Jara told Mattress Clarity that these results are interesting when considering other research. “With regards to sexual function, CPAP has been shown to improve sexual function in men in several studies. In particular, there is evidence that CPAP treatment can improve erectile dysfunction in male sleep apnea patients with erectile dysfunction.”
Further Research
According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep apnea affects more than 18 million American adults. Besides sexual function, the foundation says that sleep apnea may be correlated with serious health risks like hypertension, heart disease, and other ailments.
Jerome A. Dempsey, Ph.D., the Director of the John Rankin Laboratory of Pulmonary Medicine, told Mattress Clarity about the health dangers associated with sleep apnea. “There’s a lot of speculation, but two that we know the most about are the effects on blood pressure and daytime sleepiness and vigilance,” he said. “People with significant amounts of sleep apnea have seven times more car accidents.”
However, with regard to the connection between sleep apnea and sex life, Jara says more research is needed. “In future studies, it will be important to study more comprehensive measures of sexual quality of life in sleep apnea patients,” says Jara. “This will include both a more extensive assessment of sexual quality of life in patients themselves and effects on their bed partners.”
In addition, Jara says that other sleep apnea treatments should be considered in connection with sexual quality of life. “It will be important to test the effects of other sleep apnea treatments, such as surgery or oral appliance use,” he explains. “Although CPAP is the first-line treatment for sleep apnea, it can be cumbersome to wear and might adversely affect intimacy and sexual quality of life compared to other treatments.”
[Editor’s Note: The information provided should not be considered a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a sleep doctor or other medical expert if you have questions related to your own health.]
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