Autism and sleep apnea
Autism and sleep apnea... the correlation no one's talking about (but me, apparently )
My mind was completely blown when I discovered autistic people are more likely to have sleep apnea. I'll get into why in just a second, but first, for those who don't know...
Obstructive sleep apnea is when an obstruction blocks the airway during sleep, which causes the brain and lungs to not get enough oxygen. This can have serious health implications over time if left untreated.
I won't go into the long-term health implications now, but two of the main symptoms of sleep apnea are snoring and chronic tiredness... and one of the main signs that a person has sleep apnea is being overweight.
Ok, so let's talk about what sleep apnea has to do with autism.
A study in 2019 found that there were significantly more sleep apnea symptoms in autistic children as compared to nonautistic children.
Unfortunately, the researchers didn't look into why this correlation exists. So, I did some digging to see if I could find out more...
And I came across several proposed contributing factors...
One is that it's weight-related.
Research has found that autistic people are more likely to be overweight (mainly due to restricted eating and reduced physical activity).
But with sleep apnea, it's hard to tell if weight is the RESULT of sleep apnea because it impacts metabolism... or if it's the CAUSE of it because it impacts the soft tissue in the throat and mouth, which can result in obstructions in the airway.
Another proposed contributing factor is allergies.
Research has also found that autistic people have an increased likelihood of respiratory allergies... which are known to lead to... or worsen... obstructive sleep apnea.
The last factor I'll mention is definitely the one I found most interesting... and also the one I have seen mentioned the least...
That the correlation between autism and sleep apnea can be related to facial structure and anatomy.
And this is actually not something I would have thought to research on my own. But a few years ago, my doctor mentioned that facial structure can impact sleep apnea... and that facial structure is ALSO genetic. And in that moment... SO much started making sense to me.
So get this...
When I was 15, my dad passed away after having a cardiac incident. He was only 49 at the time.
We learned that he more than likely had undiagnosed sleep apnea.
Heart issues are actually now known to be a dangerous outcome of undiagnosed and untreated sleep apnea.
But back in '99, when my dad passed away, very little was known or understood about it... which is why we think it was overlooked all his life.
So... after we learned about sleep apnea, my mom had my brother tested, who was 14 at the time.
When he was diagnosed, the doctors told her that his was one of the worst cases they had ever encountered.
Fast-forward to about 5 years ago when my son was in 1st grade. Shortly after our pediatrician recommended a sleep study, he was diagnosed with sleep apnea.
In the meantime, my mom was also diagnosed. Which meant that both my parents had it.
Ok... back to my childhood again...
When I was 12, I went to a sleep away camp. That summer, I was bullied relentlessly. I still have PTSD from it. But one thing I remember vividly is that my bunkmates tormented me because I snored.
A few years later, I got braces... and as part of my treatment, I had my upper palate widened.
If you don't know what that means, they put a device inside the upper palate, and you turn something inside the device once or twice a week to very slowly widen it.
I don't know exactly when, but at some point after the braces, my snoring stopped.
So when my doctor mentioned facial structure in relation to sleep apnea, everything that I just mentioned came rushing back to me...
And when I thought about how my dad had it, my mom has it, at least one of my brothers has it... but *I* don't... I quickly began to wonder if it's because they literally changed the structure of my face when they widened my upper palate.
And I wondered if my mom, dad, and brother might also have had narrow upper palates.
Ok, back to now... at this point, all 3 of my children have had narrow upper palates and have needed the same treatment to widen them.
For privacy, I will not explicitly disclose their diagnoses, but autism is in the mix with my children. It also very much runs in my family.
My current line of thinking is this. Autism is hereditary. Facial structures are hereditary. Sleep apnea is hereditary.
And there seems to be a strong correlation between the 3 based on everything I have read.
Of course... more research is needed. And I hope it's conducted.
But, for now, I'm taking the various pieces of information I've uncovered from different sources and drawing a logical conclusion, which is...
In addition to the most common recommendations for addressing sleep apnea, which include...
- A CPAP machine or something similar
- A tonsillectomy
- An adenoidectomy
- Deviated septum surgery...
- And even sometimes removing the uvula (which they did for my brother)...
It might also be worth having a look at the narrowness of the upper jaw palate... because, if addressed, it may actually significantly reduce the symptoms of sleep apnea.