You have trouble breathing in your sleep
Obstructive sleep apnea often causes people to wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air, which has been linked to a higher risk of heart attacks or atrial fibrillation, a heart arrhythmia. As sleep apnea patients sleep, their oxygen levels fall and their body freaks out and tells their blood vessels to tighten up to increase oxygen flow to the heart and brain, causing that shortness of breath.
“You always have to think about your heart,” says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, attending cardiologist and director of Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “Go to your doctor and get checked. Get your blood pressure checked. Get blood tests and, under some circumstances, a stress test.” People with sleep apnea are often also at risk for high blood pressure, another unhealthy heart symptom.
