Obstructive sleep apnea can strike anyone: men, women, even children. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are certain factors that put you at increased risk including excess weight, neck circumference, high blood pressure, narrow airway, prolonged sitting—even smoking.
The connection between smoking and sleep apnea is an interesting one. Smokers are three to four times more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea than are people who have never smoked.
An article on Livestrong.com covers the connection between smoking and sleep apnea well. Smokers tend to spend more time in light sleep but other reasons also exist. Nicotine’s impact on sleeping is twofold: it is a stimulant which interferes with the body’s ability to fall and stay asleep and it releases adrenaline which affects the body‘s natural sleep cycle.
Because the lungs of a smoker can be weakened from smoking, they may wake more frequently during the night to cough or gasp for breath thereby needing to restart the sleep pattern. Add snoring to this mix, and the sleep apneic who smokes gets very little deep, restorative sleep.
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