Could Obesity treatments serve to treat sleep disorders in the long run?

Although top quality obesity treatments like Xenical and Reductil are unable to treat sleep disroders directly, their ability to help with weight reduction could mean that the instance of conditions like Obstructive sleep apnea, which are common conditions in obese people, can be reduced, if not cured completely.

Scientists have discovered that people who lose weight, stand more of a chance of being able to treat any number of sleep disorders, including Obstructive sleep apnea which is a condition where the sufferer’s airway is inclined to collapse whilst they are asleep. Additional symptoms are known to include breathing difficulties and the majority of sufferers experience 10 second bouts.

Severe incidences are quite often associated with vehicular crashes and heart conditions. Experts have also begun to attribute it with conditions such as obesity. The findings stem from research conducted by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, when experts looked into whether low energy diets were beneficial to weight loss, and whether this would have the knock on effect of successfully treating sleeping disorders in obese men.

63 obese men were assessed as part of the process, all aged between 30 and 65. Each subject was known to suffer with OSA to some degree from mild to severe and was currently undergoing treatment with continuous airway pressure. Out of the 63, 30 were put on a low energy diet for 7 weeks. The remaining subjects were told to maintain their original diets. Those that were given the liquid diet were shown to lose up to 18.7kg whilst the remainder of the group was only able to shed 1.1kg. This appears to prove that low energy diets are beneficial for weight loss.

The research also appeared to conclude that the subsequent weight loss, worked in the patients favour in that not only did they improve their overall health, and reduce their chances of contracting heart disease and diabetes, they were also, in a large number of cases, cured of Obstructive sleep apnea. Patients who had been severely obese had benefited from the most success.