I've tossed around a medical theory for a little over four years. Time and time again, I see it proven in friends and family members. My theory is this...
I believe that fat people have a higher incidence of type II diabetes due to their propensity for sleep apnea. There's long been research that showed that fat pear shaped people are less likely to suffer from several diseases than their apple shaped sisters. I've also heard that people who carry their weight on their chest, around their necks, etc are more likely to suffer from apnea.
I'm theorizing that the lower blood oxygen levels at night due to apnea may have an adverse effect upon the pancreas's long term health. Maybe the pancreas needs all the oxygen it can get during the body's rejuvenation period? Dunno, I'm not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV. I do strongly believe that sleep apnea will show itself to be a strong link to diseases regardless of the level of obesity. Oxygen obviously plays a huge role in our overall health. If 1/3 of the day one lives with limited oxygen levels, you can bet they will suffer poor health regardless of being fat or thin.
So, the number of people I know that have been simultaneously diagnosed with these two conditions has grown tremendously over the last few years. While I realized that many fat people avoid going to the doctor may have multiple issues diagnosed at one time due to an accumulation of conditions upon aging, I think it actually goes further than that. Some of the people who have had this double diagnosis aren't fat or even close to being ~obese~.
What if diabetes and other diseases that are currently ~linked~ in studies to being fat are actually linked to apnea? Would this make any difference in the way that obesity is treated? If doctors saw a fat person would they immediately have them do a "sleep study"?
When I first posted about the apnea/diabetes connection, a doctor friend of mine sent me information from the a JAMA publication (if I'm remembering the origin correctly) regarding a study that had touched on this very connection and yet as far as I've heard, there hasn't been any more studies done. To me, it seems to be an obvious connection that should be studied further. So many studies are focused on adipose tissue ~somehow~ causing diabetes rather than looking at the basic physiological need for oxygen.
Dunno. What do you think?
I believe that fat people have a higher incidence of type II diabetes due to their propensity for sleep apnea. There's long been research that showed that fat pear shaped people are less likely to suffer from several diseases than their apple shaped sisters. I've also heard that people who carry their weight on their chest, around their necks, etc are more likely to suffer from apnea.
I'm theorizing that the lower blood oxygen levels at night due to apnea may have an adverse effect upon the pancreas's long term health. Maybe the pancreas needs all the oxygen it can get during the body's rejuvenation period? Dunno, I'm not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV. I do strongly believe that sleep apnea will show itself to be a strong link to diseases regardless of the level of obesity. Oxygen obviously plays a huge role in our overall health. If 1/3 of the day one lives with limited oxygen levels, you can bet they will suffer poor health regardless of being fat or thin.
So, the number of people I know that have been simultaneously diagnosed with these two conditions has grown tremendously over the last few years. While I realized that many fat people avoid going to the doctor may have multiple issues diagnosed at one time due to an accumulation of conditions upon aging, I think it actually goes further than that. Some of the people who have had this double diagnosis aren't fat or even close to being ~obese~.
What if diabetes and other diseases that are currently ~linked~ in studies to being fat are actually linked to apnea? Would this make any difference in the way that obesity is treated? If doctors saw a fat person would they immediately have them do a "sleep study"?
When I first posted about the apnea/diabetes connection, a doctor friend of mine sent me information from the a JAMA publication (if I'm remembering the origin correctly) regarding a study that had touched on this very connection and yet as far as I've heard, there hasn't been any more studies done. To me, it seems to be an obvious connection that should be studied further. So many studies are focused on adipose tissue ~somehow~ causing diabetes rather than looking at the basic physiological need for oxygen.
Dunno. What do you think?
