Is your sleep silently sabotaging your bedroom life? You might not realize it, but conditions like sleep apnea could be a hidden culprit behind erectile dysfunction, and the connection is stronger than you think.

Millions of people suffer from sleep apnea without knowing it, and the consequences go beyond just feeling tired. In this eye-opening episode, we uncover how poor sleep can lead to sexual health issues that no one talks about. But here’s the good news, it’s treatable!

Don’t let something as simple as untreated sleep apnea hold you back. Tune in now before you miss out on the vital information that could change your health, and your bedroom life, for good!

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This podcast is for you, the Modern Man. I'm Dr Anne Truong,

your host. I'm an intimate health medical doctor and best

selling author of the book, Erectile Dysfunction Fix. I'll

do a deep dive into sexual health and performance and how

it affects men of all ages and backgrounds. So let's get

started, and be sure to visit my website at

sexualhealthformenpodcast.com for more information and

resources from the show. See you on the inside.

In this episode, we're going to talk about sleep and how it can

affect your health, and especially your sex life. And

stay tuned for this eye opening discussion. It will change how

you think about your sleep.

So what is sleep apnea? Sleep apnea is more common than you

think. About a third of adult age between 30 to 70 have sleep

apnea, according to the most recent estimate. And the

prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea, or called OSA, is about

10% to 30% in the general adult population at this point. And it

gets higher as you get older, and it gets higher as women and

men get into the andropause or menopause years. And it also

increases with age as well too. And approximately right now, 22

million Americans are suffering with this, and about 1 billion

adult worldwide, and that's probably an underestimate.

So how is sleep apnea diagnosed? What are some of the symptom

that you should be noticing? And you're thinking, well, do I have

this? Am I the 1/3 people that have sleep apnea? Well, Sleep

Apnea is defined as interruption in your sleeping pattern at

night that make you choke or stop breathing. So what it is is

that if you have these type of symptoms, you may have sleep

apnea. Sleep Apnea include breathing pauses lasting more

than 30 seconds, multiple times throughout the night, loud

snoring that is indicated by like gasping or choking sound

like that. And in fact, the reason why I'm talking about

this because my husband probably have sleep apnea, and I'm gonna

get him tested, and I will probably go test it myself,

because I'm over 50, I should get tested. Also, another

symptom is daytime sleepiness and fatigue morning headaches

and dry mouth upon waking, and sleepless night and frequent

nighttime awakening, and even for men, frequent urination, you

get up in the morning, you're constantly tired and it's hard

for you to concentrate. And the more severe the sleep apnea, the

more the fatigue, and it has a lot of serious consequences,

like it put you at risk for high blood pressure, heart disease,

erectile dysfunction, sexual dysfunction for women, stroke

and also diabetes. So if you think you have one of these

symptoms, you need to go see the doctor and get a sleep study you

can do now this at home. You can get a sleep study test at home,

which is called home sleep study test, and now it's pretty good.

It's pretty accurate. And there's another test where you

go to the sleep lab and they look at how you sleep and

measure your oxygen level and all your breathing. That's more

accurate. But the home test is getting to be pretty accurate as

well, so go see the doctor and have the sleep study done.

What are the risk factors for sleep apnea? Well, the risk

factor is age. It gets higher when you're over 60 years old,

and men are two to three times more likely to develop sleep

apnea than women. And if you have a family members with sleep

apnea, then it increases your risk of physical characteristic.

If you are overweight and your BMI is over 28 then you're at

risk for sleep apnea. You have a large next of conference that's

also correlated with increased risk, and that if you have a

small lower jaw or large tongue and also facial configuration

that will put you at risk as well.

Now the lifestyle factors that are important, smokers have a

higher risk of sleep apnea. Increased alcohol consumption,

especially at bed tine, can worsen your sleep apnea. So when

do we socialize? Usually at night. When do we drink? Usually

at night. And you have heard me talk about alcohol, too much

alcohol, more than 14 drinks a week, can affect your sexual

function. Now, alcohol can also affect your sleeping pattern,

putting you at risk for sleep apnea, which, when you have

sleep apnea, you get decreased oxygen to the brain, and you

have inflammation, and that's what is affecting your sexual

function. Another lifestyle factor is sedentary, lack of

physical activity increases the risk as well. Also, medical

conditions such as chronic nasal congestion is associated with

twice the risk of sleep apnea. Hormone disorders, conditions

such as high full thyroid or low thyroid and acromegaly also

increase your risk. High blood pressure increased your risk.

Diabetes will increase your risk of sleep apnea as well other

factors. Menopause, post menopausal women have an

increased risk compared to pre menopause women, and certain

drugs will put you at risk for this. So if you are over 60, and

if you're noticing that your partner is snoring a lot and

almost like a choking when they're sleeping, then you need

to get sleep tests.

So how does this relate to your sex life? ED is highly common

among individuals with sleep apnea. The research has shown a

significant correlation between the two. The prevalence of ED in

patient with sleep apnea ranges from 40% to 80%. Some studies

show that 92% of people with sleep apnea also have ED. 92%,

you didn't hear that incorrectly. These numbers are

substantially higher than the general population where ED

approximately affects 52% of men over 50. So what I'm trying to

say is that if you have sleep apnea, you have a high chance of

having ED, and if you have ED, you should be screening to see

if you have sleep apnea. Correcting your sleep apnea will

also help with your ED as well. So that's very, very important.

So we talked about what sleep apnea is. We talked about how

that relates to ED. Now, how does sleep apnea really cause

ED? If you're like, Well, how does my breathing affect my

penis? Well, how it happens is that when you have sleep apnea,

you have interrupted sleep, you're feeling tired, you're not

getting enough oxygen. Well, there are several things that

happens when you have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can reduce

testosterone level, which is essential for getting an

erection. It also affects the hormone that's being released in

your brain, which then regulates your testosterone. It disrupt

that cycle. Number two, for the vascular or blood vessels, it is

inflammatory and inflammatory to the blood vessels, and therefore

you have less blood flow. It also will decrease your nitric

oxide level as well, and will also increase constriction of

the blood vessels. So the blood vessel get inflamed and swollen,

the blood vessel becomes smaller and also decreased nitrous

oxide, kind of like a triple whammy, almost. So you got the

hormone, and now you got a blood vessel, and then you got the

nerve. So sleep apnea will lead to nerve damage and the penis as

well because of the decrease in REM sleep, or REM sleep. And

because of this, it will lead to erectile dysfunction. On top of

that, sleep apnea can cause stress, fatigue, mood disorder,

which then will exacerbate your sexual function, and it's also

associated with depression and anxiety, and you can get a test

at home to diagnose sleep apnea. You can go to the sleep lab, and

it can be easily treated with a home system that is probably the

size of, like a little box like this. It used to be big, but now

is about the size, like about four by six box. It's very

quiet. It's called the Continuous Positive Airway

Pressure Therapy Machine, and that you wear either a mask or a

nasal cannula, and that little machine will give you more

pressure and more oxygen while you're sleeping. It's called a

CPAP machine, and it's covered by your insurance, the

conditions easily diagnosed. And CPAP, when you have the machine,

it improves oxygen, it improves blood flow, and it improve your

erection by helping you have a better night sleep. It also

raises your testosterone level and it raises your oxygen level

as well as your nitrous oxide level. Now, there are other

things that you can do aside from getting the CPAP machine,

but you should get the CPAP machine. But if you combine this

with other lifestyle factors, which then help with treating

sleep apnea, and one of that is exercise. So if you exercise, it

will help you with weight loss, and the weight loss itself, it

will help with incidence of sleep apnea, stop smoking,

moderate your alcohol, less than 14 drink. Maybe when you're

drinking at night time, maybe don't drink more than two. And

talk about physical activity, alcohol and smoking, those are

the main three factors.

So the point I'm trying to drive home is this, if you have ED,

get a sleep study test. If you're feeling fatigued, and if

you're feeling that you're trying to lose weight, you're

not able to lose weight, and you're not able to focus, and if

somebody says you snore, you need to get a sleep study test.

It's so easily done and it's so easily treated with the CPAP

machine, and it just makes a lot of difference, not only in your

health, but also help with your sex life, and it helps prevent

heart attacks and stroke and possibly even dementia as well.

So I'm telling you this because I'm gonna go get a sleep study

test as well as my husband, because I believe in

preventative care and not wait for things to get worse. It's

almost like taking care of your car. So if you have problem in

your car and you bring it to the mechanic early, it can be fixed,

but if you keep having the problem linger, it's just going

to be more difficult to fix that, and you may have some

irreversible consequences as well. So I hope you enjoyed this

episode. I try to give you as much information as I can about

sleep apnea because I feel this is important, and I'm going to

be screening a lot more sleep apnea with the sleep study test

with my patient as well. So let me know what do you think about

this episode. Let me know if you have sleep apnea and or ED. Let

me know what other topic you like me to talk about. It will

mean the world to me. If you get notification, subscribe, and

share this with somebody that you care about that may benefit

from this episode. And just know that you do not have to suffer

in silence. If you have ED, or even women if you have sexual

dysfunction, there are treatment available, such as getting a

sleep study test and that you do not have to be alone. Together,

we can create a sexual revolution. We can get you out

of ED into sexual confidence. And that is why I created the

Modern Man Club. It's a safe and discreet space where we get you

out of ED, to sexual confidence without medication or surgery,

maybe with the CPAP machine. Check out the modern man club at

noedman.com. And also just know that you can have your sex life

until the day you die. You do not have to give it up. You will

have sex span. I'll see you in the next episode, Modern Man.

Thanks for listening to the Sexual Health for Men Podcast.

If you love this episode, then please take a screenshot on your

phone and post it on Facebook, Instagram, or wherever you post,

and be sure to tag me and let me know why you like this episode

and what you like to hear in the future. That will help me know

what's great for you and I would love to give you the most

incredible free gift designed to help you improve performance

quickly. Go to my website at sexualhealthformenpodcast.com to

get the book, The Five Common Costly Mistakes Men Make When

Facing ED. I would appreciate if you subscribe, leave a review on

Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. And just know that you

can have sexual vitality for life. I appreciate you until

next time.