‘Social apnoea' could raise your risk of deadly heart disease, dementia and even death – 3 weekend habits to blame
Scientists from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, reckon loads of us have a newly discovered condition called 'social apnoea'.
It is a version of sleep apnoea, which causes heavy snoring and disrupted breathing in the night, brought on by Friday and Saturday revelling.
They suggest it is triggered by spending our weekends drinking alcohol, smoking and having lie-ins.
As many as 10million Brits are thought to suffer typical sleep apnoea, raising their risk of depression, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and dementia.
Now even more might have it only at the weekend after letting loose.
Experts studied data from mattress sensors given to 70,000 people worldwide.
Men affected worse than women
They found sleep apnoea was 18 per cent more likely on Saturdays than Wednesdays.
The likelihood was 21 per cent higher in men compared to nine per cent higher for women.
Having a lie-in to catch up on lost sleep further boosted the risk by up to 47 per cent.
The results mean people, and especially men, are significantly more likely to snore badly on the weekends.
Writing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the study authors said: 'A variety of factors can influence obstructive sleep apnoea severity, many of which exhibit a strong day-of-week effect.
Your ultimate sleep toolkit in 13 steps - from recording snoring to daylight hack
'An increase in alcohol consumption and smoking has been documented over weekends.
'This is consistent with our finding that the social apnoea effect is particularly intensified in men and younger individuals, groups with higher alcohol consumption and smoking behaviours.'
Lead author Dr Lucia Pinilla added: 'Sleep apnoea is already a major public health issue but our findings suggest its true impact may be underestimated.
'Most clinical diagnostic testing is done on a single weeknight, missing the weekend effect we're now calling social apnoea.'
The NHS says sleep apnoea can leave people feeling very tired during the day, causing mood swings, trouble concentrating and even car crashes.
It recommends sufferers go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, lose weight if they are overweight, exercise regularly and sleep on their side.
Avoiding smoking, drinking and sleeping pills can also help, it adds.
What is sleep apnoea?
THIS Morning anchor Josie Gibson suffers with sleep apnoea - but what is it?
Sleep apnoea is - as you might expect - a sleep condition, but it can cause serious health implications.
It causes breathing to repeatedly stop and re-start when you're asleep.
There are lots different symptoms linked to sleep apnoea but some of the most obvious are loud snoring and abrupt awakenings followed by gasping and choking.
Night time sweating, morning headaches, high blood pressure and a decreased libido are also huge tell-tale signs.
Symptoms of sleep apnoea mainly happen while you sleep.
They include:
breathing stopping and starting
making gasping, snorting or choking noises
waking up a lot
loud snoring
During the day, you may also:
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