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Sleep apnea can negatively affect your physical and mental health, but one less-researched area is its impact on your sex life. Untreated sleep apnea can cause real problems in your intimate relationship(s) for a variety of reasons. Here are some of its negative effects.

Fatigue

You aren't sleeping properly due to your sleep apnea. Meanwhile, your long-suffering partner is kept awake half the night by your snoring. You're also trying to work and manage your household. Poor sleep can make you selfish and less in tune with your partner's needs. It can also drain your libido, and sometimes it can result in falling asleep when you try to have sex. Some couples resolve this by sleeping In separate rooms. While this can fix the fatigue problem, it can affect spontaneous intimacy and reduce the amount of non-sexual snuggling and cuddling (which can be just as important to many couples). Other couples let it become a cause of ongoing conflict and stress. In fact, snoring can even lead to divorce.

Reduced Testosterone

Sleep apnea can cause lower testosterone levels in men, resulting in reduced libido. This is another consequence of Interrupted sleep; studies have shown that sleep restriction causes a significant drop in testosterone levels. Levels are even lower in the afternoon and evening. This can then become a vicious cycle as low testosterone also causes further sleep deprivation. Reduced testosterone can also result In lower libido in women (yes, women have testosterone, too, just not as muc of it), but sleep apnea has not been shown to cause reduced levels in women.

Erectile Dysfunction

We aren't sure why, but erectile dysfunction seems more common in men with sleep apnea. This might be caused by reduced testosterone and also by circulation issues caused by reduced oxygen. A lack of REM sleep because of sleep Interruption often results in the absence of the "morning wood" phenomenon, where erections occur during sleep. Th good news is that properly treating sleep apnea generally restores normal function. In most cases, the use of a CPAP machine is sufficient to restore sexual function and good sleep, although In some cases, It might not completely resolve the issue.

Dryness

Sleep apnea is also associated with dryness. One study showed that sexual dysfunction could be due to sleep apnea!

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