Semaglutide and tirzepatide are commonly used GLP-1 agonists. New studies come out all the time showing the health benefits. This was a recent journal article advocating for the early use of GLP-1 agonists for those with obstructive sleep apnea who also have diabetes and metabolic syndrome: “The Case for Early Use of Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients with Comorbid Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome,” published in Life, August 2022.
How Do Weight Loss Medications Affect Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
Patients who have sleep apnea have high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, and heart and blood vessel issues. This article discusses that usually you need to take many different kinds of medications to treat all of the other medical issues. But they advocate that semaglutide and tirzepatide may be a magic pill, a “one stop shop,” for obstructive sleep apnea patients. They love this idea because it:
- Reduces polypharmacy
- Reduces cost
- Reduces adverse drug events
- Improves life quality for those with apnea and diabetes
They conclude, “We strongly advocate for increased and early use of GLP-1 agonists in obstructive sleep apnea patients with co-occurring diabetes and other cardiometabolic conditions common in obstructive sleep apnea.”
They start with defining obstructive sleep apnea. It is a chronic sleep disorder associated with other medical problems: high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and atherosclerosis. It has poor quality of life and an increased incidence of premature death.
How Does Sleep Apnea Affect Health?
When you have obstructive sleep apnea, your airway narrows during sleep, which partially or fully blocks the airway. It is frequently caused by fatty tissue deposits which narrow the airway, causing it to collapse when muscle tone is low during sleep. Because of this, not enough oxygen gets in, so you wake up often and don’t get enough oxygen to your tissues. When you don’t get oxygen to do your tissue, blood vessel injury happens, which impacts your entire vascular and heart system. This leads to heart disease, arrythmias, and high blood pressure, which are hard to treat. Apnea is worse if you have had a drink or any kind of sedative.
80% of those with obstructive sleep apnea do not know they have it. (Take the quiz on our blogs – STOP BANG to see if you may be at risk). Obesity is prevalent in the US, with 34% of men over the age of 20 and 38% of women over the age of 20 being obese.
When you don’t sleep well, it leads to weight gain. We have discussed before the chicken and egg issue with lack of sleep and weight gain. If you don’t sleep well, you have low leptin (makes you feel full) and higher ghrelin (makes you feel hungry) levels. It stimulates the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which causes aldosterone over secretion. This is correlated with increased BMI.
STUDIES on GLP-1:
- Two double blinded randomized controlled trials showed GLP-1 agonsits improved the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), INDEPENDENT of whether there was weight loss. This indicates there is some “other” benefit of semaglutide, as it helped even if there was no weight loss (a common finding in many studies of semaglutide)
- A study chose patients with known moderate to severe sleep apnea who wouldn’t use CPAP. They randomized them to GLP-1 agonists with diet control OR placebo with diet control.
- Average BMI was 39.
- After 32 weeks of treatment, the AHI was greater in the GLP-1 group with higher weight loss and great reduction in HBA1c.
- They advocate this medication helped “apnea, diabetes, and obesity” at the same time.
How Can Biohackr Health Help?
You are speaking to the choir here. We were early adopters of semaglutide, now adding tirzepatide. The science on these medications, particularly for those with a BMI over 30 or those with a BMI of 27 and any other issue — high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease — is clear that semaglutide has incredible health effects.
This is just another study strongly supporting the use of semaglutide and tirzepatide early. Many of the issues which we are trying to address in biohacking seem to be improved by these medications. We see lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and cancer risk. We can now add sleep apnea to the growing list. There seems to be an “other” effect with GLP-1 agonists, which is unknown, as the improvement in issues happens even without weight loss.
Please see our comprehensive weight loss treatments, from NAD, hormone replacement therapy, probiotics, to semaglutide and tirzepatide.
