Getting quality sleep is important for your overall health and well-being. If the time you spend sleeping is interrupted by frequent awakenings or seizure-like activity, it can take a toll on you.

Seizures, in particular, can be troublesome during sleep, especially because they can go untreated for so long. This can leave you feeling exhausted and irritable during the day, with no explanation as to why.

The question is: Does sleep apnea cause these seizures, or could they be caused by something else? Here’s what you need to know about the connection between sleep apnea and seizures, including whether treating sleep apnea can reduce seizures and improve sleep health.

Are Sleep Apnea and Seizures Connected?

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder that causes your breathing to stop and start while you’re sleeping. OSA is more common in people with neurological disorders, such as epilepsy or stroke.

In fact, sleep apnea affects more than one-third of people with epilepsy and about two-thirds of people who’ve had a stroke. Sleep apnea may have a two-way relationship with epilepsy and stroke. Not only can obstructive sleep apnea affect brain health, but epilepsy and stroke can also increase the risk of sleep apnea.

Researchers think sleep apnea and epilepsy may be linked in a few ways. But studies so far show an association — not proof that sleep apnea directly causes epilepsy, or vice versa.

In one study of older adults, people whose oxygen levels dropped very low (below 80 percent) during sleep were more likely to develop epilepsy later in life. This doesn’t prove sleep apnea causes epilepsy, but it suggests low oxygen at night may be a warning sign.

Those who already have sleep apnea are twice as likely to be diagnosed with late-onset epilepsy when they’re older.

What Causes the Connection Between Sleep Apnea and Epilepsy?

Both sleep apnea and seizures — particularly those caused by epilepsy — affect the part of your brain that controls your sleep and breathing.

Researchers speculate that when people with sleep apnea experience changes in their oxygen levels and blood pressure during sleep, this can reduce blood flow and oxygen to the brain. This can damage parts of your brain and may be the cause behind some disorders like stroke and epilepsy in people with sleep apnea. More research is needed to better understand this connection.

Sleep apnea can also make epilepsy or seizure activity worse. This is because sleep apnea disrupts your sleep-wake cycles. Poor-quality sleep and sleep deprivation can trigger seizures.

Conversely, seizures can make your sleep apnea worse. Seizures can weaken the muscles found in your upper airway. This makes it easier for your airway to collapse when you’re sleeping, which makes sleep apnea worse.

Some antiepileptic medicines or treatments may make sleep apnea worse by causing weight gain. If you’re concerned about your medication, discuss this with your healthcare provider.

Why Sleep Apnea Can Be Confused With Seizure Activity

If you have sleep apnea or another sleep disorder, your activity at night can mimic that of a seizure, especially because there’s an overlap in sleep apnea symptoms and signs of a seizure.

During sleep apnea, your breathing may briefly stop and oxygen levels may drop. Your brain then quickly wakes you up so that your breathing can restart.

Seizures can also affect breathing, sometimes causing pauses or irregular breathing patterns during or after an episode.

This may cause you to have symptoms that sometimes resemble those of someone having a nocturnal seizure (seizure during sleep). Overlapping symptoms include:

• Awakening from sleep
• Unusual breathing sounds
• Autonomic (involuntary nervous system) symptoms, such as sweating or having a racing heartbeat
• Brief movements or jerking in some cases

To someone who sees this behavior, it may be difficult to distinguish between a seizure and symptoms of sleep apnea, especially if it happens repeatedly or abruptly.

Likewise, if you experience night terrors, sleep paralysis, or sleep-related hallucinations, these can be confused with seizures. This is often because they can cause a person to shout, make strange movements, or wake up confused or disoriented.

Similar to seizures, these sleep disruptions are triggered by sleep deprivation, irregular sleep schedules, and stress.

Sleep paralysis, in particular, is often confused with seizures. That’s because the symptoms can resemble nocturnal seizures, including:

• Temporary inability to move or speak
• A feeling like you’re being suffocated or held down
• Extreme panic or fear
• Hallucinations

Can Treating Sleep Apnea Reduce Seizures?

When it comes to treating obstructive sleep apnea, the gold standard of care is using a continuous positive airway pressure device (CPAP). There are other options available for people who cannot use a CPAP or don’t notice enough improvement with it.

There’s some evidence that CPAP therapy could reduce seizure-like behavior. One study found that people treated for sleep apnea were more likely to experience a 50 percent reduction in seizures compared to those who weren’t treated for sleep apnea.

SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy) is a major cause of death in people with epilepsy. In many studies, the majority of SUDEP cases happen during sleep. This is one reason doctors pay close attention to sleep problems in people with seizures.

That’s why some health experts think treating sleep disorders is an opportunity for addressing epilepsy that shouldn’t be overlooked, especially in people who don’t respond well to other seizure treatment options.

If you have sleep apnea, you’re more likely to have poor-quality sleep. Sleep apnea treatment could improve your life and well-being and reduce the number of seizures you’re having. At the same time, preventing seizures can improve sleep quality.

If you suspect that you’re having seizures at night, talk to your healthcare provider. They can refer you to a sleep medicine specialist. This medical professional can evaluate your symptoms during a sleep study and provide a treatment plan for addressing sleep apnea or refer you to a neurologist if seizures are suspected.

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If you have sleep apnea, have you experienced seizures or other sleep disruptions during sleep? What has helped you manage them? Let others know in the comments below.