The condition results in fragmented and obstructive sleep called apneas (literally, "without breath"), each lasting long enough so that one or more breaths are missed, and occur repeatedly throughout sleep.
Scientists at the Showa University School of Medicine in Tokyo studied 65 men with moderate to severe obstructive apnea and found during brain scans that they has more lesions on their brains than those who had mild or no sleep disorders.
The study, which appears in Thursday's issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, also found that the men with the greatest sleep disturbance also showed more symptoms for inflammation and blood clotting compared to other men in the study.
The apparent cause for inflammation and blood platelet activity is linked to oxygen deficiency, thus explaining why these men had more brain damage.
People with this disorder wake up repeatedly during the night because of a blocked airway that prevents them from deep sleep - with some sufferers being roused 100 or more times a night.
These people also stand a greater risk for high blood pressure and stroke in addition to the new "silent" cerebrovascular damage that may precede a major event such as a stroke. Experts suggest a treatment with a CPAP machine, which supplies continuous airway pressure by means of an air compressor, attached to a mask and can lower the levels of inflammation and blood clotting.
