Sleep, snoring and apnoea
Many attacks come at night. A link with apnoea is possible, but the data are mixed.
Many people with cluster headache are woken by attacks at night, often at the same hour. So researchers have long asked whether the disease is tied to sleep problems, especially apnoea: breathing stops during sleep and blood oxygen falls.
What is known
- Different studies found apnoea in a third to almost half of the patients examined.
- In a controlled study of 40 patients, apnoea was found in 38% of patients and 32% of matched healthy people: no proven difference.
- The highest figures come from people referred for sleep testing, so they may be inflated.
- Whether a CPAP machine (a breathing mask for sleep) helps cluster headache is now being studied.
If you snore heavily, wake up exhausted or family notice pauses in your breathing, get a sleep study. Apnoea is worth treating either way, even if it turns out unrelated to the attacks.