In addition to helping manage diabetes and obesity, anti-obesity drugs and GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy may help people sleep better.
So is the case for Jeannine Manning who started taking Ozempic in March 2023. She was prescribed the drug to help control type 2 diabetes and weight management.
By October, she lost 50 pounds.
“I’ve ditched my apnea machine,” she told Health. “I fall asleep faster and sleep much better.”
Manning has lived with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) for 30 years, a serious sleep condition in which breathing stops and starts over and over while sleeping. The condition can keep the body from getting enough oxygen.
To help treat the condition, she used a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine for about 15 years, which provides constant air pressure to the upper airways so they remain open and enable breathing during sleep.
No longer needing the CPAP machine due to improved sleep was an added benefit of taking Ozempic that Manning didn’t plan on.
“I knew when my weight went up, so did my snoring, but I didn’t anticipate that my sleep apnea [and] snoring would almost disappear with weight loss,” she said. “I was more concerned with other health issues to even think about it.”
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There are a few different kinds of sleep apnea that someone might experience.
OSA is the most common type of sleep apnea.
Anything that can obstruct the airway can cause OSA. The most common causes include:
Other risk factors include age, being male, family history and genetics, heart or kidney failure, and drinking alcohol or smoking.
Central sleep apnea is another form that occurs when the brain doesn’t send the necessary signals to the body to breathe.
Symptoms of sleep apnea during sleep include:
Symptoms of sleep apnea that are noticed during wake times include:
To diagnose sleep apnea, a doctor may suggest a sleep study, which involves monitoring brain waves, heart rate, breathing, and oxygen levels while they sleep.
Once diagnosed, treatment options often include lifestyle changes like limiting alcohol, exercising, and weight management.
The most common sleep apnea treatment is the CPAP machine. Additional treatment options include oral devices, implants, exercises for the mouth and face, as well as the following surgeries:
While GLP-1 medications like Ozempic are not officially recommended for OSA, Sethu Reddy, MD, president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, said reports like Manning’s are not surprising.
“[It] is well known that obesity is associated with many adverse effects on health, and weight loss by any means is associated with improvement in many health benefits,” he told Health.
He explained that GLP-1 medications may improve symptoms of OSA for people with diabetes, as well as people with obesity.
The most likely explanation for this improvement is weight loss.
“Reduced fat tissue in the neck may directly reduce obstruction in the neck. Reduced abdominal obesity could also result in improvements in breathing mechanics as well,” Reddy said “Weight loss has been found to be the most significant intervention for improvement in sleep apnea.”
Biochemically, obesity can intensify OSA, Karl Nadolsky, DO, endocrinologist and diplomate at the American Board of Obesity Medicine told Health.
So, focusing on weight management can, in turn, decrease OSA severity.
“OSA is a common obesity-related complication but remains underdiagnosed and untreated,” he said. “Achieving over 10%, preferably [over] 15%, weight reduction can dramatically improve sleep apnea and with greater weight reduction, induce remission."
The relationship between OSA and obesity is intricate, involving multidirectional aspects, Nadolsky added.
“Obesity causes, and is itself exacerbated by, OSA, and [is associated] with insulin resistance and increased cardiovascular risks,” he said. “Unfortunately, treating the OSA with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) only does not seem to improve weight reduction.”
Because of the known effects GLP-1 drugs have on the brain, Reddy said more research could explain a connection to sleep that is not directly linked to weight.
“It may be possible that GLP-1 analogs may improve sleep apnea through central mechanisms as well,” he said. “Their effects on sleep and wakefulness through direct effects on the hypothalamus in the brain are being investigated.”
To prescribe GLP-1 medications specifically for OSA, Reddy said clinical trials studying the effects of GLP-1 analogs on OSA are needed.
“These trials would be essential to seek a specific FDA-approved recommendation for these drugs in obstructive sleep apnea,” he said.
However, Nadolsky explained that current research does point to the impact GLP-1 drugs have on obesity, so some conclusions regarding the connection between GLP-1 drugs, obesity, and bettered sleep are implied.
