Men's Health
Can a PAE Procedure Lead to Better Sleep?
There’s a good chance if you have been diagnosed with BPH you could have better sleep!
Those with an enlarged prostate often find themselves needing to visit the bathroom frequently because of the prostate pressing against their bladder. While frustrating to make these many trips during the day, they can have even more dire consequences at night when they continually interrupt your sleep.
The Health Effects of Nocturia
Nocturia refers to waking in the middle of the night with an urgent need to urinate and is a common symptom of those with an enlarged prostate.
However, nocturia also leads to abnormal sleep patterns.
The body goes through four sleep stages at night, cycling through stages two through four 5-6 times, on average. Of these four stages, the final two are especially important for quality sleep.
Third Stage
The third stage of sleep (NREM), also known as “deep sleep,” generally occurs 10- 30 minutes into the sleep cycle and lasts for 20-40 minutes. During this stage, your body repairs bones, muscles, and tissues while also promoting the functioning of your immune system.
Final Stage
REM sleep, also known as the fourth sleep stage, is essential for cognitive functions such as learning, memory, and creativity. However, REM sleep increases in length throughout the night, meaning to gain the most benefit from this sleep stage, it is crucial to have continuous, noninterrupted sleep.
When you have to wake up to use the bathroom during the night, you limit the amount of deep sleep and REM sleep you get, resulting in consequences such as:
- sleep deprivation
- daytime sleepiness
- reduction in creativity
- lack of concentration
- poor coordination
- mood changes
Not only can these nighttime awakenings affect how you feel and your quality of life, but they can also impact your safety. For instance, someone who commutes to work each day by driving may be at greater risk of crashing their car because of poor concentration and sleepiness.
To increase your health and wellness, you need a way to treat your nocturia so that you can sleep through the night without interruption.
PAE: A Solution for Better Sleep
Most recommendations for better sleep revolve around promoting good sleep hygiene, such as getting off your electronics an hour before bed and following a sleep schedule. However, these tips will not help those with nocturia since this problem stems from the enlarged prostate pressing on the bladder.
For those with an enlarged prostate, prostate artery embolization (PAE) can help.
PAE is a minimally invasive procedure where a catheter is inserted into an artery on the groin or wrist and directed to the bladder. Once there, microspheres are injected through the catheter into the blood vessels of the prostate, blocking blood flow and naturally causing the prostate to shrink.
Beyond being a minimally invasive procedure with an easy recovery, PAE also helps to solve your nocturia problems since it causes the prostate to shrink. Once the prostate shrinks, it does not push on the bladder as much and, thus, allows you to go through the night without needing to get up.
Research has proven these results, with PAE reducing the number of times men need to get up to urinate during the night.
If you’re tired of waking throughout the night and feeling like you don’t have the energy you need for your day, regain control of your sleep and improve your quality of life through PAE, offered by MTVIR.
