Ok… we get it. Wearing a CPAP when you’re trying to be intimate with your partner in the bedroom, it doesn’t exactly scream ‘rave cave’… BUT, neither does snoring! Or choking in your sleep. Also, leaving sleep apnea untreated is a risk factor for many more serious health complaints including heart attacks and stroke.
However, when you’ve just started dating, we do understand the anxiety many patients feel when it comes to discussing sleep apnea with their significant other.
Therefore, we recommend bringing up your sleep apnea and your CPAP usage when the time feels right, and you feel comfortable discussing it. Potentially, that won’t be on the first date, but after a time when you feel secure with this person. You also might feel more comfortable adding a little bit of humor, and laughing about the ridiculousness of having to wear a ‘Bane’-esque mask at all.
Also, when you explain to your partner the benefits of CPAP, it’s good to highlight that it can actually help improve your sex life, by giving you more energy and alertness because you are finally sleeping well.
Research has even shown that when you treat your sleep apnea, it both “promotes better blood flow, and helps stimulate your sex drive” and indirectly treats “many of the underlying conditions linked to diminished sex drive and erectile dysfunction”. Properly diagnosing and treating your sleep apnea can prevent symptoms such as vaginal dryness, painful intercourse and decreased libido from worsening.
How Can Sleep Apnea Impact Your Partner?
Your sleep apnea may not only affect your libido and sexual performance, but it can affect that of your partner as well. Your sleep disturbances may cause your partner to have a poorer quality of sleep, and when your partner is “irritable, tired and unhappy with the relationship, it can be difficult for you both to enjoy an active sex life.”
But I want to be spontaneous in the bedroom 🙁
For concerns about being ‘spontaneous’ with your partner, your CPAP doesn’t have to mean intimacy is out. Remember… The mask can always come off! There’s also nothing wrong with a little bit of ‘Bane’ roleplay every now and then 😉
To learn more, or to book an online appointment with an Ognomy sleep specialist, or install the app from App Store and Google Play.
We’ll help you get back on track to better sleep, and an even better sex life.
