Heart failure and sleep apnea are big health problems.
If you have heart failure, your heart can’t pump blood as it should. Sleep apnea makes you stop breathing while you sleep.
Both of these problems can make you feel tired, and short of breath, and even reduce your life. But scientists in New Zealand might have found a way to treat both issues with just one drug.
What Did The Researchers Find?
Scientists at the University of Auckland are excited about a drug called AF-130. In their tests with animals, this drug helped the heart work better and stopped the breathing problems that come with sleep apnea.
Here’s how it works: our brains have a system that helps us deal with danger, making us either fight or run away. This is called the “fight or flight” response.
People with heart failure have this system turned on all the time, even when there’s no danger. This can make sleep apnea worse.
AF-130 turns down this “fight or flight” response and also helps with breathing. That means it can potentially treat both heart problems and sleep apnea at the same time.
This is big news because right now, many people with sleep apnea need to use a machine to help them breathe, and not everyone likes using it.
What’s Next?
The good news is that AF-130 might soon be tested on humans because it’s close to getting approval from the FDA (a group in the U.S. that checks if drugs are safe and work).
If these tests show that AF-130 is safe and effective, it could become a new way to treat heart failure and sleep apnea together.
In the end, this new drug could help a lot of people live better, healthier lives. We still need more tests to be sure, but this discovery is a big step forward.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and scientists find how COVID-19 damages the heart.
For more information about sleep, please see recent studies about how to sleep to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and results showing scientists find silent sleep danger for smokers.
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