Ever watch someone with sleep apnea? It’s one of the most frightening — and unforgettable — things you’ll ever see.

One minute, the sleeper is snoring away. The next, nothing.

At first, you might be thankful for the quiet — until you realize the reason for that sudden silence: they’re not breathing.

Someone with apnea can go through dozens of breathless bouts per night and never even realize it — but in this case, what you don’t know can not only hurt you… it can kill you, too.

Apnea has been linked to everything from sexual dysfunction and metabolic syndrome to diabetes and heart disease — but now, researchers have confirmed that it’s not too late for people already fighting that nightly battle.

The standard mainstream treatment for apnea is an oxygen mask called CPAP, for continuous positive airway pressure. In a new study, 86 patients with moderate to severe apnea were assigned to either the real CPAP mask or a sham treatment.

After three months, the volunteers took a one-month break… then switched places for another three months.

When they got the real CPAP, the volunteers saw drops in blood pressure and cholesterol levels — including an average dip of nearly 20 points in dangerous triglycerides — as well as better control of their blood sugar levels.

More importantly, they also lost weight — and while most of the patients were battling metabolic syndrome at the start of the study, 13 percent no longer had the condition after the three months of CPAP, according to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

But does all the credit go to that mask?

The researchers say they’re not sure — and I’m not either, because while CPAP can help get you through the night, the best way to beat apnea isn’t with oxygen — it’s with lifestyle changes.

And it starts with losing some weight — like the patients in this study managed to do. Studies have shown that even modest weight loss can end the apnea as well as slash your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Lose that weight yourself, and you’ll not only look and feel better than you have in years — you’ll sleep better, too.

Six years ago, the feds rushed the approval of brain stents for patients facing a high risk of stroke, claiming they needed to act quickly on “compassionate” grounds.

Today, I just have to wonder whose compassion they had in mind — because it’s certainly not those stroke patients: They began dropping dead so quickly and so often that the latest study on the stents had to be cut short.

And instead of waiting to get the results published, the researchers quickly posted them online to help spread the word to docs around the world that this “treatment” is more like a death sentence.

In the doomed study, researchers gave 450 patients who had suffered a stroke or stroke-like symptoms either the usual treatments to reduce risk factors or the stents, which are supposed to open narrowed arteries in the brain.

In the first 30 days after treatment, 15 percent of the stent patients had a second stroke or died — versus just 6 percent of those in the control group. Over the course of a year, 20.5 percent of the stent patients had a stroke or died, versus 11.5 percent of those in the control group.

The researchers say they’re still trying to figure out why the stent patients had such a dramatically higher risk of stroke and death, but does it even matter at this point?

The risks are just way too high, and that brings us back to square one — because there’s still no surefire way to eliminate your risk of stroke, and any drug or treatment that claims otherwise is selling an empty promise.

The best and only way to protect yourself is to focus on lifestyle changes, and not the ones your doctor has been recommending.

He’ll probably tell you that cholesterol has something to do with stroke — even the National Stroke Association puts it high on the list, right after hypertension and atrial fibrillation. But a study earlier this year found that LDL levels were only a stroke risk factor in men when they reached the sky-high level of 350. (Read about it here.)

Other than that, the researchers found no link at all — so whatever you do, don’t let anyone talk you into taking a statin to lower your stroke risk.

Another blood fat, triglycerides, can boost your stroke risk — but you don’t need a drug to slash those.

Fish oil will do the trick for you.

Along with omega-3 fatty acids, studies have found that coffee, olive oil, and a positive outlook can all lower your risk of stroke. I’ve got one more coming up next — and it’s something you might be eating everyday anyway.

Keep reading!

There’s no surefire way to keep dementia at bay, but there are steps you can take to dramatically slash your risk — including the following lifestyle changes you can make, starting today.

Start by getting a little more movement. Physical inactivity may be responsible for up to 21 percent of all U.S. dementia cases — making it the leading lifestyle-based cause of the disease.

You don’t have to sweat yourself silly or even join a gym. Just take up a hobby that involves getting out and getting active: tennis, gardening, or even something as simple as a brisk walk every evening.

The other lifestyle factors, in order of impact on dementia risk, are low education, smoking, depression, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.

You may not be able to do much about that degree you never earned, but all the others are within your control. And since they carry plenty of other risks even without throwing dementia into the mix, there’s no reason not to make those changes starting today.

Sleep apnea is another major dementia risk factor. When researchers looked at data on 298 senior women who were tracked for five years, they found that those who battled apnea were 85 percent more likely to battle cognitive decline by the end of the study period than those without it.

Since sleep apnea is often caused by obesity, here’s a golden opportunity to slash your dementia risk: Lose the weight and get your apnea under control through diet and exercise, and you’ll knock three risk factors off the list at once – and get a whole lot healthier in the process.

Not a bad deal at all.

P.S. Simple B vitamins can slow or even stop the brain shrinkage linked to dementia. Learn more about it for free right here.

It’s one of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen from the mainstream — and that’s saying a lot.

An outrageous new study is pushing powerful diabetes meds on girls as young as 8 years old who don’t even have the disease in a bizarre effort to preserve their fertility decades later.

Researchers claim their study shows that the drug metformin can help prevent polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS — a
hormonal imbalance that’s one of the leading causes female infertility.

In reality, the study doesn’t even show that much — but if it did, there are other safer ways to beat the condition.

I’ll get to those in the moment.

First, the details: Researchers recruited 38 8-year-old girls (presumably through their parents) who had some of the key risk factors for PCOS: low birth weight and early appearance of pubic hair.

Half were given metformin for four years between the ages of 8 and 12, while the rest got the drug for just one year at the age of 12.

By 15, the girls who were on the drug for four years were up to 8 times less likely to have some of the later signs of PCOS, including menstruation problems, acne, abnormal hair growth, and higher levels of male hormones.

Obviously, there’s no indication of whether or not these girls experienced fertility problems, but the researchers say they plan to track them until the age of 18 to see what else happens.

But really, why bother?

PCOS doesn’t have a single “right” answer and there’s no surefire cure for it — and metformin won’t turn out to be one, either.

If it works even a little, it’s because the condition appears to be related to diabetes: Women who suffer from PCOS have a higher risk of insulin resistance and a higher risk of the disease itself.

The most promising treatment for both PCOS and diabetes isn’t a drug — it’s lifestyle changes, and many of the women who’ve made those changes have been able to get both under control.

One study from 2005 found that six months of a low-carb diet improved weight as well as testosterone and insulin levels in obese women who suffered from PCOS. A study last year found similar results from a low-glycemic diet, which is similar to a low-carb diet.

Since eating right can make anyone healthier at any age, this one’s a no-brainer: Don’t give a little girl drugs for a condition she doesn’t even have — just put better food on the table every night, and the entire family will benefit.