What Happens to Your Sleep When You Start Taking Ozempic? I Asked a Sleep Neurologist

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic can lead to weight loss, yes, but they can also impact your face, your personality, your sex drive and even…your butt? But what about your sleep habits? I asked sleep neurologist Dr. Meredith Broderick, MD, for the skinny (pun intended) on how Ozempic can impact your sleep.

Dr. Meredith Broderick, MD, is a sleep neurologist and Ozlo Sleep Medical Advisory board member. As a neurologist with an extensive background in allopathic sleep medicine, she incorporates the latest evidence-based research with behavioral sleep medicine to create customized sleep plans to minimize the use of medications, and offers care personalized to her patients’ needs to resolve the underlying cause of your sleep problems.

Dr. Broderick tells me that while sleep concerns are not typically a direct side effect of drugs like Ozempic, “sometimes people can have other symptoms like nausea, reflux or pain that then cause difficulty sleeping as a secondary side effect.”  

But for folks who deal with sleep apnea (a sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts) that’s related to being overweight or obese, weight loss almost always helps reduce the severity of obstructive sleep apnea and can sometimes cure it, Dr. Broderick says. “So when someone has sleep apnea and loses weight on Ozempic, I do expect symptoms like snoring to get significantly better.”

If you are noticing sleep-related side effects, Dr. Broderick says, “It’s always important to talk to the prescribing physician about any side effects you notice so that they can assess whether it’s really due to the medication, what can be done about it and make sure there isn’t something else going on that needs to be looked into.”

The bottom line is this: The effects that Ozempic—and similar medications—might have (or not have) on your sleep vary from person to person, so it’s crucial to keep your doctor abreast of any concerns you may have.