If you suffer from sleep apnea, you have no doubt made it your mission to get relief from your symptoms. In order to discover relief, you must do as much research as possible on this condition. Read on for some great sleep apnea advice and get closer to a good night’s sleep.
Excess weight also causes sleep apnea, so losing weight is a very good idea. Research has shown a clear link between sleep apnea and obesity. A loss of 10 or more pounds can significantly reduce our sleep apnea symptoms.
Make yourself wear your CPAP for four hours while you sleep, at the least. It can be hard, at first, to get comfortable using it. Good health over the long term is what is important, and you need to build up the amount of time you use it until you can use it throughout the night. Ease your way towards your four hour CPAP goal, even if you find the experience difficult to get used to.
Learning how to play a wind instrument is something which can help ease the symptoms of your sleep apnea. German researchers suggest playing the didgeridoo regularly trains your upper airway muscles. These are the muscles that control airway dilatation and airway wall rigidity. This is why if you play often you will have less sleep apnea issues.
Don’t drink a lot of alcohol. Alcohol causes all the muscles in your body to lose their tension. You might like the feeling, but it can contribute to or cause sleep apnea. Alcohol causes the throat and tongue muscles to relax, which can make it easier for them to block your airway. If you can’t give up drinking completely, at least make an effort to moderate your intake and avoid having alcohol in the hours leading up to your bedtime.
A healthy diet can help you lose weight and combat sleep apnea. Not everyone equates bad and good food with sleep apnea, but many people have found out that it does play a role. People who eat unhealthily tend to have sleep apnea more often than those who eat healthier.
Sleeping Pills
Avoid drinking alcohol very often. Drinking alcohol relaxes the muscles of your throat and airway. Even though you may enjoy the relaxing effects, this can contribute to sleep apnea events. Your throat muscles become relaxed, making it harder for your airway to stay open. If you can’t give up drinking completely, at least make an effort to moderate your intake and avoid having alcohol in the hours leading up to your bedtime.
Avoid relying on sleeping pills. Similar to alcohol, sleeping pills will relax your throat and airways to an undesirable extent. There are a variety of other problems that they can cause as well, so be cautious of using them. See if your doctor knows of any sleeping medication that doesn’t cause respiratory depression.
Even children can suffer from sleep apnea. If you find your child is innatentive, always tired or uses their mouth to breath and not their nose, they may suffer from this condition. Oftentimes these symptoms cab be associated with ADHD, but first you should consult with your doctor to see if the problem is sleep apnea.
Keeping a sleep log can help your doctor diagnose you with sleep apnea. In it, you’ll record the number of hours you sleep, as well as any symptoms you have during the night. Ask your partner to keep track of your snoring, movements, and whether you stop breathing at night. Your doctor can use this information to determine if you actually suffer from sleep apnea.
There are several components to a sleep apnea diagnosis including a physical examination, a complete review of your medical history and a review of your family history. Also, there may be a sleep study performed and even a sleep specialist recommended if the doctor treating you feels that your condition is severe enough to get it looked at further.
If you’re a sleep apnea sufferer and your mouth always opens as you sleep because of your CPAP, you may want to wear a chin strap. It is a simple cloth strap that can easily hold up your chin as you sleep. CPAP devices don’t work well when your mouth is wide open, so this device can help.
If you wear a CPAP for your sleep apnea symptoms, but are still bothered by your mouth opening when you try to sleep, get a chin strap. This little piece of fabric holds your chin upright when sleeping so that your mouth remains closed. CPAP therapy is not successful with an open mouth, so use the chin strap to help alleviate the problem.
If you are not experiencing success at overcoming your sleep apnea, you may want to take more serious measures. There are many treatment options available, some which do not work well with some everyone. But there are other methods of treatment, such as surgical techniques which include airway enlargement, as well as the removal of adenoids and tonsils
Bring your medical ID every you travel with your CPAP device. If you are in need of medical attention, it is important that the people helping you realize you have sleep apnea and use CPAP therapy. Your ID should clearly inform medical personnel of your sleep apnea condition. Include the fact that you’re using a CPAP machine and indicate the proper pressure level it operates at.
Risk Factors
Always bring your CPAP along whenever you travel. CPAP therapy can have an extremely positive effect on your sleep apnea, but it relies on constant, continual use to be effective. The original packaging should have included a convenient carrying case for travel. You should be able to use this to carry your CPAP machine with you no matter where you go.
Find ways to decrease the risk factors of our sleep apnea. Certain risk factors that are associated with the condition cannot be controlled, such as being a man or having a family history of it. So make sure you try to avoid doing things like this so you don’t get sleep apnea.
Those with sleep apnea should treat any symptoms of sinus or allergy problems. Remember that you already face difficulties from your sleep apnea. You don’t want to have anything else that hinders your breathing while you sleep. Making sure your airway isn’t obstructed is your best bet to getting good sleep.
The quest for an effective treatment technique is something with which sleep apnea sufferers are all too familiar. The only way to address the health problems and lost sleep caused by this condition is to learn more about it. By using the tips from this article as much as possible you can see if your sleep apnea slowly goes away.
Lose weight to prevent developing sleep apnea. Getting rid of those extra pounds can help you with your sleep apnea. Simply losing a small amount of weight can open your airways, improving your sleep apnea symptoms.