Be proactive about your sleep apnea. It’s difficult (not to mention unhealthy!) to struggle through life without getting proper, natural sleep. If you’re struggling with the symptoms of sleep apnea, you may well find the suggestions presented below to be extremely helpful.
Give up some of your vices to combat the symptoms of sleep apnea. Drinking and smoking are the biggest offenders. Drinking depresses the respiratory system and can cause severe breathing issues. Smoking can create carcinogens inside of your lungs, which can damage them later on. Drop as many bad habits as you can as early as possible.
Excessive weight can be a major contributor to sleep apnea. The obvious solution is to lose the excess weight. Make sure that you stick with a plan that makes sense and combine a low calorie diet with an exercise regimen. Restriction of carbohydrates is shown to help those wanting to shed pounds.
Are you using a CPAP for your sleep apnea? If so, then you should try to utilize it a minimum of four hours per night. Sleeping while using a CPAP can be difficult to adjust to at first, but it is not impossible. However, it won’t be effective if you don’t use it every day. If you struggle to adjust to it in the beginning, try using the CPAP for about four hours while you sleep.
To help deal with sleep apnea effectively, you should speak with your doctor to help him show you what CPAP machine works best. You should take the size and potential to make noise into consideration. There are some very small and quiet machines available. Your doctor will be aware of the best machines.
Avoid alcohol before bed as much as possible. Alcohol will relax all of your muscles. Although you may think this improves your sleep, it actually just worsens it. Your throat muscles relax too much from alcohol, which means trouble of your body to manage breathing. If you’re not going to give up alcohol, then just don’t do it right before bedtime.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep on your side in order to get some better sleep. When people sleep on their back, their tongue and soft palate rest to the back of the throat, which blocks the airway. Try to fall asleep in a side position, and discover if that relieves your sleep apnea tonight.
If you’re having a problem with sleep apnea and are a smoker or a drinker, you may find that quitting can help you immensely. Both of these bad habits make the airways relax too much, making sleep apnea worse. Dropping bad habits can help you live your life comfortably again.
Consider any alternative you can find to using sleeping pills. Similar to alcohol, sleeping pills will relax your throat and airways to an undesirable extent. Sleeping pills also worsen many other effects dangerous to sleep apnea sufferers. Consult with your practitioner to see what you can do to get to sleep without putting your breathing patterns at risk.
If you are fat, become thinner. Studies show that sleep apnea symptoms are more common in people who are overweight. Consequently, it is therefore possible that losing just twenty-five pounds could result in a dramatic improvement of your sleep apnea symptoms if you are currently suffering from obesity.
Try sleeping on your side. A lot of people that suffer from sleep apnea lay down in bed at night on their backs. The tissue in your throat and mouth can wind up obstructing your air passage when you sleep on your back. You will breathe easier if you sleep on your side. If you move around at night and tend to always wind up on your back, try propping yourself up with pillows.
Many people find that using a mouth guard while sleeping helps their sleep apnea. These special guards are designed to help people who suffer with sleep apnea. Instead of using a CPAP device, you can use a mouth guard. The mouth guard helps by keeping the airway open and providing stability for the soft tissues.
If you suffer from sleep apnea and you use a CPAP, carry your medical ID. If anything happens where you require medical attention, those assisting you need to know about both your sleep apnea and the CPAP. The identification should say that you suffer from apnea and that you need a CPAP set at a particular pressure level.
Fighting back against sleep apnea often involves eating healthier and losing weight. Many people may be surprised how much a poor diet plays in the symptoms of sleep apnea. Research has proven that those who consume low quality food demonstrate more severe sleep apnea than even overweight folks who eat healthy.
If you suffer from sleep apnea and must go to the hospital, make sure your CPAP is with you. Whether the hospital stay is a planned one or it’s just an emergency room visit, always bring along the CPAP machines just in case you need to stay for awhile. The settings will be prepared and you won’t have to adjust the pressure. This will simplify your CPAP therapy during your stay at the hospital.
Sleeping Pills
Just use one pillow when you sleep at night. When you sleep on a pile of pillows, or one extremely thick pillow, your chin is pushed down toward your neck and restricts your air flow. Your body is in an unnatural position and breathing becomes difficult. Because of this you should only use one pillow for easier sleeping.
Avoid relying on sleeping pills. Sleeping pills will just make you snore more by relaxing the muscles in the throat. They also can cause other harmful issues to make your sleep apnea worse. See if your doctor knows of any sleeping medication that doesn’t cause respiratory depression.
If your nose is bothering you, use a nasal spray. It may offer a couple nights of relief. However, never use this spray over a long period of time, since it can cause your nose to irritated and damaged. A quick trip to the pharmacy can turn you onto a host of different treatments that can help reduce nasal congestion.
If you’re admitted to the hospital, take your sleep apnea machine with you. If the hospitalization was planned or for an emergency, you should still be sure that your CPAP and your mask are brought with you to be used while you’re there. While they may have a machine for you to use, your machine is already preset for your specific settings and has the mask you are already accustomed to wearing. This lessens the stress of being away from home and enables you to continue the CPAP therapy while at the hospital.
Sleep apnea should not be ignored; it needs to be treated. There are a variety of treatments that you can do, but they take time to work. Getting to a lower weight can cut back on symptoms in a lot of sufferers, but even slender folks can be afflicted. One of the most common treatments for sleep apnea are CPAP machines, which force air into the lungs while you sleep. Others prefer surgery to relieve their sleep apnea. No matter what route you take, your treatment is definitely key to a happy life.
Use a single, normal-sized pillow for sleeping. The position of your body can become awkward and harmful to your breathing when you use too many pillows. As a result, you may find it more difficult to breathe normally. You can minimize the impact your sleep apnea has by using just a single pillow in bed.
If you want a way to reduce your chances of getting sleep apnea, strengthen your throat muscles. Sleep apnea is often caused by the tissues in the throat, which can relax and collapse while you sleep. As your strengthen your muscles, you will have more control over them.
You shouldn’t feel embarassed or ashamed about sleep apnea treatments like CPAP therapy. Inform people about it, and let them know that it is no big deal. Remember that failure to use your CPAP could cause serious health problems. If people tease you for doing so, that’s more a reflection on them than you.
Take lessons on a woodwind instrument. The music is enjoyable and helps to strengthen the muscles that you use to control your breathing. Training these muscles will strengthen them and may help you to control them while you sleep and thus lessen your sleep apnea symptoms.
It is very important to get enough sleep, do what you can to make sure you get it. Remember what you have read in this article when you next go lay down for the night, and you might just have discovered the secrets to managing your symptoms.
How you sleep influences how many times sleep apnea will strike on a given night. Thus, it is critical to sleep with your body in the proper position. You can try using a foam wedge; it will elevate your upper body. Or, if possible, elevate the top part of the bed around four inches.