Sleep apnea robs people of the essential restful night’s sleep that no one can function without. In this post, you’ll get some helpful tips to assist you in coping with sleep apnea, so you can get the best night’s sleep possible and have a better daily life because of it.
If your sleep apnea is a result of narrow airways, look at options for a mouth guard. A mouth guard opens your airway and facilitate nighttime breathing. Mouth guards and sleep masks must be properly fitted in order to help improve apnea.
A reason that a lot of people have problems with sleep apnea is due to excessive weight. The obvious solution is to lose the excess weight. The simplest way to take off the weight is to eat fewer calories and engage in daily exercise. Reducing carbohydrate intake can help greatly, as well.
Talk to your doctor about getting a fitted sleep mouth guard. If you have a narrow airway, recessed chin or small jaw, it is likely you have amplified sleep apnea effects. With a specialty device, you can change your sleeping position and align your jaw so that you are able to sleep.
Sleep Apnea
It can be a very serious issue when you have sleep apnea. If you suspect that you or a loved one has it, it’s important to make an appointment with a physician to talk to them about it soon. Then, if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea, you can talk with a specialist and even use a sleep monitor to understand the severity.
Losing weight through a good diet can fight sleep apnea. A lot of people are amazed at how a poor diet negatively affects sleep apnea. Studies show that people who eat low quality foods suffer from apnea worse than overweight people that eat healthy foods.
If you are lacking someone to sleep next to you it might be hard to tell if you suffer from sleep apnea. Try taping yourself at night to see if you do. The video needs audio too so that the doctors can hear the noises you make.
Avoid drinking much alcohol. Alcohol causes your muscles to relax. Although some people do enjoy this, it can contribute to sleep apnea. Your muscles will relax and collapse, which will make you snore and possibly cough through the night. If you feel you must drink, try not to do it as often or before you go to sleep.
Get a chin strap to keep your mouth closed when you are sleeping with a CPAP or BIPAP machine. A chin strap is a strap on fabric that can hold your mouth closed. CPAP machines do not function with open mouths, so a chin strap can really save you.
Swear off sleeping pills. Sleeping pills relax your palate and the muscles in your throat, which causes you to have even more trouble breathing while you sleep. These pills can lead to a very dangerous situation if your case is bad, especially when tempted to try and get a good night’s sleep.
When you travel, be sure to bring your CPAP on the trip. Using a CPAP is essential every night for those of you living with sleep apnea. Most CPAP machines come with a travel bag designed for just this purpose. Try this if you want to easily move your CPAP machine with you with ease.
Your physician might ask you to start and maintain a sleep log to get a better grasp on your diagnosis. Keep track of how many hours you’re sleeping the entire night and any symptoms you have. Your partner can often say if you jerk limbs around, stop breathing for a second, or snore loudly. This helps the doctor discern whether you have sleep apnea or not.
If your sleep apnea doesn’t improve after anything you’ve tried, you may need to discuss more drastic options with your doctor. There are people that don’t respond well to traditional sleep apnea treatments, and sometimes they have to have surgery. This surgery may involve removing the adenoids, enlarging the airway or removing the tonsils.
If you have sleep apnea, do not drink a lot of alcohol. Alcohol relaxes the muscles in the throat and causes your airway to become constricted. Limit drink consumption to no more than two or quit drinking completely prior to bed. Doing this will prevent alcohol from disturbing your sleeping hours.
Stop putting yourself at risk for sleep apnea. There are some factors that are unavoidable. These can include being male or family genetics. On the other hand, certain risk factors, such as being fat, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol, are entirely under your control.
Play wind instruments. Not only will you enjoy the music and exercise your mind, but you will also exercise the muscles that help you control your breathing. By playing a wind instrument you are strengthening these muscles, making it easier for you to manage them and lessening the severity of your sleep apnea.
Quit smoking if you suffer from sleep apnea. Smoking can cause the upper airway to swell, which exacerbates sleep apnea. If you are struggling to quit, join a program, or try using nicotine-replacement therapy, such as patches. The majority of smokers say that the first month is the hardest. Once you are past the first few weeks, the nicotine craving begin to lessen significantly.
People who snore or even those who have sleep apnea may benefit if they learn to play a musical instrument. Not only will it be soothing for you, but in a trial study in Germany, it showed that a wind instrument can relax the symptoms of sleep apnea. This will help your airways.
Avoid alcohol when you have sleep apnea. Drinking alcohol can cause your throat to relax which can make sleep apnea worse. Try to quit drinking altogether, or make sure you’re not having too many drinks prior to going to sleep. This will ensure alcohol doesn’t affect your sleep.
Prevent falling asleep on your back. Many sleeping difficulties, like airway blockages, are caused or exacerbated by lying on your back when you sleep. Try side-sleeping, but if you can’t do it naturally, try propping a pillow to force your body onto a side every night.
Don’t feel any shame about necessary treatments for sleep apnea, including lugging around your CPAP device. Be open about it and explain to others that it is necessary for you to sleep better. Stress that it is necessary for your health. Using this machine is for your own good, and anyone who pokes fun at you for needing it should probably not be your friend.
If you are experiencing the symptoms of sleep apnea, it may be time to visit your doctor and schedule a sleep test. This can determine the cause of your sleep problems, and if it is sleep apnea, you will learn how severely you suffer with the condition. Once you know about your condition and its severity, you can start getting treated.
How you sleep each night can determine the quality of sleep you get and how bad your sleep apnea really is. Having a proper sleep position is necessary. Try taking a foam wedge and using it to raise the top half of your body. Talk to your doctor about other ways of sleeping that will be beneficial to you.
Even after you receive a diagnosis of sleep apnea, regularly consult your physician. You can learn a lot about your condition and treatment by keeping in communication with your doctor. As you try new options, expect to see your doctor to report new findings occasionally.
If you are flying on a plane and it’s going to be a long trip, you need to speak with the airline ahead of time to make arrangements to use the CPAP machine. The airline company is very accommodating and will designate an area for you and your machine. If you’re flying with a non-domestic carrier, make sure you have the appropriate power adapters for your machine.
Drink Alcohol
Don’t sleep face-up if you suffer from sleep apnea. Sleeping on your back does not allow enough air to get into your airways, making sleep apnea flare up. Sleeping on your side is ideal if you suffer from this condition.
When dealing with sleep apnea you never want to drink alcohol right before going to sleep. When you drink alcohol, your throat muscles become very relaxed. This can cause airway blockage. This only means to reduce your drinking that is close to bedtime.
Because sleep apnea is a problem of the throat and not the nose, making the throat muscles stronger can resolve many apnea symptoms. In an effort to strengthen throat muscles, many exercises can be done to help.
A technical description for sleep apnea is insufficient oxygen intake while sleeping. As such, higher elevations can be a disaster for a sleep apnea sufferer. Oxygen levels are lower at higher elevations. So avoid sleeping at high elevations if you are able to do so.
The precise effect that causes sleep apnea is a shortage of oxygen during night-time breathing. As is the case, it would behoove the sufferer of sleep apnea to avoid sleeping at an elevation. Oxygen levels are lower at higher elevations. Sleeping at high elevations should be avoided whenever possible.
Get support. Sleep apnea is not as common as you may think. It’s quite possible that your loved ones will try to help, but do not really understand what you’re dealing with. Search out a local support group for people with sleep apnea. If you get shy in person, look for online forums that offer tips from others.
Alcohol should be avoided, especially before going off to bed. Alcohol only makes the problems of sleep apnea much worse. It slows down you central nervous system, making the conditions of sleep apnea worse and also could prevent you from waking up should you stop breathing. Potentially, that could be fatal.
Mouth Guard
If you have sleep apnea because of the excess tissue within your airway, you may need surgery. A procedure known as UPPP can remove the tissue, enlarging your airway. Often times they remove the tonsils when they perform this surgery.
If you have sleep apnea, you might try using a mouth guard. Any kind of physical anomaly in your jaw or your mouth position (such as an overbite) can make wearing a custom-fitted guard while you sleep a good idea. A mouth guard will align your jaw correctly, which assists your breathing while sleeping.
If you deal with sleep apnea on a daily basis, try taking a nap during the day to help with the lack of sleep at night. Not getting enough sleep can take a terrible toll on your health and your ability to function. If you can, get a little sleep in the afternoons.
Visit a specialist. Your general practitioner can give you some ideas for dealing with your sleep apnea, but a specialist specializes in sleep apnea and treatments for it. A specialist can provide much more detail and be much more specific about the issues you’re facing. Specialists have access to more options than general practitioners.
Exercising your tongue and throat muscle is a smart move. Any kind of exercise that you’re able to do to strengthen your throat muscles can help your airways stay open during sleep. Humming or taking up a wind instrument are good sleep apnea remedies. All the above may help strengthen your throat muscles.
Prevent your sleeping breathing problems from getting out of hand. Always make sure that other breathing problems are under control if you experience symptoms of sleep apnea. If your allergies start flaring up, take your medicine quickly. Also seal shut windows and doors and curtail your exposure to the outdoors. If you think you may be coming down with a cold, treat it right away. These things can easily exacerbate your sleep apnea.
Know that sleep apnea is a serious diagnosis and it’s important to follow anything your doctor recommends as a treatment. This may mean having to use a CPAP machine, if it is prescribed. There are many downsides to having sleep apnea, such as drowsiness, insomnia, depression, and even severe conditions, such as strokes.
Not getting enough sleep has serious consequences in many aspects of life, and could even kill you if you aren’t careful. Start taking steps to conquer sleep apnea so you can finally get the sleep you deserve. Life offers us enough challenges, you shouldn’t be facing it on too little sleep!
If you cannot get enough restful sleep at night, a scheduled nap in the daytime may help. A brief nap during the day can help you power through your schedule. If you ask your boss about this, he may understand.