Any disturbance to your sleep can be a nightmare, but sleep apnea is one of the worst problems a person can face. The good news is that there are many simple ways that help you get a restful night’s sleep. Use the advice contained in the article below and get a good night’s sleep.
Improve your sleep apnea by slimming down a bit. Recent research showed dramatic improvements in overweight men who shed 25 pounds over a period of one year to reduce sleep apnea symptoms. In some cases, the weight loss resulted in a cure of sleep apnea where no further treatment of the condition was necessary.
If you have sleep apnea and cannot break the habit of sleeping on your back, try sleeping in a t-shirt with two tennis balls sewn into the back. Making this sleep shirt is a simple project to do at home, and it can help to break you of sleeping on your back. Every time you try to roll over on your back in your sleep, the tennis balls will remind you to roll back onto your side.
Avoid using sleeping pills and do not be tempted to consume alcohol before bedtime. Both sleeping pills and alcohol are sedatives, which can interfere with your breathing, as they cause your throat muscles to relax. You should also avoid other types of sedatives, including some prescription painkillers and many street drugs.
Try yourself to sleep on your side. If you fall asleep on your back, gravity can make it easier for your tongue and/or tonsils to fall back into your throat and obstruct your windpipe, causing apnea episodes. While it may be hard a first, as time passes, however, it will start to become second nature to sleep on your side.
Try to avoid sleeping at high altitudes. High altitudes can worsen sleep apnea. The air in high altitudes is much thinner and, consequently, more difficult to breathe. Sleep apnea is already causing your body to take in less oxygen at night. A high altitude environment can only exacerbate your condition.
If you have sleep apnea and were just prescribed a CPAP, keep trying different masks until you find the one that fits you just right. Some masks may not be the right size or shape for your face. If your CPAP mask is leaking air into your eyes all night or rubbing the skin on your forehead raw, ask your sleep center to prescribe a different mask for you.
Make a sleep schedule and keep to it. By sleeping at regular intervals and times, your body gets used to a pattern and takes advantage of it. If you are not getting quality sleep on a regular basis, your sleep apnea may worsen. Make sure to go to bed at a similar time every day and try to sleep a fixed amount of hours.
Try sleeping with nasal strips to open your nasal passageways. If you suffer from sleep apnea, this can offer some relief to your symptoms, especially snoring. When your sleep is less interrupted by waking periods when you cannot breathe, you receive a better night of rest and often see your symptoms disappear.
Use a single, average-sized pillow for your head at night. The use of multiple cushions, or very large pillows, can throw off your sleeping posture and inhibit your breathing. These mean you sleep in positions where it is hard to breathe. This means that one pillow is most appropriate to help alleviate your sleeping concerns.
A good way to determine if you are suffering from sleep apnea is by recording yourself when you sleep. You can do either an audio or video recording to catch your sleep patterns and sounds you generate when you are in a deep slumber. These recordings can be quite informative. Try doing them for several nights in a row to get a good range of information.
Patients who suffer from sleep apnea might want to consider losing weight as a means to relieve the symptoms. Sleep apnea is far more frequent in obese individuals with bigger necks. Even a modest amount of weight loss can increase air flow and decrease airway pressure.
It’s imperative that you see a doctor for a proper diagnosis when it comes to sleep apnea. But some people find that they can be responsible for their own treatment. Stopping the habits of drinking and smoking can help. Anyone who is overweight may find that they benefit quite well from losing 20 pounds or more. Stay away from large meals, caffeine, and alcohol if you have sleep apnea.
An excellent way to reduce the symptoms of sleep apnea is to prop up your head and body. If you can get your head at least 4 inches off of the mattress or elevate your torso from the waist up, you will reduce your symptoms. Try using a foam wedge or cervical pillow when sleeping to do this.
Learn to play one of the wind instruments. This will not only be fun and relaxing, it will also help you excercise the muscles responsible for your breathing control. The training of these muscles will give better breath control and reduces the symptoms of sleep apnea.
You should adopt a healthy lifestyle and monitor your weight and blood pressure. Your doctor should be able to advise you on your diet and perhaps on a fitness program if you need to be more active. Living a healthy life should really help you reduce the symptoms of sleep apnea.
Reduce your weight to combat sleep apnea. Increased weight is often a cause of sleep apnea because the increased weight causes the airways to be narrower, thus allowing them to collapse more easily during sleep. By dropping your weight you can reduce the compression the airways and minimize issues while sleeping.
Life is hard enough to deal with without the added stress of feeling tired and having no energy throughout the day. Do not allow sleep apnea to interfere with your day any longer, but use the ideas in this article tonight.
