Many people do not know what they need to be on the look out for when it comes to sleep apnea. The signs of sleep apnea are fairly easy to pick up on once you have done a little research about it. Continue reading to learn what you need to know now.
A common reason that people have sleep apnea is due to the extra pounds on their bodies. If this happens to be the problem then anyone dealing with sleep apnea should immediately shed this weight. Increasing exercise and reducing your total calorie intake can help to accomplish this. Many people have success following a low carb diet.
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.
Try using a mouth guard that’s custom-fitted for you. These are a great aid to sufferers of sleep apnea. While they won’t work for everyone, they do work for many people who find them to be easy to use and successful in treating their sleep apnea. A mouth guard works by keeping airways open and giving the soft tissues stability.
You must be careful not to use sedating medications if you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea. Anything that sedates you will slow down your breathing, especially when you go to sleep. When you are sedated by medication, your throat muscles will relax and collapse more quickly as you sleep.
If you are over weight, going on a diet can reduce your sleep apnea, or in rare cases, eliminate it completely. Maintaining a healthy weight can help you breathe easier, so losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight when you have trouble breathing is an obvious step in treating your sleep apnea.
If you have a CPAP machine, you should always have it with you. Using a different machine might not work as well since the settings or the mask might be different. If you have to go to the hospital, have someone bring your machine so you can keep on using it.
If you use a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP machine to treat your sleep apnea, sleep with it every night. When you take the mask off at night, your symptoms will return. Sometimes they might disappear for one or two nights, but then return. Wearing the mask every night prevents episodes of sleep apnea from occurring.
If you have sleep apnea, and your CPAP does not seem to be working out for you, consider alternate types of machines. You may be a person who needs the air pressure to change throughout the night as you sleep. Your doctor can prescribe a machine that uses different technologies to deliver air, such as an APAP, a BiPAP, or a machine equipped with C-FLEX. Each of these adjusts the pressure up and down as you sleep, which can make it more comfortable and effective for you.
If you consume alcohol or smoke, this could be the underlying cause of your sleep apnea symptoms. Meanwhile, smoking causes the swelling of the airways; alcohol does the complete opposite and relaxes them too much. If you want to be able to sleep well each night, limit or quit smoking and/or drinking.
Relieve you sleep apnea symptoms by keeping your nasal passages clear. A good nasal spray can keep you breathing freely and lessen the occurrences of sleep apnea. Using a neti pot to clear sinuses before bedtime can keep you breathing freely all night long. Both nasal spray and neti pots are available at any drug store.
Part of treating sleep apnea is working on exercises that open up the airways to get more air in. A great way to do this is by playing wind instruments, like the clarinet or the flute. Consistently doing this strengthens the throat muscles and opens up the airways as well.
Smoking is another thing which makes the problem of sleep apnea worse. It actually irritates the nasal passages and makes them swell. This in turn causes the airways to be partially blocked, making breathing on auto pilot while you are asleep more difficult. Cutting smoking out entirely is ideal, but even reducing the amount you smoke may help.
Sleep apnea sufferers oftentimes take sleeping pills in an effort to get a good night’s sleep. This is a huge mistake. Taking sleeping pills will actually make it harder for you to breathe while you sleep. This is because sleeping pills relax throat muscles, which leads to your throat getting blocked off. Sleeping pills can also cause lead to a number of other problems, including addiction.
Learn to control anxiety, to lessen the severity of sleep apnea symptoms. Just facing a restless night of sleep can create enough anxiety to keep you up! Learn effective anxiety-control methods that will enable you to clear your mind of problems, including the possibility of experiencing sleep apnea, so that you increase the chances of actually getting to sleep.
If you are thinking about some kind of oral device to help with your sleep apnea, you must get it custom fitted by a dentist who specializes in sleep apnea. These devices can have side effects sucks as saliva build-up, soreness, nausea or a permanent position change in the jaw, so regular consultations with your dentist are required.
If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, it is important to remember to inform all your other doctors of this. Sleep apnea can affect your overall health and contribute to other health problems. Any doctor who is treating you needs to know that you have a sleep disorder and what you are doing to treat it.
Once you understand how to pinpoint sleep apnea symptoms, you can then go about getting a proper diagnosis for yourself or a loved one. There is no need to continue living a life where you are tired each day despite a full night of sleep. Good luck and do something about it now!
