Manage Your Sleep Apnea With These Tips

Manage Your Sleep Apnea With These Tips

People who suffer from sleep apnea will always tell you what a relief it would be to get it under control. What it comes down to is what you know about how to get rid of sleep apnea symptoms. Anyone who wants to expand their overall base of knowledge on the subject of sleep apnea is likely to find the following article quite helpful. Sleep mouth guards can benefit you if you suffer from sleep apnea. These devices are designed to correct your airways and allow you to breathe properly during the night. Ask your doctor to help you get fitted for a mouth guard. Do you smoke and drink? Eliminate bad habits. Both of these substances have a negative effect on your ability to breathe while sleeping. Alcohol relaxes your airways, making them more prone to collapse, and smoking can cause them to swell, restricting airflow. If losing these habits is not possible, then at least limit yourself before going to bed. A physician is the best person to ask about which CPAP machine is the right one to use for your specific situation. The loudness and size of any machine should be considered. Some machines are smaller than a bread box and can be whisper quiet. The physician should know which companies have the best machines. Sleep in a prone position. Often, sleep apnea sufferers rest while on their backs. If you sleep on your back, you are more likely to have your mouth open and block your airways. However, breathing is much easier if you sleep on your side instead. Put a pillow on your side if you always find yourself moving around during sleep. Do you regularly smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol? If you suffer from sleep apnea, quit smoking and cut down on your alcohol consumption. These items can harm your airways. Smoking swells up your airways while alcohol relaxes them. Both of these things can result in sleep apnea. If you do not want to quit, just do not do it before laying down to sleep. Sleep apnea is usually diagnosed after a thorough medical examination. 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. Sleep apnea is a serious health condition. If you experience symptoms of sleep apnea, don't delay the conversation with your doctor. After the diagnosis, you may be asked to take a sleep test, either at home or at a facility that specializes in sleep disorder testing. If you are not sleeping with a partner, then it's almost impossible to determine if you're suffering from sleep apnea on your own. Or you can record yourself as you sleep to look at your sleeping patterns. Make sure that the microphone on your recording device picks up any snoring or other noises you make while sleeping, because your physician needs to hear them. Stick to one regular pillow for sleeping on at night. Over-sized pillows may lead to you sleeping in an unhealthy position. It will make breathing harder than it needs to be. For this reason, stick with just one pillow to alleviate your sleep apnea symptoms. You may have to maintain a sleep log for your doctor to diagnose your condition. You will record the time you go to sleep and wake up, whether you woke up during the night and how you felt when you woke up each morning. Ask others in your home to let you know if you snored, woke up without realizing it due to your snoring or if you moved a lot in your sleep. This log will assist your doctor in diagnosing your condition. You might want to look into anti-snoring devices. Sleep apnea occurs when air passages are totally obstructed, but snoring is the result of majority closure where air still gets through what is left. So, anything that helps relieve the first issue will also help with the second. An anti-snoring device can reduce your apnea while you sleep.

Sleep Apnea

Consulting your GP is a necessary step in getting a diagnosis of sleep apnea, but self-help options are available. Anyone can enjoy better health from quitting smoking and dropping some unwanted pounds, but anyone afflicted with sleep apnea can really benefit from these lifestyle changes. It is also important to avoid consuming alcohol, caffeine and heavy meals at least two hours prior to going to sleep. People who deal with sleep apnea every day are always on the lookout for a way to remedy this terrible condition. Understanding the condition is the vital first step to a successful treatment. You'll be much better equipped to come to terms with your own sleep apnea issues if you take this article's suggestions under advisement. Don't be embarrassed about using a CPAP machine or getting treatment. Tell people that this is a necessity, and don't be self-conscious about having to use it in the presence of others. Always know that the CPAP machine is something that you need which can help you, and if someone looks down upon you for using it, then they weren't your friends anyway.