Do You Have Sleep Apnea? Try These Tips!

Do You Have Sleep Apnea? Try These Tips!

If you're having trouble sleeping through the night, you may be unaware that you have sleep apnea. This condition happens when the airway collapses partially while one sleeps, impeding on the person's breathing patterns. Read this information to learn more about this worrisome and sometimes deadly condition. Excessive weight is a primary cause of sleep apnea for many people. In these cases, simply losing the extra weight can alleviate the symptoms. Look for a sensible plan that includes both caloric restriction as well as exercise. Restriction of carbohydrates is shown to help those wanting to shed pounds.

Sleep Apnea

If your sleep apnea is a result of narrow airways, look at options for a mouth guard. Devices like these can align your airways properly to allow you better sleep. Speak with your doctor to learn more, and get yourself fitted for a mouth guard if you think it will help. Drop some vices to combat sleep apnea. In particular, alcohol and cigarettes are bad for you. Drinking helps depress your respiratory system, causing breathing issues. Smoking can cause swelling in the throat, which also restricts the airway during sleep. Doing away with both of these bad habits will help do away with your sleep apnea symptoms. Do you smoke and drink? Get rid of behaviors that are not good for you. Alcohol and tobacco both cause airway problems. Inflammation is caused by smoking and alcohol use causes your airways to collapse, both of which can produce sleep apnea symptoms. Try to at least smoke less, because it will help you deal with sleep apnea. Some people's sleep apnea can be traced to morbid obesity. If you suffer from sleep apnea and are overweight, try losing a few pounds. 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. Start playing a wind instrument to alleviate your sleep apnea symptoms. Some studies have shown that an instrument like the didgeridoo can help you improve the muscles in your throat. These muscles control the dilation of your airway and the stiffening of the airway walls. These are great reasons to take up playing this instrument and easing the symptoms of sleep disorders. If you have sleep apnea and drink or smoke, try quitting to improve your symptoms. Alcohol relaxes the muscles in the back of the throat, which will cause an interference with breathing. Remember that surgery and medications are expensive. Correcting bad habits is free. If you have a prescription for sleep apnea and you are prescribed a CPAP, you should at least use it four hours every night. It can be hard, at first, to get comfortable using it. Use your CPAP as often as prescribed by your doctor, and make sure it fits properly. If you find it hard to get used to your CPAP, use it for only 4 hours at a go. Speak with your doctor about treating your sleep apnea with a dental mouth piece. Your symptoms could very well be exacerbated by congenital conditions like a small jaw, an over- or under-bite, or a naturally constricted airway. Corrective devices can improve your jaw alignment at night and increase your rest quality. Eating well can help you become thinner, which can often reduce sleep apnea symptoms. Not everyone equates bad and good food with sleep apnea, but many people have found out that it does play a role. Studies show that people who eat low quality foods suffer from apnea worse than overweight people that eat healthy foods.

Sleep Apnea

Try something else besides sleeping pills. Sleeping pills cause your throat muscles to relax, just like alcohol. They also lead to other issues that can cause many problems, especially for someone suffering with sleep apnea. Ask your doctor about sleeping aids that won't have a negative impact on your breathing. Try losing weight if you are obese. Multiple research projects demonstrate the connection between sleep apnea and being overweight. Losing a little weight can have a big affect on your sleep apnea. Try a calorie restriction diet and exercise. If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, avoid sleeping pills. Sleep medicines often contain relaxants which only make your airway more likely to collapse. For those with severe cases of sleep apnea, using these pills can be quite dangerous. Avoid using them even if you are having trouble sleeping. If you've got a prescription for a CPAP for your sleep apnea, try using it for around four hours each night. Some individuals have a lot of trouble getting used to CPAP masks in their sleep. Good health over the long term is what is important, and you need to build up the amount of time you use it until you can use it throughout the night. Ease your way towards your four hour CPAP goal, even if you find the experience difficult to get used to. Keeping a sleep ledger can help your doctor monitor your sleep apnea. Here, you will track your hours of successful sleep, when you awaken through the night and other problems you may encounter. You can ask your spouse or a family member to let you know you how often you snore at night. This log will assist your doctor in diagnosing your condition. Seek out something else rather than taking sleeping pills. Sleeping pills will just make you snore more by relaxing the muscles in the throat. There can also cause other problems if you are dealing with sleep apnea. Ask your physician about sleep aids that won't also affect your breathing. If you're not finding that anything is helping with your sleep apnea condition, talking to a doctor about various treatment options is recommended. If less invasive treatments do not work, it is sometimes necessary to perform surgical procedures such as adenoid and tonsil removal and/or airway enlargement. To help you figure out if you suffer from sleep apnea, you may be asked by your doctor to keep a log of your sleeping. Here, you will track your hours of successful sleep, when you awaken through the night and other problems you may encounter. Your partner can best inform you if your sleep involves jerking limbs, stops in breathing and loud snoring. This type of data can help your doctor diagnose the issue. Look for devices that help to alleviate snoring. Both snoring and sleep apnea are caused by narrowed airways. So, it makes sense that a device that helps with the former can help with the latter. You could find yourself reducing your apnea with anti-snoring devices.

Sleep Apnea

Take what steps you can to reduce the risk factors of sleep apnea you're subject to. Some risks are inherent, such as family history or being male. If you lose weight or quit smoking it may help you deal with sleep apnea. People with sleep apnea who need a CPAP should have a medical ID that identifies the problem. If anything happens where you require medical attention, those assisting you need to know about both your sleep apnea and the CPAP. Your ID should include your use of CPAP and the pressure level at which your CPAP must be set. Having your sleep apnea diagnosed by your physician is important; however, some options for self-help may be beneficial to you. Everyone can benefit from getting thinner or quitting smoking, but this goes double for those suffering from sleep apnea. It is also important to avoid consuming alcohol, caffeine and heavy meals at least two hours prior to going to sleep. Sleep with just one pillow at night. The position of your body can become awkward and harmful to your breathing when you use too many pillows. It will make breathing harder than it needs to be. Because of this, you should only sleep with a single pillow to combat sleep apnea. Don's sleep on your back if you are suffering from sleep apnea. A common sleeping position for most people suffering from sleep apnea is on their backs. As a result, it's easy for airways to get blocked. Prop yourself up on your side with a pillow or cushions. Now that you have a better understanding of sleep apnea, you should feel more optimistic about your sleeping future. It's not possible to go it alone. Seek the help of your physician. You can reduce sleep apnea with exercises to strengthen throat muscles. Sleep apnea is often caused by the tissues in the throat, which can relax and collapse while you sleep. The muscles will slowly become stronger, which means that they won't collapse as often when you sleep, which in turn improves airflow.