If you’re not sleeping, you are miserable. Luckily, there are many ways to address sleep apnea and get better rest. Continue reading to learn more about how to deal with this condition.
Taking up a musical instrument (especially a wind instrument) can have a positive effect on your sleep apnea. There have been studies that show playing the didgeridoo, a wind instrument, helps relieve the symptoms of sleep apnea. These muscles are responsible for opening and closing your airway, as well as controlling the stiffness of the airway. These are great reasons to take up playing this instrument and easing the symptoms of sleep disorders.
If your physician has prescribed a CPAP machine, do try to sleep a minimum of four hours with it nightly. It is hard for many patients to become accustomed to using the CPAP. A minimum of four hours per night is needed, if your CPAP machine is going to help you. Just use it as much as possible and you’ll get used to using it after a couple of weeks.
Do not neglect your CPAP machine if it has been prescribed to you. Sleeping while using a CPAP can be difficult to adjust to at first, but it is not impossible. However, it needs to be used for four hours each night for it to be effective. If you still have trouble adjusting, get at least four hours and try to add more time each night.
Avoid drinking much alcohol. Alcohol is a natural muscle relaxant. You may want to feel more relaxed, but it can exacerbate your apnea. Alcohol relaxes throat muscles and can make it difficult to keep the air passage open. If you absolutely have to have a drink, don’t do as much as you used to. And avoid having one close to bedtime.
To keep your sleep apnea in check, eat a healthy diet to lose weight. A lot of people would be surprised to learn that eating badly makes sleep apnea worse. It’s been proven that poor diets can contribute to the severity of sleep apnea.
Dealing with sleep apnea is normally something that is very serious. If you think you may have it, it is important to make an appointment with your doctor to discuss it. In the process of fully diagnosing your condition, you may be able to consult with a sleep specialist. Home sleep tests with portable monitors are also often used to pinpoint sleep apnea.
Limit your alcohol consumption. The natural effects of alcohol lead to over-relaxation of your muscles. Even though you may enjoy the relaxing effects, this can contribute to sleep apnea events. Alcohol causes the throat and tongue muscles to relax, which can make it easier for them to block your airway. While it’s not vital that alcohol be avoided 100%, do what you can to make sure you do not drink it before a nap or nighttime sleep.
Sleep in a prone position. Sleeping on your back is more likely to cause snoring and apnea. Your airway can get blocked if you sleep on your back. However, breathing is much easier if you sleep on your side instead. If you usually sleep on your back, make a conscious effort to change your ways.
Instead of sleeping on your back, sleep on your side, which can help to avoid the symptoms of sleep apnea getting in the way of a peaceful night’s sleep. When we sleep on our backs, the nasal and throat passages are more prone to obstructing the air-ways. Be sure you try sleeping on your side to get rid of a few of your problems caused by sleep apnea at night.
You may not even realize you have sleep apnea. If you have no wife or husband to tell you, you be unaware you stop breathing at night. You might consider video recording yourself asleep. Make sure to record any sounds you make so the doctor can hear them.
It is not easy to tell if you are suffering from sleep apnea if you don’t sleep with someone who can describe your sleep patterns. Try setting up a video camcorder to record yourself while you are sleeping at night. The video needs audio too so that the doctors can hear the noises you make.
Sleep Apnea
Get treatment for your allergies or sinus problems if you have sleep apnea. This condition makes sleeping troublesome. You really don’t want anything else impacting your air flow during sleep. Keeping your airway free and clear by treating your nasal problems gives you a much better chance of sleeping through the night without problems.
If you have a CPAP machine, carry your medical ID. This will let emergency personnel and others know you use a CPAP for sleep apnea. With your ID you can inform medical personnel about your sleep apnea and your CPAP device.
Try to prevent snoring with an over-the-counter device. Snoring occurs when air passages are almost closed, while sleep apnea occurs when air passages are completely closed. This is why it makes perfect sense as to why this might work for you. Use an anti-snoring device when you sleep.
Be sure to treat allergies and sinus issues right away if you suffer from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a difficult enough condition to deal with. You do not need anything else reducing your ability to get air while you sleep. Making sure your airway isn’t obstructed is your best bet to getting good sleep.
Consulting your GP is a necessary step in getting a diagnosis of sleep apnea, but self-help options are available. 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. Overeating, consuming an excessive amount of alcohol and too much caffeine before bed can all exacerbate sleep apnea.
Use only one, regular-sized pillow to sleep at night. Puffy pillows, or using too many pillows, can put you in a position that interferes with your breathing. You’ll be resting in such a way that makes breathing difficult. So pick out a single pillow you feel comfortable with to sleep on at night.
If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, it is imperative that you stop smoking. Smoking causes your throat to swell and that will make your condition even more difficult to deal with. Try to use some nicotine patches or other stop smoking programs or medications. It is the initial 30 days after you quit that are usually the hardest. After that, the nicotine starts to leave your body and the cravings lessen.
Eliminate all the risk factors you can. Be aware that certain risk factors, like gender and genes, cannot be changed. On the other hand, you can influence risk factors like your weight, smoking and drinking.
Strengthening your throat muscles can be very effective in reducing sleep apnea symptoms as well. The labored breathing common in sleep apnea is usually caused when the soft tissues of the throat collapse and obstruct the airway. The stronger your muscles are the less chance they will block your airways.
Wind Instrument
Minimize your alcohol intake. Snoring and airway blockages are made worse by over-relaxed throat muscles, and this is something that heavy drinking can cause. It’s best to put down the bottle entirely, but if you don’t want to do that, you should drink only minimal amounts, and do so early in the day. In this way, the alcohol will not disturb your sleep.
Playing a wind instrument is helpful. This is not only a good way to expand your horizons, but it will also strengthen the muscles that are the source of sleep apnea problems. 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.
Play a woodwind instrument. Playing a wind instrument exercises your throat muscles to make breathing easier and gives you the pleasure of beautiful music at the same time. If you consistently make an effort to strengthen your throat muscles, you’ll have a better time sleeping with sleep apnea.
Try sleeping on your side to reduce sleep apnea as back sleeping only worsens the symptoms. One way to keep yourself off your back while you sleep is to sew a pocket into the back of your pajamas and tuck something lumpy into it (a tennis ball is ideal). This will cause discomfort if you roll over onto your back.
If you have sleep apnea, you are not likely to realize it during your sleep. If you are having problems with excessive tiredness or falling asleep during the day with no known cause, talk to your doctor right away. Although you are not likely to realize that you are fighting for air every night as you sleep, you may very well have developed sleep apnea.
People that snore or have sleep apnea can play a musical instrument to help. This not only can help soothe your body, but it can also reduce the symptoms of sleep apnea. This new craft will help you keep control of your airways.
If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, give up sleeping facing up. Falling asleep on your back can create airway restrictions that prevent sound sleep. Instead, sleep on a side. You can use pillows to prop you up if side-sleeping is not something you are used to.
Corrective oral devices may be used to correct sleep apnea on occasion. Some people have an overbite or narrow jaws that are set in such a way that cause the apnea. A corrective device will alter the jaw alignment and allow greater passage of air.
It is possible to use a mouth guard to treat some of the symptoms of sleep apnea. This is due to the fact that the jaw on some people is configured in such a way that the air passages are narrowed. Your jaw can be aligned with a corrective device because air can flow more easily.
Life is hard enough without adding poor sleep quality to the mix. We hope that this article has given you excellent sleep apnea tips you can utilize so that you can hopefully sleep really well tonight and for the rest of your life.
A majority of sleep apnea sufferers sleep on their backs. If that is you, think about switching to the side. Many studies indicate that if you sleep on your side, it will help with your sleep apnea.
This article has all the blue widget information you require. Continue to learn and the possibilities will become endless. This knowledge will eventually help you to become a professional with the topic.
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