Solutions For Sleep Apnea
Obstructive Sleep Apnea occurs when the muscles around the rear part of the throat relax, when you are asleep. The muscles are responsible for holding and supporting your tonsils, tongue and soft palate. If these relax too much during sleep, the airway narrows, causing a reduced amount of oxygen to the body. This makes your brain lift you from deep sleep temporarily, so that the air passage is reopened.
If your case of sleep apnea is not severe, you may find that some sleep apnea solutions that can improve it. If you are overweight, then losing weight can reduce the occurrences. Also, try not to drink alcohol at night time. Smoking can also be a contributory factor, so giving up cigarettes can also help. Anything that relaxes the muscles medically, such as tranquillizers or sleeping pills can also have a detrimental effect on the throat’s muscle system. Some people find that sleeping on one side, instead of on their back lessens the symptoms too.
For more severe cases, sleep apnea treatments such as Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is a possible treatment. This is a mask which you wear over your mouth when sleeping. It sends compressed air into your throat, ensuring that the airway does not get blocked. Many people find this strange to wear to begin with, and some stop using it because of this. However, patients who persevere with it report that it works very effectively, despite their initial misgivings.
Amazingly, several medical studies in respected journals, such as the British Medical Journal have suggested that regularly playing the didgeridoo can also reduce snoring, daytime sleepiness, and other symptoms of sleep apnea. The study suggested that this was due to the patient training themselves to control their upper airways, and becoming more aware of how the muscles work. The study used 25 patients suffering from moderate obstructive sleep apnea. They took a random selection of these patients, and asked them to practice the didgeridoo every day for four months. After four months, the didgeridoo players reported significant improvements, compared to the control group.
Tags: air passage, airway pressure, CPAP, daytime sleepiness, deep sleep, medical studies, obstructive sleep, obstructive sleep apnea, sleep, Sleep Apnea, Sleep Apnea Solutions, sleep apnea treatment, Sleep Apnea Treatments, snoring, symptoms of sleep apnea, tonsilsRelated posts
Sleep Apnea Treatments
Sleep apnea is a problem that a lot of people have. It is basically when there are pauses when someone sleeps. Most people who have it do not actually know they have it. Sometimes it can be very serious because it can cause choking and gagging as you sleep. One of the primary symptoms is snoring, but since most people do that, it is tough to distinguish. It can be helped through a variety of sleep apnea treatments.
Sleep apnea is common in overweight individuals, so naturally one treatment is to lose weight. Cutting your weight by a few pounds can help you sleep better. Stop taking sedative drugs or even stop drinking alcohol or using tobacco products can help alleviate sleep apnea. These aforementioned items relax the throat which makes snoring more prone to happening. Usually sleep apnea occurs when people sleep on their backs. Naturally sleeping on your side can prevent this. Anything to help stop snoring can help which can be done by raising your bed or your pillows.
Something that has worked for me was the use of nasal strips. These go across the bridge of your nose and open up the passageways. These work extremely well and helps me breath amazingly during the night. Those are some things you can do to help, but there are also other sleep apnea cures and medical treatments as well.
The most common and effective treatment is CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure. Basically, you wear a mask while you sleep and it feed air through your nose as you sleep. This air prevents the airway from collapsing and doesn’t make you snore. The problem with this technique is that the mask is extremely uncomfortable. They have made some better masks now to wear to make this technique even better. Another option is surgery which can increase the size of the airway. This may include the removal of tonsils, adenoids, etc. This can eliminate sleep apnea all together.
One last option is jaw devices. These devices lower the jaw and push the tongue forward which opens up the airway all together. This has many side effects like a sore mouth. Overall, sleep apnea can be a nuisance, but there are many different ways to treat and alleviate it.
Tags: adenoid, airway pressure, CPAP, nasal strips, pillows, REM, sleep, Sleep Apnea, sleep apnea treatment, Sleep Apnea Treatments, snoring, stop snoring, tonsilsRelated posts
Various Sleep Apnea Treatments
As a dental professional, it is important to realize that treating sleep apnea involves multiple health care professionals as well as loved ones. One of the first steps a loved one can take in diagnosis and treatment of loved ones is recognition. Does your partner experience interrupted breathing while sleeping? Are these interruptions longer than a few seconds in duration and frequent in occurrence? Is excessively loud snoring common?
If so, then you should talk with your partner about the possibility of sleep apnea. Diabetics and overweight people tend to increase the likelihood of developing sleep apnea. Many people are sensitive when it comes to discussing their embarrassing sleeping habits. That’s why I make it a point to ask spouses whether or not these events are occurring. I then look for other oral conditions that may exacerbate breathing while sleeping. If a patient presents with an abnormally large tongue or uvula during an oral examination that I believe may impede his or her ability to sleep, then a physician referral becomes necessary for proper diagnosis and treatment.
As far as sleep apnea treatments are concerned, the physician and dental professional must work together in concert. Treatment, of course, depends on the severity of the condition. The severity of the condition is often defined as how many interrupted breathing occurrences happen within a specified time frame.
A special machine with a face mask known as a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) may sometimes be used to treat obstructive sleep apnea. However compliance and home care maintenance to avoid bacterial growth in the various lines of the machine often reduce the success of such a treatment.
Alternatively, lesser invasive appliances such as an oral device may work better for patients with less severe forms of sleep apnea. Furthermore, in some mild cases, weight loss may be issued as a form of treatment to treat sleep apnea. Decreasing the amount of fat and therefore pressure may help to open up the airway, and in more radical cases, some patients may even opt to have their uvula surgically removed in order to create a more efficient airway.
Finally, one may also help treat their sleep apnea condition by positioning themselves more upright during sleep. This, however, may affect the quality of sleep one may receive as some people find it difficult to sleep in such a position. These are only a few of the available sleep apnea cures you can ask your physician about.
Tags: airway pressure, CPAP, REM, sleep, Sleep Apnea, sleep apnea treatment, Sleep Apnea Treatments, snoring, treating sleep apnea