what can help my sleep apnea?
I have sleep apnea, and I am going to my doctor friday to have it checked out. Besides trying to lose weight and such, what are some things I can do for now to help control my sleep apnea?
Tagged with: sleep • sleep apnea
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Symptoms
Aside from the doctor and a prescribed sleep mask you can try elevating the headboard of your bed to decrease downward pressure in addition to sleeping on your side. Also if you work at a desk job try getting up and walking around the building a few extra times a day. Sitting for long periods of time has been shown to be a cause for some cases of sleep apnea… especially in those who are not overweight. Lastly and most obviously you said it yourself, losing weight will often help but this is not always the problem. Good luck.
Check out this link for more information: http://www.ehow.com/how_5309799_treat-sleep-apnea-symptoms.html
I understand you whant to know more about treatments of sleep apnea that can be done at home.
You will go to the doctor friday, and he will maybe recommend a treatment for you. But I will tell you the most common treatments, including the one that can be done at home.
Let’s start with CPAP, which is the most common and effective treatment. CPAP is a breathing machine that deliver Continuous Positive Airway Pressure.
An alternative to CPAP is Dental Devices, used to relieve upper airway obstruction and snoring by modifying the position of the mandible, tongue, and other oral-pharyngeal structures. An oral appliance also prevents the tongue from blocking the airway passages.
You can use a Sleep Apnea Pillow, which is designed to reduce snoring and sleep apnea side effects. The pillow is developed to prevent patients from rolling onto their backs when they sleep. You can learn more about this pillow here http://www.sleep-apnea-guide.com/sleep-apnea-pillow.html.
Other interesting and new discovery in treatment of sleep apnea is playing to an instrument, named Didgeridoo. The positive effects are tested in laboratory.
What else should I tell you to improve your sleep apnea?
Whell, if you have a mild sleep apnea, you can do the following:
-try sleeping on your side rather than sleeping on your back as it can produces loud snores because of blockages.
-elevate the head when you sleep. This measure can alleviate snoring and make breathing easier.
-use an air humidifier at nighttime to make the air moister.
-don’t smoke for at leas several hours prior to bedtime. Doing so, the smoke can cause the airways to tighten in the neck, worsening sleep apnea.
-use a nasal dilator, saline nasal spray or breathe right strips to help open nasal passages.
-and…do exercises to help your weight loss.
i think that’s all! Before going to the doctor, learn more about sleep apnea. I think http://www.sleep-apnea-guide.com is a good resource.
I hope it helps!
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ya git a doc to give u a breathing machine
Always check with your Doctor first …
There is a problem FALLING asleep and STAYING asleep.
Most people have one or the other. I had both.
I tried everything…but what helped me the most was finding out what triggered me in both cases. Waking up after falling asleep was due to me wanting to look at the alarm clock to see how much time I got to sleep. I was so tired and knew I had to wake up early that I would always wake up to see how much time I had left. Silly I know, but that was what caused me to wake up. After I removed the alarm clock, I couldn’t believe it, after a few times of waking up and looking for the alarm clock that wasn’t there, I was finally NOT waking up anymore.
Now FALLING asleep was the hard part for me. I found that what kept me awake at night was pain in my lower back. I finally started taking pain meds to control that, and now I fall asleep just fine…Hope you find out what keeps you from getting all the sleep you need. Good Luck
go to the doctor…they perscribe sleeping masks
It looks like I might have sleep apnea too, and they can’t schedule me for testing/masks immediately. So, I’ve been looking on the web for stuff. (-: The didgeridoo sounds like a fun way to combat the problem!
However, what I found on e-how was a list of 6 exercises. One exercise was saying the vowels (a-e-i-o-u) for three minutes. I do voice exercises in the morning for my classes anyway, but I was usually just doing "ah." However, I started doing a-e-i-o-u, and I think it might be helping. The voice exercises (which I got from a musical improv book/CD) are 2 minutes and 40 seconds. I do one round of "ahs" to warm up, and two rounds doing the vowels.
There are other tongue motions involved, too. Anyway, it certainly can’t hurt, and I feel my voice has gotten much stronger, thanks to the exercises (I’m on day 2).