Changing Your Lifestyle To Prevent Sleep Apnea
Often, body position greatly affects the number and severity of episodes of obstructive apnea
. For instance, there are twice as many disturbances during rest when an individual lies upward, as opposed to on their side.
This may be due to the effects of gravity, which cause the throat to narrow when a person lies on the back. As a first step in dealing with the disorder, the patient should simply try rolling over onto the side.
Patients who lie on their backs and have 50 to 80 breathless events per hour can sometimes reduce them to nearly zero when they shift to one side or the other. The more overweight a person is the less effective changing positions is, but it may still help.
Some suggestions that might help a person maintain a low-risk sleeping position are finding ways to make them stay on their side. This may mean sewing a small pocket to the back of the pajamas and place a tennis ball or other small ball into it to keep you from rolling on to your back.
You can also buy a special pillow that helps to stretch the neck. This may reduce snoring and improve rest for people with mild apnea.
It is also suggested that sleeping in an upright position could improve oxygen levels in overweight people with sleep apnea. This would require you to elevate the head of the bed, which may difficult if you have a partner in the bed.
Over-the-counter nasal strips or other devices that open the nostrils are inexpensive and useful to prevent snoring. They may significantly improve early-stage rest in people with sleep disorders associated with nasal obstruction and help reduce morning tiredness.
They are not intended as treatments for the disorder, however. All patients with obstructive sleep apnea who are overweight should attempt a weight-reducing program.
Weight loss certainly reduces snoring in many people, sometimes stopping it completely. It also improves rest and significantly reduces daytime dreariness.
At the very least, losing weight is certainly important for healthy blood pressure and for reducing the risk for diabetes. Smokers should quit, since smoking affects your nasal and respiratory passages.
Alcohol should be avoided within four hours of rest as well. In general, most drugs are not very beneficial except for specific situations.
Using medications for treating accompanying disorders that may be associated with the disorder may be helpful. You should always consult your doctor before taking any drugs, especially when you are taking more than one kind.
Provigil is a drug that is supposed to help narcolepsy, and is the first drug to treat the tiredness associated with obstructive sleep apnea. However, Provigil is meant to be used in combination with standard treatments such as continuous positive airway pressure.
Thyroid hormones may also help in those with hypothyroidism. Theophylline is a drug commonly used for asthma management, but has shown to help people with a combination of apnea and heart failure.
A nasal spray containing steroids can help improve breathing for those individuals with enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Treatment for sleep apnea depends on the severity of the problem, and one solution will not work for every individual with the disorder.
It is important for patients to treat the problem as they would any chronic disease. Simply trying to treat one symptom, like snoring, will not treat the disorder.
The best treatment for severe obstructive and mixed apnea is a system known as continuous positive airflow pressure or CPAP. This is safe and effective in patients of all ages, including children.
The device itself is a machine weighing about five pounds that fits on a bedside table. A mask containing a tube connects to the device and fits over just the nose.
The machine supplies a steady stream of air through a tube and applies sufficient air pressure to prevent the tissues from collapsing during rest. Typically, patients with the disorder but no daytime sleepiness report little or no benefit from CPAP.
by: Ignacio Lopez
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