Home Treatment for Sleep Apnea
Effective Home Treatments for Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when an adult regularly stops breathing or has slowed breathing during sleep for 10 seconds or longer. It is found that more than 12 million Americans have sleep apnea. The three main types of sleep apnea are Obstructive sleep apnea, Central sleep apnea and mixed sleep apnea. People with sleep apnea often snore loudly and have restless sleep with difficulty breathing. However, not everyone who snores has sleep apnea. It can be mild, moderate, or severe, based on the number of times per hour breathing stops or slows.
Medications are generally not effective in the treatment of sleep apnea. Therefore more and more people are attracted towards the home treatment for sleep apnea. If you have mild sleep apnea you can treat it at home. Home treatment for sleep apnea includes:
Weight loss:
One of the most significant home treatments for sleep apnea is weight loss. It is found that many people who have sleep apnea are overweight. Overweight contributes to sleep apnea in two ways. Firstly fat deposits in the neck tissue compress the airway and make it more likely to collapse. Secondly Overweight in the abdomen makes the breathing muscles operate inefficiently, which contributes to breathing difficulty when sleeping. Studies have shown that weight loss reduces the number of times per hour you stop breathing or breathe very slowly. This shows that weight loss is a component of managing sleep apnea and also a good home treatment for sleep apnea.
Limiting the use of Alcohol and Medicine:
Alcohol depresses your breathing reflexes and significantly worsens sleep apnea. Therefore eliminate alcohol in the evening. Avoid the intake of medicines like sleeping pills or sedatives that might affect your breathing, before sleep. Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol or taking certain medicines may make symptoms worse. It's possible that if you depress your reflexes enough, you might not wake up at all.
Avoid Smoking and use of Tobacco:
Smoking increases the risk, which appears to resolve with smoking cessation. It is found that smoking irritates the upper respiratory tract and makes sleep apnea worse. However, quitting smoking might also help your sleep apnea in addition to its countless other health benefits, by returning lung capacity to normal. Try to eliminate your smoking habit. Along with smoking also try to avoid the consumption of tobacco. Avoiding the use of cigarette and tobacco can reduce the likelihood of airway closure during the night.
Regularize your Sleep Hours:
Irregular sleep hours can throw off your sleep cycles and lead to breathing problems during the most important sleep stages. Apnea episodes may be more frequent when you have not had enough sleep. Therefore set a schedule. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on the weekends. Get plenty of sleep. Stabilizing bedtime hours and eliminating disturbances to your sleep can reduce sleep apnea.
Stay away from Stimulants like Caffeine:
Stimulants like caffeine delays sleep and increase arousals during the night. So staying away from stimulants will help you get deep sleep, which is most refreshing. Even then if you take any caffeine, take it in the morning. Avoid all stimulants in the evening, including chocolate, caffeinated sodas, and caffeinated teas.
Sleep on your side:
Try to sleep on your side. Sleep apnea may improve with changes in sleep habits, such as not sleeping on your back. Sleeping on your side may eliminate mild sleep apnea. People who experience sleep apnea only when they sleep on their backs can have benefit from special pillows or folk remedies that encourage side-sleeping, such as the tennis ball trick. Sew a pocket in the middle of the back of your pajama top, put a tennis ball into the pocket, and stitch it closed. This will help keep you from sleeping on your back.