Are you allowing sleep apnea to interfere with your amount of high-quality sleep? If so, then you should find some treatments immediately. Going through life on too little sleep is detrimental and even dangerous. Please consider the following advice on improving your sleep potential, despite having sleep apnea and all its symptoms.
Don’t drink alcoholic drinks if you suffer from sleep apnea. When you drink alcohol, your throat muscles become very relaxed. This can cause airway blockage. You don’t need to quit drinking completely, just avoid drinks before bed.
Avoid alcohol before bed as much as possible. Alcohol relaxes the muscles too much. You might want this consequence of consuming alcohol, but it also instigates sleep apnea. Your throat muscles become relaxed and cause your airways to become blocked. Reduce the frequency of your alcohol if you do continue to use it, and never drink close to bedtime.
Throat Muscles
Exercise and tone your throat and neck muscles to help with sleep apnea. By strengthening your throat muscles, you will stop your air passages from collapsing while you are sleeping. You can make soft noises, put your tongue in and out of your mouth, make faces, or even take up a wind instrument. All the above may help strengthen your throat muscles.
If extra tissue is present in your throat airways, it could be causing your sleep apnea and could possibly necessitate surgical removal. The procedure the surgeon carries out is called a UPPP, and can ameliorate your problem of sleep apnea. It is often necessary to take out the tonsils as well.
Proper fitting will insure a comfortable fit. The efficacy of plastic mouth guards in relieving snoring and keeping the airways clear (two significant sleep apnea factors) is well established. The setting of your jaw can contribute to the symptoms of your sleep apnea and actually make the condition worse.
Mouth Guard
Use a fitted sleep apnea mouth guard. Sleep apnea patients can have mouth guards that are custom made specifically to treat their condition. The mouth guard is more comfortable to use than a CPAP machine that works by applying constant positive airway pressure. The mouth guard keeps your jaw in the proper position and keeps your airway more open.
Working out your tongue can help treat your sleep apnea symptoms. Try to press your tongue up against the roof of your mouth. Then, hold it there for about three minutes. This makes your tongue and throat muscles even stronger than before, so you minimize your odds of them blocking your air flow during sleep.
Use a single, average-sized pillow for your head at night. An over-sized pillow, or a pile of multiple pillows, can alter your sleep position with negative impacts on your ability to breathe freely. This may result in breathing difficulties, because you end up in odd positions. Because of this you should only use one pillow for easier sleeping.
Sleep is not something you can skimp on. Just remember that it’s definitely possible to minimize the effects caused by this condition; give some of the suggestions presented in this article a try. You may well be able to manage your apnea symptoms or even eliminate them entirely.
