Is sleep apnea keeping you up at night? This rather common condition affects many people and some people don’t even know they have it. There are some things you can do to make loving with condition a little more bearable. The following article will help you sleep better with sleep apnea.
It may sound silly, but taking up a music instrument may improve your sleep apnea. When subjects in Germany were taught to play the didgeridoo, their sleep apnea symptoms were reduced. The researchers believe that practicing the instrument improved the tone of the muscles in the upper airway, which are responsible for airway dilation.
Try your best to lay off tobacco and nicotine products. Cigarette smoke can irritate your upper airway causing it to swell up, subsequently hindering your ability to breath during the night. Quitting smoking could therefore, significantly improve your sleep apnea symptoms and will also improve your body’s overall health and your feelings of well-being.
Avoid drinking alcohol. Getting buzzed or drunk causes your airways to relax too much. If someone goes to sleep in a drunk state, you can hear the effects from their deep snoring. In someone who already suffers from sleep apnea, it can be very dangerous. Avoid alcoholic drinks to sleep safer.
A great way to ensure that you do not sleep on your back and cause sleep apnea to occur is to use a tennis ball to prevent rolling onto your back. You can place one in a pillow behind your back and when you roll over in your sleep, the tennis ball will make you roll back on your side.
A good way to determine if you are suffering from sleep apnea is by recording yourself when you sleep. You can do either an audio or video recording to catch your sleep patterns and sounds you generate when you are in a deep slumber. These recordings can be quite informative. Try doing them for several nights in a row to get a good range of information.
If you smoke cigarettes and are suffering from sleep apnea, now is the best time to quit this habit. When you smoke, you are increasing the inflammation and the fluid retention in your throat along with your upper airways, and that will contribute greatly to sleep apnea. Once you quit, you should notice your symptoms start to lessen.
If you have sleep apnea, and you have to have a sleep study, considering taking your pillow from home with you. It can be very difficult to sleep in the sleep lab. You are in an unfamiliar place in a strange bed. You have lots of wires, and electrodes attached to you. Having your own pillow can help to relax you and make it easier to fall asleep.
One great way to track your sleep progress, especially if you sleep alone, is by recording yourself in the night. The next day you can watch for signs of apnea and see if there are specific times or triggers that cause the apnea. This is a great resource for your medical professional as well.
Make sure that your airways are open while you sleep if you suffer from sleep apnea. You can do this by using some nasal strips, a saline nose spray, or a netipot. This will allow you not to struggle so much with your breathing and the better your breathing is, the least symptoms you will experience.
Having sleep apnea puts you at risk for developing diabetes. When you go into sleep apnea, the body is deprived of oxygen and must produce more adrenalin to compensate, which causes sugar levels to rise. If you already have diabetes, check your sugar levels at night. If you do not have diabetes, make sure you adopt a healthy diet to prevent this condition from developing.
Try to find ways to really tire yourself out before going to bed. This means expending both your mental and physical energy before putting your head on the pillow. Going for a long walk is a great way to calm yourself down and clear your mind while also getting exercise.
Clear your nasal passages before you go to sleep to avoid apnea. Open them up by using some saline spray, nasal dilator or a neti pot. Clearing the nasal passages will allow you to breathe easier while you are sleeping. Do not forget to use distilled water when you use a neti pot.
Smoking is another thing which makes the problem of sleep apnea worse. It actually irritates the nasal passages and makes them swell. This in turn causes the airways to be partially blocked, making breathing on auto pilot while you are asleep more difficult. Cutting smoking out entirely is ideal, but even reducing the amount you smoke may help.
Remember that CPAP machines treat the symptoms and will not cure your sleep apnea. The CPAP mechanically forces your airway to stay open while you sleep by continuously passing air through your airways. Although it will help your apnea symptoms, you will have to make other changes in your life if you actually want to cure your sleep apnea.
A newer, yet popular sleep apnea treatment is flower therapy. This is where a person sniffs flowers to help open up the airways to sleep better. Usually, it’s recommended that you try this treatment about 30 minutes prior to bed. Vervain is the most common flower used in this kind of treatment.
Learn to control anxiety, to lessen the severity of sleep apnea symptoms. Just facing a restless night of sleep can create enough anxiety to keep you up! Learn effective anxiety-control methods that will enable you to clear your mind of problems, including the possibility of experiencing sleep apnea, so that you increase the chances of actually getting to sleep.
You do not have to look at sleep apnea as something that will ruin your life or your sleep. There are several things that you can do to make sleeping at night a more pleasurable experience. Use the tips in this article to help you deal with this common condition.