Experts proceed to emphasise the importance of lifestyle changes—especially weight reduction—for treating obstructive sleep apnea.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder through which the airway becomes blocked during sleep, disrupting respiration — sometimes dozens of times in a single night. Having obstructive sleep apnea puts you in danger for quite a lot of other conditions, including hypertension and stroke.
The importance of weight reduction
The link between extra weight and lack of sleep is well established. People who’re obese usually tend to have extra tissue behind the throat that may collapse onto the airway and block the flow of air to the lungs while sleeping.
Although shedding pounds is claimed to be easy, it could yield real results. If obese and obese people shed weight, it could result in sleep deprivation and other health problems. [such as heart disease] go away. Losing just 10 percent of body weight can have a big effect on sleep deprivation symptoms. In some cases, even losing a major amount of weight can improve the condition.
Other options
ACP also strongly recommends continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP. This is often the first-line treatment for individuals with sleep apnea, as weight reduction might be very difficult to attain. CPAP is a mask or device that matches over the nose and mouth. It blows air into the air ducts to maintain them open at night.
CPAP works well—but not everyone who needs it’s able to wear a ventilator. Research has found that half or more of people that try CPAP don’t stick with treatment. It takes some getting used to. The excellent news is that changes in technology are making CPAP much easier to tolerate. When CPAP therapy was introduced, it was one-size-fits-all. As we search for more ways to enhance patients' ability to make use of it, there are different types of masks being developed.
A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine prevents sleep apnea by blowing air right into a mask that covers the nose and mouth. Air flow keeps the airways open.
Another alternative to CPAP is an oral appliance. These plastic inserts fit into the mouth and stop the tongue and tissues in the back of the throat from collapsing into the airway during sleep.
CPAP and oral appliances work well, but they should not a cure for sleep apnea. The only sure method to rid yourself of condition is to either shed weight or have surgery to remove excess tissue from the palate or throat. Surgery can have unintended effects, which is why it's often seen as a final resort. But if you happen to can't afford CPAP or oral appliances and also you're struggling to shed weight, that is an option.
Treatment is personal.
Before you’ll be able to choose treatment, you first have to discover that you’ve sleep apnea. Because respiration pauses occur during sleep, most individuals with apnea don't realize they’ve it.
Key indicators are nighttime snoring and daytime sleepiness. Your doctor may perform a sleep study, checking your respiration when you sleep in a lab or connected to a monitoring device at home. It's vital to get an objective measurement, like a sleep study, since the treatment you select will rely upon how severe the sleep deprivation is.
Sleep apnea shouldn’t be the identical as pneumonia. You can't try one treatment and expect your symptoms to vanish. Instead, treatment must be individualized. “The best CPAP device is the one you’re going to use.