Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which a person experiences one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep presents. These pauses can last a few seconds, occur approximately 30 times per hour, and when breathing returns to normal, the person makes a loud noise similar to what we make when we choke. Because of this annoying sound, sleep apnea causes insomnia in the partner of the person who suffers from it.
Those who suffer from sleep apnea tend to snore very loudly and are usually men and people with overweight, family history, or tiny airways. People with this condition tend to experience severe drowsiness, which increases the risk of traffic accidents and other medical complications. Sleep apnea can be treated with surgery, oral appliances, and breathing aids. However, in this FastlyHealarticle, we have prepared a list of tricks to improve the pain and sleep better with this sleep disorder.
Table of Contents
Sleep apnea overview
- Sleep apnea is a chronic disorder; it is constant and happens every night.
- Sleep apnea is often not diagnosed because there is no way to verify its existence in a doctor’s office or blood tests.
- As this disorder occurs only during sleep, most people who suffer from it do not know it or find out from their partners.
- Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type of this condition, and it occurs because the airways narrow or become blocked while people sleep. This disorder is more common in people who are overweight.
- When the person normalizes breathing, the air that manages to pass through the airways can emit loud snoring.
- Children with huge tonsils can have sleep apnea.
- Central sleep apnea occurs when the brain does not send the message to the respiratory muscles to breathe for short periods.
What if sleep apnea is not treated
Improving sleep apnea is essential for the health of those who experience this disorder since this condition can cause the following complications:
- Increase your risk of hypertension, heart attacks, strokes, overweight, obesity, and diabetes.
- People with sleep apnea increase the chance of heart failure.
- Arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats are other untreated consequences of sleep apnea.
- Increases the risk of a car or work accident.
Symptoms of sleep apnea
- Drowsiness during the day
- I am feeling of shortness of breath when waking up during the night.
- The urge to urinate in the early morning.
- Dry mouth or throat upon waking.
- Morning headache
- Humor changes.
- Difficult to focus.
- Irritability and depression.
- Strange positions when sleeping.
- Excessive night sweats.
- Nightmares.
- Breathe through the mouth.
In some cases, sleep apnea can appear due to habits such as smoking, excessive intake of alcoholic beverages, obesity, and diabetes. This condition is more common in men than women.
Tricks to improve sleep apnea: sleeping position
When you sleep on your side, whether it is on the right or left side, the air enters the lungs better, and we breathe better while we sleep. The opposite occurs when we sleep completely on our stomachs or our back. While we are asleep, we cannot control the positions that our body adopts; a trick to improve sleep apnea is to lie on our side and place a cushion or pillow on our back that prevents us from turning over. Sleeping against a wall also works.
Some sleep in this position and guarantee good breathing, they sew an object in front and another in the back to sleepwear that allows us not to feel comfortable sleeping on our backs or our backs, and I swear we should sleep on our side.
Lift your head
Sleeping with the head raised allows the air to circulate better, and breathing is not interrupted. To achieve this, you can place more pillows on your head than you are used to so that it stays as high as possible compared to the rest of your body, allowing the air to enter the lungs correctly. Placing a pillow on your back at chest level will also create a lift that will benefit your breathing while you sleep.
Lose weight
It is believed that at least the loss of five kilos of excess weight can help to reduce the accumulated fat in the neck area, which considerably improves breathing, allowing the air to circulate correctly and without interruptions to the lungs. It is no secret to anyone that obesity worsens apnea symptoms.
To lose a few kilos, add vegetables and fruits to your diet, reduce the consumption of saturated or trans fats and increase the intake of good fats such as avocado and olive oil. We also advise you to prefer lean proteins and reduce the consumption of simple carbohydrates. Exercising will also help you burn fat. Remember, a slight weight loss can go a long way in improving your sleep apnea symptoms. We recommend the Mediterranean diet to lose weight, although it is always advisable to visit a specialist.
Other tricks to improve sleep apnea
- Tobacco use builds up fluids in the throat that can inflame the airways. Smokers with sleep apnea are at higher risk of being dependent on a ventilator.
- Another trick to improve sleep apnea is to dine lightly. I was eating large amounts before sleeping impairs deep rest and makes breathing difficult due to the feeling of fullness and heaviness.
- Alcohol and some sleeping pills have the property of relaxing the muscles to such an extent that the throat compromises its functions, so they are not recommended. Drinking a lot of coffee during the day can interfere with your sleep by altering your heartbeat.
- A perfect trick to improve apnea is to take a valerian infusion before sleeping to reduce nightmares and enhance sleep quality. In this article, we explain the health benefits of valerian.
This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any type of diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any type of condition or discomfort.
If you want to read more articles similar to Tricks to improve sleep apnea , we recommend that you enter our Lung and respiratory tract category .
I am a Surgeon with a diploma in comprehensive ultrasound and surgical care residency, an area I am specializing in. During the exercise of my profession, I have realized the need for patients to know the diseases they suffer, and I can tell you that a large part of their complications is due to a lack of information. Being a health web writer allows me to transmit my experience, without borders, to all those readers eager for knowledge, educate them in the prevention of diseases and promote a healthy lifestyle.