While there is no cure for sleep apnea, studies show that certain lifestyle factors can reverse or make your sleep apnea less intense. Other treatment or surgical options can also reverse the condition. Sleep apnea happens when your upper airway muscles relax while you sleep. This causes you to not get enough air.
While there is no cure for this chronic condition, there are treatments and lifestyle changes that can reduce your sleep apnea symptoms. This article will help you to understand the underlying causes of sleep apnea and the changes you can make to reduce your risk factors.
Surgical opening in the neck, known as a tracheostomy.
Other types of surgery may help reduce snoring and sleep apnea by clearing or enlarging air passages, including: Nasal surgery to remove polyps or straighten a crooked partition between the nostrils, called a deviated septum.
In some cases, sleep apnea can resolve if you return to a healthy weight, but it can recur if you regain the weight. Exercise. Regular exercise can help ease the symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea even without weight loss. Try to get 30 minutes of moderate activity, such as a brisk walk, most days of the week.
Home remedies, such as healthful lifestyle changes and elevating the head at night, may help reduce episodes of apnea. However, if a person has moderate or severe sleep apnea, they should see a doctor. They will probably need to wear a CPAP device to support their breathing.
Severe sleep apnea shortens life expectancy, in the worse case by as much as 4 times. Individuals with severe sleep apnea from the study reported having strokes and even cancer before they died, proving how much severe sleep apnea can be very destructive to someone's health.
If you undergo surgery, it will take several days to recover. If you are using CPAP, it will take some time before you notice the positive effects of the treatment. Averagely, the effects will start showing around three months, and full recovery can be up to a year.
There is good news. Upper airway stimulation therapy using a hypoglossal nerve stimulator is an option for people who are unable to tolerate their CPAPs. It's been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
If you have problems with OSA from being obese or overweight, weight loss can be an option to help manage your OSA. Losing as little as 5-10% of your body weight can improve or resolve OSA.
Weight loss of just 10-15% can reduce the severity of OSA by 50% in moderately obese patients. Unfortunately, while weight loss can provide meaningful improvements in OSA, it usually does not lead to a complete cure, and many sleep apnea patients need additional therapies.
Carrying extra weight contributes to breathing problems during sleep, as fat or adipose tissues that line the neck cause narrowing of the air passages. For an overwhelming majority of patients (around 80%), just getting to a healthier weight is enough to make their sleep apnea go away.
You can receive a rating of 0, 30, 50, or 100 percent for sleep apnea. 0 Percent: You are asymptomatic but have a documented sleep disorder.
The prevalence of sleep apnoea increases with age, although the severity of the disorder, as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with it, may actually decrease in the elderly. A decline in cognitive functioning in older adults with sleep apnoea may resemble dementia.
The risks associated with sleep apnea are probably a bit overblown. About 11% of the general population have or will have sleep apnea, but only 4% of those who have sleep apnea will have it severe enough to cause long-term health problems, such as high blood pressure or strokes.
Unfortunately, we can't really call sleep apnea treatments like positive airway pressure (PAP) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea cures. They usually work very well in eliminating sleep apnea symptoms, but they're a means of treating and living with the condition, not of getting rid of it.
Many hypermobile patients, many of whom are young and slender, have sleep disordered breathing, or mild sleep apnea, as an explanation for their fatigue.
Notably, IGF-1 stimulates protein synthesis and maintains muscle mass. Our study and others have reported significant increases in IGF-1 in patients adherent to CPAP. Thus, the restoration of the GH axis and increase in IGF-1 in CPAP adherent patients likely contributed to weight gain and potential increase in LBM.
Those with the sleep disorder can have increased insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, weight gain, and the body storing more fat, especially belly fat. Sleep apnea may cause metabolic dysfunction through a few different pathways.
Use of alcohol, sedatives or tranquilizers.
These substances relax the muscles in your throat, which can worsen obstructive sleep apnea.
Bell's Advice for Overcoming OSA
As for equipment, Bell doesn't use the popular CPAP machine often prescribed for sleep apnea. Instead he uses a dentist-made device that moves his jaw forward and prevents his tongue from blocking his airway.
As with obstructive sleep apnea, alternatives to CPAP may include other PAP devices like a BiPAP or ASV machine. The optimal device depends on the nature of your breathing patterns and what is causing your CSA.
Sleep apnea can happen to anyone, ranging from infants and children to older adults. Obstructive sleep apnea is more common in certain circumstances and groups of people: Before age 50, it's more common in men and people assigned male at birth (AMAB).
A lack of sleep can also negatively affect skin collagen production at night. That's why getting a good night's rest can make a visible difference in appearance. Consistent treatment for sleep apnea can reduce facial puffiness, redness and forehead wrinkles.
A person with sleep apnea is likely to experience daytime sleepiness and brain fog. This is hardly surprising when you consider that the brain is not receiving enough oxygen during the night and the person is not getting enough quality sleep.