My Life and Sleep Apnea

If you have sleep apnea then you know that the number one way to eliminate it is by using a CPAP mask. Surgery can also be used but it doesn’t always work and the recovery period can be very long. Of course with the CPAP mask you will definitely have to take time to get used to the air being pushed into your mouth by the CPAP machine. Some at first struggle with it and then get used to it while others find it impossible to use. So what if you can’t use a CPAP and you are very leery of surgery, then what do you do? While it might not completely cure your sleep apnea there are things that you can do to lessen the extent of it.  Although not everyone who has sleep apnea is overweight but the vast majority are. While it is easier said than done, losing weight would be a big help. The tissue in your throat wouldn’t be as bad as it was when you were heavier. Not a cure but it will help.   Throat exercises can also be helpful because it tightens the muscles in ...

One of the things that seem to go hand in hand with sleep apnea is being overweight . It is certainly understandable considering that the blockage in the back of your throat due to excess tissue is probably due to weight gain. Of course not all sleep apnea patients are overweight, as you probably know the shape of your face and an enlarged tongue can also cause sleep apnea . In my case I have all three problems, I am overweight, I have a big face and an enlarged tongue. I can’t do anything about the shape of my face or my enlarged tongue (of course surgery might help but I don’t want to go there). However losing weight is something that I can do about, but I don’t. Why? I have other health issues that limit how much exercise I can do but I don’t have any excuses for eating too much. Exercise and weight loss which are so important is ignored by plenty of folks. Even with the dire consequences of not living a healthy lifestyle, eating right and exercise are put off and forgotten. Th...

There has been a lot of information on the web lately about how losing weight will help with sleep apnea. A study done at the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia has come to the conclusion that a loss of 10 percent will greatly reduce sleep apnea in patients. Most of headlines that I have read will have you believe that is just folks with sleep apnea. The study was actually done with people who also had type 2 diabetes. This all sounds encouraging but I can’t see that losing 10 percent of your weight can have that much effect on sleep apnea because not all sleep apnea is caused by being overweight . My father had sleep apnea and he wasn’t overweight. Losing weight wasn’t an option for him and even if it was it wouldn’t have helped his sleep apnea. The other causes of sleep apnea are: The size and shape of your head may cause the airway in your mouth to be smaller When you get older your brain sends signals to the muscles in the mouth ...