If you suffer from sleep apnea, it is not the end of the world, but it is important to seek treatment and learn how to live with it. As you might already know, sleep apnea is an extremely common condition and, while serious, it does have many treatment options available. You will find plenty of useful advice for dealing with sleep apnea throughout this blog, as well as the website. Let’s take a look at how you can successfully live with sleep apnea:
Stop Bad Habits
That’s right—put an end to those bad habits! Stopping bad habits may help with your sleep apnea. For example, two of the biggest problems are drinking and smoking. Drinking depresses the respiratory system and can cause severe breathing issues. Smoking introduces known carcinogens into your lungs and damages them over time. Quitting both of these habits completely will help to alleviate your symptoms.
Change How You Sleep
Try to sleep on your side to prevent sleep apnea from robbing you of a good night’s sleep. By sleeping on your back, you can cause air passages to constrict. If you have trouble staying off your back, try to sew a tennis ball into the back of your pajamas to help you stay on your side. You may see a big difference in the quality of your sleep once you start sleeping on your side!
Additionally, it is important to have a regular bedtime. Sleep apnea causes regular interruptions in your ordinary nightly sleep cycle, so it is important to do whatever you can to restore your natural sleeping patterns. By doing this, you will find that you can handle the sleep apnea a little bit better. Start with going to bed at a set time every night and waking up at the same time daily.
Oral Appliance Therapy
Another option is oral appliance therapy. The use of oral appliance therapy can significantly improve your symptoms and quality of sleep each night. And, best of us, it is not an intrusive object that can disrupt your comfort and level of sleep!
Contact Dr. Mayoor Patel at Craniofacial Pain & Dental Sleep Center of Georgia for more information on combating your sleep apnea and what options are available for treatment for your individual case.
