Is There A Natural Cure For Sleep Apnea?
Treating Sleep Apnea Without Artificial Means
Most treatment methods for sleep apnea today make use of CPAP machines or other artificial means but if you prefer to use a natural cure for sleep apnea, there are also several good options that you can choose from. Some of the most popular natural methods include the use of a sleep apnea pillow to keep you in the proper position while sleeping, or nasal strips that will keep your airways open all night. But these remedies provide only temporary solutions and do not get rid of the problem for good. If you are looking for a permanent natural cure for sleep apnea, you might want to look into making some drastic changes to your lifestyle.
Most Effective Natural Remedies
One of the most common causes of sleep apnea is obesity. It only follows that a very good natural cure for sleep apnea would be to exercise regularly and to lose weight. Extremely overweight people are at a much higher risk for sleep apnea because the fat tissues that have built up in their throat are likely to block their breathing especially while they are sleeping. Therefore, by trying to lose some of the extra weight, you can also reduce your risks of suffering from sleep apnea, as well as a myriad of other health issues. In addition to exercise, you should also make positive changes to your diet and lay off on unhealthy ingredients that can cause further weight gain.
Another great natural cure for sleep apnea is to cut down on alcohol consumption and to avoid taking certain medications such as sleeping pills and prohibited drugs. All of these substances contribute to the relaxation of the muscles in the throat, making it more likely for these muscles to become obstructions to the airway as they fall into the throat while you sleep. Besides, these substances will do you no good anyway so it is best to avoid them in any case.
Finally, something as simple as making changes to your sleeping position may also also be a very effective natural cure for sleep apnea. Studies show that if you sleep on your side or your stomach, you will be much less likely to suffer from sleep apnea as you would be when lying straight on your back. To keep you in the right position when sleeping, you can use sleeping aids like the sleep apnea pillow that we have mentioned earlier.
How to Prevent and Cure Sleep Apnea
There are now various techniques to cure sleep apnea. What used to be a cause for alarm and worry for some people can now be prevented with the use of modern gadgets and methods of conditioning and preparing oneself. Your doctor or therapist, after assessing the nature of your problem and the circumstances that cause it, can recommend an appropriate method, or combination of methods, that will work best with you.
There are different kinds of sleep apnea, and therefore different ways of curing it. The effective way to cure sleep apnea will also depend on the person’s sleeping patterns, lifestyle, and in certain cases on the anatomic structure of the individual’s oral cavity. The most severe cases usually involve the last, where often, surgery may be necessary to cure sleep apnea. Depending on the nature of the physical obstruction that causes the interrupted breathing during sleep, surgery may involve the removal of obstructive tissue in the throat, enlarging the space for air passage through jaw surgery, or implanting a kind of an artificial airway in the throat so that air can pass freely even when the person is sleeping.
Simpler Ways for More Common Cases
For most people, however, sleep apnea is not so severe as to require any of the above surgical procedures. For these less serious cases, simpler techniques may be applied to cure sleep apnea. Since sleep apnea often occurs when a person is lying on his back, simply using an apnea pillow is usually enough to ensure unobstructed breathing throughout one’s sleeping hours. The apnea pillow keeps a sleeping person on a sideways position or flat on his stomach, and prevents him from turning while sleeping so that he does not get to lie prone on his back.
There is also a kind of gadget that can be fitted into one’s mouth. When worn, this mouthpiece provides breathing space at the throat and keeps this space open even if the mouth and the jaw move while the person is sleeping. This device requires a dentist to fit it in the mouth, and also requires a dentist to check at least once a year to make sure that the device is properly positioned and working well.
Acupuncture, which many claim can relieve a number of different ailments and health problems, has been found by some people to have helped them cure their sleep apnea. Still others resort to breathing machines designed to cure sleep apnea.