Obstructive sleep apnea is a breathing disorder whereby the soft tissues of the throat and airways close up during sleep, causing the sufferer to stop breathing. This is turn makes them wake suddenly, interrupting their sleep.
Although not dangerous, this condition can seriously affect the quality of your sleep, because it can cause you to wake up several times during the night, often from a state of deep sleep. As a result, many sufferers get up in the morning feeling weary and tired.
Thankfully there are a number of ways to treat and cure obstructive sleep apnea:
1. Improve Your Sleeping Posture
Often, this condition is caused by the sufferer lying in an awkward position that makes it easy for the tissues of the throat and airways to close up. Simply correcting this sleep posture can often cure the problem on its own. The best way to do this is to invest in a specialist pillow which holds the head, neck, and spine in alignment, thereby keeping the airways open. Lying on your side rather than your back has also been shown to help.
2. Strengthening Your Throat Muscles
Often, sufferers' throats close up because they do not have the strength to hold themselves open. There are a number of exercises that you can perform to help build up the strength in your throat, which will hopefully improve the quality of your sleep. These include specialist singing exercises, and playing musical instruments such as the didgeridoo. A number of programs are available depending on your preferences.
3. Surgery
Although it is considered to be the last resort, surgery has been shown to be very effective in curing sleep apnea. It works by removing excess skin from inside the throat, preventing them from coming together and restricting air flow. Although this is highly effective, most doctors will ask you to try one of the alternative, less intrusive methods first.
Sleep apnea can be a debilitating condition, but it doesn't need to be something that you have to put up with for the rest of your life. By taking action, and following the above steps, you can greatly improve your condition, or even cure it entirely.
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