Choosing a Sleep Apnea Treatment

When a person suffers from sleep apnea, they might awaken each day feeling tired even though they have had a full night's sleep.  They might also find that they have headaches in the morning because they have stopped breathing several hundred times during the night, thus blocking the oxygen flow to the tissues of the body.  They will usually feel fatigued throughout the day, and will find that they are irritable to others.  They will also have trouble concentrating and may even find it difficult to remember things.  In order to help, there are sleep apnea treatments available for them to use.  Some are as simple as a pillow while others are sleep apnea machines that keep the airflow constant throughout the night.

Lifestyle Changes

One of the best sleep apnea treatments is to change some things in the person's lifestyle.  If the person drinks alcohol on a regular basis, that should be cut out of his diet since alcohol relaxes the muscles that are in charge of keeping the airway open, which makes it more likely that his sleep apnea will occur.  If the person is overweight, he should work on losing it through a proper diet and exercise plan that he and his doctor decide upon.  By losing the weight, the person has less tissue that can fall back and obstruct the airway during the night.

Another treatment for sleep apnea is to find ways to make sure that the person sleeps on his side instead of his back during the night.  Some people will buy certain pillows that force them to stay on their sides, such as those that are sewn into a pajama top.  It is also possible to sew a back pocket into a pajama top so that a tennis ball can be placed in it.  The tennis ball will be uncomfortable if the person tries to roll onto his back, and thus it works as a sleep apnea treatment to keep him on his side. 

If the person is a smoker, he should also stop as a part of his sleep apnea treatment.  The nicotine in the cigarettes also relaxes the muscles of the throat and makes the airway narrow.  The bed that the person sleeps in can also be modified so that the head of the bed is raised about four to six inches.  This can be done by placing bricks under the legs at the head of the bed, or the person can buy another type of pillow called a cervical pillow to do the same thing to the person's body.