How To Beat Sleep Apnea Naturally

Health & Medical Blog

Sleep disorders including sleep apnea affect over 1.5 million Australians. More worryingly, 80% of these people have not been diagnosed. Sleep apnea, though, is a dangerous sleep disorder that you can't afford to ignore.

How Sleep Apnea Occurs

The disorder occurs when the throat muscles relax too much when someone is sleeping; this narrows the windpipe and restricts airflow. The body reacts by initiating mechanisms that help in pulling in more air. If the mechanisms are not successful, the brain wakes you up to prevent you from dying. An apnea takes at least 10 seconds but can last up to 60 seconds.

If you ignore the condition for too long, it can lead to other medical conditions and diseases such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure. People with the disorder are also seven times more likely to cause motor vehicle accidents.

How To Treat The Condition

The secret in treating sleep apnea using natural methods lies in monitoring your diet and participating in physical exercises, particularly tongue and mouth exercises.

• Eating Well – Consume foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as fish. Omega-3 fatty acids protect the body cells against the stress caused by sleep apnea. People with low omega-3 levels often suffer from severe cases of sleep apnea.

You may also want to try the traditional Japanese herb known as Kampo. It contains five medicinal herbs that work well against sleep apnea. The magic herbs are ginger, magnolia bark, hoelen, perilla, and pinellia.

Cheese and oatmeal are other foods you must incorporate in your daily meals. Oatmeal is rich in sleep-inducing carbohydrates while cheese is rich in tryptophan, a substance that also induces sleepiness.

• Exercising Properly – Exercising is even more important because there is a link between weight and sleep apnea. If you gain too much weight, your windpipe muscles thicken and interrupt with the flow of air. When you put your body through exercises, the windpipe loses its thickness and air flow returns to normal. There are plenty of exercises that can help you to reduce weight. They include jogging, running and participating in sports.

Tongue and mouth exercises can also do you good if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea. One example of an effective exercise is placing a pencil in the teeth before going to sleep; hold the pencil between your teeth for ten minutes. Another exercise is to position the tongue in between the teeth; position the tongue and swallow your saliva. Do the exercise five times every day. These exercises help in straightening the throat and face muscles, which in effect reduces the severity of the disorder.

Also note that treating sleep apnea can have a positive effect on the welfare of others; some side effects of the disorder such as snoring can deny your partner or roommate a good night's sleep. For more information on sleep apnea solutions, contact a doctor.

13 January 2017