The stress of having a chronic health condition can ruin your sleep. But obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a health condition that actually wrecks your sleep despite stress (or lack of it). When you have OSA, you literally stop breathing 100s-1000s times a night, putting your health — and your life — at risk.
The gold-standard treatment for OSA is a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which gently pushes warm, humid air into your lungs as you sleep. When you use CPAP regularly, you dramatically reduce your risk for life-threatening events, such as heart attack and stroke, and may also improve your mental clarity and state of well-being.
However, CPAP isn’t always comfortable or convenient to use. Compliance rates tend to be low.
In addition, CPAP isn’t the only way to resolve your disordered sleep breathing. Depending on the cause of your OSA and its severity, lifestyle changes and medications may also be helpful.
Dr. Ola Akinboboye is an experienced and caring cardiologist who believes in treating the whole patient. That means getting to the root of any condition that ails you rather than just treating symptoms.
At Laurelton Heart Specialists, he and our team evaluate conditions that may affect your OSA. He then customizes a treatment plan at our office in Rosedale, Queens, New York City, New York.
Could lifestyle changes help your OSA, with or without CPAP?
Obesity and OSA are strongly linked. More than half of women and men with OSA are overweight—one of the best ways to improve your OSA may be to lose excess fat.
When you’re overweight or obese, you may develop fat deposits in your neck called pharyngeal fat. Pharyngeal fat can actually block your airway when you sleep at night. When your airway relaxes during rest, the extra fat presses on it and compresses it.
The blocked airway may cause you to snore — one of the hallmarks of OSA (though not everyone who snores has OSA and vice versa). It may also cause you to stop breathing multiple times a night, sometimes for a minute or more at a time.
Gaining just 10% of your body weight increases your risk of OSA by six times. Conversely, when you lose just 10% of your body weight, your OSA may improve by 20%.
In addition to obesity, other medical conditions may either contribute to your OSA directly or add to your risk of being overweight. Some health conditions that may increase your risk for or severity of OSA include:
Up to 80% of women and men with sleep apnea also have cardiovascular disease. If you have high blood pressure or other signs of cardiovascular issues, we might prescribe medications to help manage your condition. These medications could also improve your sleep apnea.
OSA robs your brain of oxygen during the night, which negatively affects your brain’s ability to metabolize glucose to power its cells. When your brain cells don’t get the energy they need, you may experience brain fog and memory problems.
Aerobic exercise — such as fast walking, dancing, biking, or jogging — improves brain glucose metabolism. So does lifting weights. Research shows that regular exercise improves:
The exercise program that benefited women and men with OSA required only one-hour sessions, three times a week, using a stationary bike and weights. Of course, one of the benefits of regular exercise is that it tends to lead to weight loss, which also improves OSA.
If you have OSA, we can help you make lifestyle changes that can improve both your symptoms and your overall health. Our treatment plan for you may consist of:
We also may prescribe medications and CPAP. Alternatively, we can refer you to a dentist for a mandibular advancement device (MAD), which gently pushes your jaw forward while you sleep, thereby maintaining an open airway.
CPAP isn’t the only way to improve your OSA. Get your customized OSA treatment plan by calling us at 718-208-4816. You can also use our online outreach form to get the care you need.
