Either type of sleep apnea, obstructive or central, can be a real nightmare! If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, you have your work cut out for you in terms of finding appropriate remedy. Start by checking out the tips in the following article and hopefully you will find a way to a better night’s sleep.

People who do not have a partner sleeping with them may not know they suffer from sleep apnea. If you wake up with a dry or sore mouth, wake up out of breath, have morning headaches, insomnia, and/or go to the bathroom frequently during the night, you may have sleep apnea and should talk to a doctor.

Get a mouth guard made especially for sleep. If you have a recessed chin, overbite or a small jaw, they way your jaw sits while you sleep may be causing the breathing problems while you sleep by narrowing your airways. A mouth guard can correct this and help you sleep better.

There are known risk factors for sleep apnea. Some of obstructive sleep apnea risk factors are being overweight, a smoker, male, related to someone with sleep apnea or being Hispanic, Black, or a Pacific Islander. If you have one or more of these risk factors, you are more prone to being diagnosed with sleep apnea.

Drink one cup of caffeinated coffee a few hours before you go to sleep. It may seem silly to drink a caffeine drink at night, but this can actually help keep your throat open while you sleep. You may have to play around with what time you drink the coffee to avoid restlessness.

Make a sleep schedule and keep to it. By sleeping at regular intervals and times, your body gets used to a pattern and takes advantage of it. If you are not getting quality sleep on a regular basis, your sleep apnea may worsen. Make sure to go to bed at a similar time every day and try to sleep a fixed amount of hours.

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, it is important to avoid drinking alcohol. Alcoholic beverages will relax the muscles in your throat, which makes it more likely that they will block your airway during your sleep. At the very least, avoid any alcoholic beverages in the evening before you get ready for bed.

On easy way to help limit your sleep apnea is to stick to regular sleeping hours. When you stick to a sleep schedule that is steady and consistent, you will be more relaxed and sleep much better. Apnea episode frequency will be greatly reduced if you can get plenty of sleep every night.

Lower your risk for sleep apnea. Some of these are unavoidable, like gender or genetics. But many others can be easily avoided, like smoking and drinking.

Try to slim down. Sleep apnea is exacerbated and sometimes even caused by obesity. Try losing enough weight to shift your BMI from obese to just overweight or even healthy. People who have lost weight have improved their sleep apnea symptoms, and some have even cured their sleep apnea completely.

Even though you want to sleep better, do not take sleeping medication if you suffer from, or have a history of sleep apnea. What you may think will help will only make the condition worse by relaxing your muscles even more when you sleep. If you suffer from insomnia along with sleep apnea, speak with your doctor.

While sedatives and other sleep medications may help you fall asleep they are not so good when suffering from apnea. If possible, avoid taking any sleep aids to see if this improves your apnea problems. You just may find that something you thought was helping you to sleep was actually decreasing the quality of your sleep.

Getting fitted for a mouth guard may help reduce your sleep apnea if you have an overbite, a small size jaw or a recessed chin. The position of your jawbone can actually block your airways when you have these problems. Using a mouth guard will help correct this issue, and can reduce the symptoms that you are struggling with.

Avoid anything that can make your sleep apnea worse, especially high altitudes. Sleeping in a high altitude ie. airplanes can actually make your symptoms worse as the loss of oxygen increases. If you must travel, make sure you talk to your physician about how you can relieve your symptoms of sleep apnea.

Getting the news that you have sleep apnea may give you some relief because you finally know why you can’t get a decent eight hours in, but it poses a challenge to find helpful ways to cure it. Hopefully this article has given you some of the answers you are in need of, along with a few ways to finally get a good night’s rest.

Expert Tips For Dealing With Sleep Apnea was originally published on Spring