Not everyone likes traditional medicine. They feel a more natural solution is better for the body. Some people with sleep apnea seek alternative treatments as opposed to CPAP or surgery. Homeopathic medicine, yoga, and acupuncture are just a few alternative treatments available.

As with any treatment for a medical condition, caution should be taken when participating and always get a second opinion if something doesn’t seen right.

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Do you snore? Do you feel like you are not getting enough sleep? Do you wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air? Then stop procrastinating. Have your self checked. It might be sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder characterized by marked reduction or cessation of breathing that occurs during sleep, usually lasting 10 to 20 seconds or more. This cessation of breathing decreases the oxygen saturation in the blood and the entire body. This, in turn, triggers a myriad of reactions like gasping for air and restlessness leading to sleep disruption.

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Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a sleeping disorder caused by inadequate airflow during sleep, resulting in frequent pauses in breathing throughout the night, lasting from 10 seconds up to 120 seconds at a time.  The breaks in breathing are caused by the airway being partially or fully blocked by fatty tissue in the neck or throat or by the uvula (the small tissue hanging at the back of the throat). These pauses cause oxygen levels to drop and the disorder has been linked to heart diseases; stroke; high blood pressure and obesity leading to Type 2 Diabetes.

OSA can be the underlying cause behind traffic accidents as those who are suffering with the disorder become over tired through lack of restful night time sleep and susceptible to memory lapses, lack in concentration and general exhaustion over time.  Even more worrying, most sufferers of sleep apnea are not diagnosed as they have no idea they are affected by it.

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I did not understand why my brother was constantly tired and had no energy!  

His wife was the first to suspect Sleep Apnea.  After being diagnosed with this condition and getting treatment, there was a dramatic change in his ability to function during the day. 

What we did not know was that Sleep Apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than generally understood. 

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Sleep apnea is the most common of all sleep disorders. It can affect your overall health in a serious manner if left untreated. Here are some options for treatment if you are diagnosed with this breathing disorder during sleep:

Lifestyle Changes

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Sleep apnea is the restriction of the airway when you are lying down. When you are in bed, ready to get some rest for the night you are tired. As you sleep, you might snore, and with that sleep, apnea could be occurring. Sleep apnea is the restriction of the breathing, by too much flesh, restriction because of your tonsils or adenoids or any number of other conditions. To aid you in treating your sleep apnea, and to keep you breathing while you are sleeping, breathing machines are often times recommended.

One type of therapy is the continuous positive airway pressure. This is a flow of air, to the airway in your body, through the nose or the mouth that is going to provide oxygen to your body. As the continued pressure on the airway is maintained, the airway is going to remain open while you are sleeping. This is a therapy that is used on thousands of people, and that is getting results without having to have surgery.

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Snoring and sleep apnea are remarkably common problems that afflict a surprisingly large segment of the population. As many as 20 million Americans may suffer from sleep apnea, with 80-90% of them undiagnosed. According to results from the Wisconsin Cohort Sleep Study, 9% of women and 24% of men had sleep apnea, making it as common a health problem as diabetes in North America.

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THE DEFINITION OF SLEEP APNEA

Sleep apnea is a disorder that prevents the body from getting a sufficient amount of oxygen during sleep. During times of sleep, the sleep apnea victim or patient literally stops breathing for small periods of time, creating an extremely dangerous situation. Over 12 million Americans have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and that figure includes women, men, and children though most of victims are older male adults. Sleep apnea is also known as obstructive sleep apnea and it’s the most common form. Throat blockage, mostly from the tongue or palate, is what gives obstructive sleep apnea its name – but it’s only one form. Two other forms are central sleep apnea and mixed sleep apnea.

CAUSES OF SLEEP APNEA

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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by an obstruction of your airways during sleep. What tends to be the reason for the restriction in the air flow is either naturally small air passages or more collapsible and floppy tissues making up and surrounding these passages.

Ideally people undergoing surgery to reduce sleep apnea should be below 60 years of age, not overweight, have a moderate to mild OSA severity (i.e. a respiratory disturbance index (RDI) of less than 30) and have an oropharyngeal (easier to operate regions of the palate, tonsils or uvula) instead of hypopharyngeal obstruction (more difficult to treat region of the head centered around the tongue base and hypopharyngeal structures).

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Have you found you seem to be tired most of the time. Maybe you went to bed early last night, but there is still that unrelenting feeling of fatigue that seems to be putting your life into one slow almost dreamlike state.

What may well be happening is a condition known as sleep apnea. When people sleep they undergo many cycles, five stages in all can be moved through per sleep cycle. Initial stages consist of drowsiness and light sleep, latter deep sleep stages then result, REM being the final state.

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