Browse: Home / Sleep / A cheap way to breathe easier if you suffer from sleep apnea

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Better Body Chemistry School
  • Book a health conversation
  • Speaking query
  • The “Big” Spoons
  • Donate
Header image

BBC

Small things can make a big difference to your health

advertisement

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • START HERE
  • Free Resources
    • 31 days to Better Body Chemistry
    • Willpower Report
    • Better Body Chemistry for Expecting Moms
    • The ups and downs of insulin resistance
    • Candy Floss Boards
  • Meet the Team
  • Library
  • Lucky dip
  • Better Body Chemistry TV
    • Video gallery for Expecting Moms
    • Video gallery for people with metabolic syndrome
    • Video gallery of how to survive flu season
  • Sound bites
  • Contact

A cheap way to breathe easier if you suffer from sleep apnea

Posted by Dr Sandy on in Sleep | 313 Views | Leave a response

compression stocking helping relieve sleep apneaStruggling to get enough air into your lungs during the night because the airway continually shuts off, causes serious long term health consequences.

Understanding what is wrong in obstructive sleep apnea

Gravity pulls things down – including the fluids in your body. But the body has its own anti-gravity system which counterbalances this very powerful universal force.

The anti-gravity system depends on the routine muscle contractions in the legs. As these muscles tighten they squeeze the veins and push the fluid up.

But when little to no movement of the legs is taking place during prolonged sitting, muscle squeezing is minimal , so fluids have a tendency to begin accumulating in the legs.

Climbing into bed finally puts a stop to the continuous downward pull of gravity as you stretch yourself out on the bed. This gives the body the opportunity to move the fluids back round towards the head.

Neck fluid brace

The leg fluid is redirected towards the neck tissue.

Moving fluids around is routine body maintenance, but it can become impaired, particularly if the heart is not pumping efficiently due to underlying heart failure or cardiovascular disease.

Unfortunately, as the neck cells fill up with fluid, they get significantly bigger. This swelling now makes breathing more work, because it takes more effort to push against the increased volume of tissue.

When the work load becomes overwhelming, the pharynx collapses, temporarily cutting off the oxygen supply. Of course, this translates to an emergency from the brain’s perspective and it immediately wips all the “tired” muscles back in line to resume breathing.

The event is an apneic event. The number of these breathing interruptions depends largely on the extent of fluid build-up in the neck. It largely goes unnoticed by the “victim”, but the long term health consequences of poor sleep add up over time.

Fixing the sleep apnea problem

First prize is to “fix” the underlying cardiovascular problems, which can alleviate some of the breathing issues but second prize is to keep the oxygen flowing.

Currently the way to keep oxygen flowing is to up the air supply using a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP). Trouble is these machines are pricey and really uncomfortable, because the machine requires you to wear a mask ALL NIGHT.

Many patients opt for the poor quality of sleep OVER no sleep !

Introducing anti-gravity stockings….

One way to decrease the fluid build up in the neck at night is to “stop” gravity.

You don’t have to stop gravity on the planet, just the effect of gravity on your body fluids. Super powers could help defy this powerful force, but failing this, strapping on a compression stocking also works.

French researchers tried it out on 12 patients at La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. Wearing the compression stockings during the day, reduced the fluid build up in the legs during the day, which meant less fluid in the neck at night and…………….. fewer apneas and hyponeas per hour of sleep.

Benefits were seen after just a week of wearing compression stockings.

Cheap sleep apnea cure

You can pick up a pair of compression stockings at a pharmacy and they won’t cost an arm and a leg.

If you’re struggling to breath at night, try strap a pair of gravity defying little helpers – quality sleep is good for the heart, mind, wasteline and soul.

 Attenuation of obstructive sleep apnea by compression stockings in subjects with venous insufficiency.  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (2011) 184 : 1062-1066. Stefania Redolfi, Isabelle Arnulf, Michel Pottier, Jacques Lajou, Isabelle Koskas, T. Douglas Bradleyand Thomas Similowski

 

Interested in learning more about how to overcome the side effects of obesity ?

Subcribe to E-spoons, to get e-mail updates once a month to learn how to keep your body chemistry balanced to avoid / tame the big killers – diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

View previous E-spoons.

Close

NOTE : Privacy & spam policy. Spoonful of Science will not rent, trade or sell the e-mail list to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any time by following the unsubscribe link.

Know someone who will find this post useful ? Share it on facebook, linkedin, twitter

Further reading

brain cooling machine inducing sleep yawning monkey alcohol causes non restorative sleep
It takes a cool brain to sleep How to handle being caught yawning during class   Keep the night cap petite for a good nights sleep

The 7 Big Spoons™…. are master switches that turn health on.

balance eicosanoids rein in insulin dial down stress sleep vitamin D microflora think
Balance Eicosanoids Rein in insulin Dial down stress Sleep ! Increase Vit D Culivate microflora Think champion

Hire Dr Sandy from a Spoonful of Science to be the keynote speaker at your next event.

Did you learn something new or do you have a different perspective ? I’d love to hear from you so post me a comment below

Share Button
Posted in Sleep | Tagged breathing, compression stockings, continuous positive pressure machine, CPAP, fluid, sleep, sleep apnea

Connect with us

facebook you tube pinterest 40 google plus 40 Linkedin

FEELING….

sign posts then you need better body chemistry.

Grab our free E-course

“31 days to better body chemistry”

The advice is simple to follow and based on REAL science, not hype

Need more information ? Click here

  • Popular
  • Featured
  • Recent
  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16592 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16031 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15428 views / Posted
  • carbonated water bubbles fill you up

    Fizzing up the water flattens your appetite

    14089 views / Posted
  • a see food diet

    It might be time to try the TRF see food diet – it works

    11447 views / Posted
  • sun extracting cholesterol

    Make sure you have your “annual” check-up in the summer time

    / Dr Sandy
  • sending your kid to bootcamp won't stop childhood obesity

    Moving more won’t stop your kid from getting fat

    / Dr Sandy
  • cholesterol at the scene of the accident

    Bone cells are stiffening up your arteries not cholesterol

    / Dr Sandy
  • brain size the problem in ADHD

    Are kids with ADHD just acting according to their brain age

    / Dr Sandy
  • plastering the blood vessel with calcium

    Calcium supplements are building bones and breaking hearts

    / Dr Sandy
  • vitamin D conservation plan

    Deploy a vitamin D conservation plan this winter

    / Dr Sandy
  • killer cookies

    How to avoid wearing edible Christmas gifts on your hips

    / Dr Sandy
  • eye putttin gpressure on the stomach

    Maybe it’s time to invest in appetite suppressing glasses

    / Dr Sandy
  • pgc1alpha

    Mitochondria in insulin resistance

    / Dr Sandy
  • a low fat diet spiking blood fat levels

    The more saturated fat you eat, the lower your blood fat levels

    / Dr Sandy

RSS Recent posts

Dr Sandy Dr Sandy Evans, PhD

Located in Johannesburg, South Africa

Book an appointment with Spoonful of Science using SetMore
Disclaimer : The stories and articles are provided as a service. Dr Sandy's opinions are for information only, and are not intended to diagnose or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult your doctor or health care provider.
 
 

Connect with Dr Sandy

facebook 40
you tube 40
pinterest 40
google plus 40
linkedin 40
meetup 40
 

Categories

Featured posts

  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16592 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16031 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15428 views / Posted
 

©2011-2019 Spoonful of Science

Menu

  • Meet Dr Sandy
  • Disclosure/disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Comment policy
  • Contact
Redirect Stakk
Thank You

Beat your SUGAR CRAVINGS, using biology, NOT psychology

Download our FREE REPORT entitled, "How to get the Willpower you Need to Trump Sugar's Power"

  • Do you have a sugar gremlin ?
  • Discover the biology behind sugar gremlins
  • Learn about the 10 weapons you can use to TAME YOUR SUGAR GREMLIN

Get instant access