Sleep apnea is a medical condition that affects how a person breaths while they sleep. There are a few types of treatment available to our Kenilworth patients, but researchers have shown that there’s a way to decrease the severity of sleep apnea symptoms by as much as 25%—which is as effective as some surgeries.
This revolutionary new treatment isn’t new at all—by incorporating an exercise program of brisk walking and weight training, we can reduce the severity of sleep apnea symptoms.
What Risks Will Exercise Help?
Sleep apnea is connected to multiple medical conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. It has also been associated with a variety of cardiovascular issues, including:
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Arrhythmias (fluttering heartbeat)
By partnering an exercise program with other sleep apnea treatments, we can significantly reduce your risk of developing these heart-related conditions.
Pairing Exercise with Sleep Apnea Treatments
For patients who suffer from sleep apnea, there are treatments like continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines. However, some people note the devices can be intolerable. For these patients, exercise could be a therapeutic alternative because it’s easy and inexpensive compared to the alternative treatments.
Just because exercise has proven to reduce the severity of sleep apnea symptoms by ¼, it doesn’t mean that exercise alone is enough treatment. Dr. Dani recommends using a standard treatment option (e.g., CPAP, oral appliance, or upper airway surgery) in harmony with exercise. You can significantly decrease the amount of sleep apnea episodes you have a night by combining treatments and exercise.
It should also be discussed that “exercise” refers to a program of walking, jogging, running, and weight training, or a combination of two or more of them. Researcher and postdoctoral scholar of sleep medicine, Christopher Kline found that patients who only introduced stretching into their daily schedules saw their breathing problems worsen.
Benefits of Exercise for Sleep Apnea
It’s commonly known that being overweight is a risk factor for sleep apnea, and while losing weight is an obvious benefit of exercise, it’s not the only one. Further advantages include:
- Increase in maximum oxygen consumption
- Improvement in sleep efficiency
- Reduction of daytime sleepiness
- Reduction of symptom severity
Sleep Better Tonight
If you’re interested in sleep apnea, treatment options, or exercise, then we can help. Dr. Dani is a qualified sleep dentist and will help you get the diagnosis and treatment that you deserve. Contact our office at 847-268-3439 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Dani today so that you can sleep better tonight.