Beyond just making you feel extremely tired all the time, sleep apnea can also cause you to feel confused. In certain instances, it can lead to death. By doing certain exercises, you can minimize, if not prevent, some of the effects of the condition. If you think you are dealing with obstructive sleep apnea, you need to speak with a healthcare professional right away. When you learn what you can do to treat the condition, you can get the sleep you need once again.
Understanding What Sleep Apnea Is
Sleep apnea occurs when you struggle to breathe while sleeping. For some individuals, they stop breathing entirely. This disorder is actually quite common. It continually disrupts your sleep patterns, leaving you exhausted when you wake up in the morning. Individuals start off snoring loudly. Next, there is a period of 10 seconds or so where the individual will stop breathing. Your breathing can be interrupted anywhere from a few times per hour on up to 100 times.
Most of the time, your breathing will resume like normal. However, there are times when you might choke or snort as you regain your breath. Sleep apnea is very disruptive to your sleep patterns as it causes you to drift out of the deep sleeping patterns and into a light sleeping pattern. Because of this, you end up feeling run down and fatigued throughout the course of the day.
Causes of Sleep Apnea in Individuals
There is a whole host of reasons as to why individuals end up suffering from sleep apnea. For those who have obstructive sleep apnea, the muscles supporting the tonsils, uvula, soft palate and tongue are relaxing. The airways end up becoming smaller with every breath. Due to the relaxed muscles, it can cause you to stop breathing for a short time. Your oxygen levels end up lower than where they should be. Thanks to your brain waking you up from your slumber, your passageways are able to open up once again.
Facial Exercises
One of the best forms of therapy for sleep apnea is exercising all of the muscles throughout your face. You can do this in any number of different ways. Begin by opening your mouth. Close it until your lips are pressed together. Make a kissing face and smile for about 10 seconds to work all of the muscles in your face. If you want to learn more facial exercises then make sure you contact a board certified facial plastic surgeon.
Exercise Your Tongue
To improve sleep apnea, exercise your tongue. Stick your tongue out. Relax and repeat several times. Try to stick out your tongue a little more each day. Try touching your chin with your tongue. Hold a spoon to your tongue and attempt to push it out while holding onto the spoon.
Work the Soft Palate
Pronounce all of the vowels continuously and intermittently. Try repeating words like ma, ka, la or kala a few times. Gargle with warm water. Sing the vowels to work the palate and accentuate all of the different vowels to help strengthen your palate.
