If you suffer from sleep apnea, would you consider it to be a mild case? In other words, do you stop breathing for just a few seconds at a time – for a few times during the night?

In this case, your doctor will most likley recommend behavioural changes, rather than any serious medicine or surgery.

These changes typically include losing weight (rapid weight gain can be an associated symptom of sleep apnea), sleeping in a diferent position such as one side and not on your back.

Here are five other natural treatments you might try for your sleep apnea:

1. Minimize your use of alcohol, antihistamines, or tranquilizers.
2. Develop regular sleep habits, and especially make sure you get enough sleep at night.
3. Gargle with salt water to shrink your tonsils
4. Don’t smoke or expose yourself to other irritants (such as dust or perfumes).
5. Try eliminating mucus-producing foods (such as dairy and bananas) for two weeks. Then begin eating themn again and see if you notice any differnces.

Two other semi-natural treatments

What are the treatments if you have moderate or severe sleep apnea?

There are two treatments available that do not require surgery.

First, doctors often prescribe a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (C-PAP) machine. This machine literally blows air into your nose via a tube and mask, the aim being to keep the airway open by maintaining a constant level of air pressure.

Second, for really severe sleep apnea there is another machine called the Bi Level machine(Bi-PAP). This sleep apnea machine does the same job but with two different pressures of air that help the body breath in and out properly.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 5:56 am and is filed under Sleep Apnea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.