CPAP product reviews and other helpful tips for CPAP users!

If you’ve been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, you should either be seeking treatment or on CPAP therapy already. Let me paint you an all too common scenario - you’ve got your machine and mask purchased and after a couple of weeks on therapy, you stop using it. You see it on your bedside table every day but ignore it. Days turn to weeks and weeks turn into months. Sounds familiar? This scenario happens too often.

What happens if you leave your Apnea untreated?

Surprisingly, a couple of nights off your CPAP is actually okay. The benefits of consistent use persist for a couple of days. For example, if you’re travelling or have a cold and took a couple of nights off, you’ll be happy to know that there is still residual benefit when you are not using it for a few days. Continued therapy reduces swelling of soft tissues during sleep making it easier for you to breathe when you are taking a break. However, danger lurks when it’s left long term.

Some would argue you won't die from Sleep Apnea, but like smoking or AIDS - people won't die from it, but likely from the complications that come from smoking or AIDS. Keep reading to find the effects, risks and possible consequences are if you don’t use your CPAP as directed.

Return of common symptoms

Not using your therapy means the return of the classic symptoms  - constant fatigue, low energy, headaches and lethargy. It's only a matter of time these dreaded symptoms will creep back into your day to day life.  It will affect the way you carry out work and social activities and limit your capabilities and negatively impacting your overall quality of life.  

Risk of sudden death

Untreated Sleep Apnea will increase the risk of sudden death or sudden cardiac arrest and the consequences are not reversible. The sudden death is caused by abnormal heart rhythms or arrhythmia which are erratic and disorganized impulses from the heart's ventricles. This means the heart is unable to pump blood and death can occur. 

Risk of premature death

Those who leave their OSA untreated for 10 years or 30 years will lead to shorter lives. Lack of treatment means you'll face more than 3 times the risk of premature death.

Risk of stroke

The low levels of oxygen available to the body and brain and the high blood pressure of the heart working harder put you at 2-3 times higher risk for having a stroke. 

There are endless reasons why doctors prescribe CPAP - they know what they're talking about and it works. No matter how uncomfortable it is, give it a second, third or fourth try. The take-home message here is that untreated OSA produces long term, cumulative exposure to advert effects that is harmful to your health and may cause death.

There are heaping benefits of being on therapy and it shouldn't be ignored. Speak to your health professional for more information or guidance to get the proper care you need to adhere to CPAP therapy.

A recent study came out from NYU Langone Health School of Medicine, published in the Sleep Health Journal says that most of what you thought you knew about sleep is wrong. What? A panel of doctors and sleep experts tirelessly reviewed thousands of online content and found that most of the information circulating on the web about healthy sleep is indeed false. Continue reading to see what sleep medicine experts say are the top most unhealthy assumptions we've been making about sleep. 

Adults need 5 or fewer hours of sleep

Think you can survive off a couple of hours? Think again. Sleeping less than 5 hours a night consistently increases cardiovascular diseases and believe it or not, early mortality. 

Falling asleep 'anywhere, anytime' is good

Feel good about that nap you took on the train to work? You shouldn't. Falling asleep anywhere and anytime is a sign you're so darn exhausted that your body needs to sleep at any chance it can get.

You get use to 'less sleep'

Your body and brain do not adapt to less sleep over time. It will not be able to function properly and optimally. To achieve restorative sleep, our bodies need to go through 4 very specific stages of sleep. Removing these sleep stages leads to poor mental and physical capacity. 

Alcohol helps you fall asleep

Alcohol actually keeps you in the lighter phases of sleep and out of REM sleep reducing your quality of sleep, resulting in un-restored and groggy feeling when you wake. 

Stay in bed with your eyes closed even if you can't sleep

It's not recommended to lay around if you can't fall asleep within 15-20 mins. Keep it dim, change your environment, and do something boring and go back to bed after a period of time.

Sleep any time of day is good

Also not recommended! Follow a healthy sleep schedule to keep your circadian rhythm (which controls appetite, temperature and hormones) functioning well. If your internal clock is out of whack, you can feel moody, tired and mentally unclear and unproductive.

Watching TV in bed helps you wind down

We are all guilty of watching TV to fall asleep, but we should be avoiding the blue light prior to bed. TV sets the tone for a bad night's sleep and that's a fact.  

Snoozing the alarm is good

Snoozing means your body will fall back to sleep - a REM cycle, but in low quality and when your alarm goes off again, you will be in a middle of a REM cycle instead of the end, making it harder to get up. 

Looks bad right? Don't fret, just know it can be all uphill from here. Start small, make incremental changes and work to improve your sleep hygiene for your own quality of life and overall longevity.