Sleep Apnea – Prognosis

Transcript

Since some of the parts of sleep apnea are associated with lifestyle. We can make some changes that might change the severity of sleep apnea, such as weight loss, or being careful about too much alcohol too late at night since alcohol can relax the airways and relax muscles. I can take somebody who doesn’t snore and give them a six pack of beer and I can make them into a snorer. And I can take somebody who already snores and give them a six pack of beer and make them into a sleep. APNIC we also know that nasal congestion can make things worse, but generally when people have obstructive sleep apnea and it’s not related to medications or alcohol or weight, it’s not going anywhere. It only tends to get worse. Unfortunately, with aging, as our muscles become a little more lax, as we get older, while we can go to the gym and work out our biceps and triceps, it’s very hard to work out the airway muscles. So sleep apnea once it’s there tends to continue through lifetime and make it worse as time goes on, unless we have some reversible lifestyle changes we can make.