Will Losing Weight Eliminate Sleep Apnea

The connection between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)and weight is well established. In fact, being overweight or obese is considered one of the primary risk factors of sleep apnea. This is because when extra tissue accumulates around the upper airway, it can change the shape of the airway or the weight can make the throat more likely to collapse during sleep.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that studies consistently show that weight lossreduces the severity of sleep apnea. Not only does itreduce the number of apneas that occur, but it also improves the quality of patients’ sleep.

Monitored the sleep quality of 72 overweight patients with mild obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The patients changed to a low-calorie diet and received lifestyle counseling, which resulted in a significant decrease in their BMIs. After losing weight, the subjects’ mean number of apnea events per hour (their apnea-hypopnea index, or AHI, learn more about what that means here) decreased significantly.Post weight-loss, the number of patients with sleep apneadecreased by 75%.

Does Weight Loss Help Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

Obstructive sleep apnea. After losing on average 20+ pounds, the subjects’ AHIs decreased by about 25 events per hour! Plus, their sleep patterns improved, as the patients spent more time in deeper, more restorative sleep stages. However, the patients’ AHI was still around 30 episodes per hour–which meets the criteria for moderate to severe sleep apnea (learn more about understanding sleep study results here).

It’s important to remember that extra weight is not the only cause of sleep apnea. A small jaw, a large neck, large tonsils and adenoids, genetic predisposition, and other factors could be contributing to this sleep disorder. In all likelihood, a case of severe sleep apnea is caused by a combination of these factors–so weight loss alone may notcompletely eliminate the problem. CPAP therapy is the gold-standard therapy for sleep apnea (learn more about CPAP here) and is the only treatment that is 100% effective when used properly every night (learn about alternatives to CPAP here).

While weight loss might not completely cure sleep apnea in every case, it definitely has a beneficial effect. If you have significantly altered your lifestyle or lost weight, it may be time to reevaluate your sleep apnea treatment. You could require a lower PAP pressure to keep your airway open, or you might not need treatment any more at all. Conversely, if you have recently gained weight, you may have higher pressure requirements. Typically, a titration study will be ordered to assess your pressure requirements (learn more about different study types here). You may also benefit from using an autoset CPAP device which adjusts its pressure based on your requirements throughout the night (learn about the difference between CPAP and APAP here).

How Weight Loss Helps Your Sleep Apnea

If you have a question about your CPAP therapyor think you might need a new pressure, contact us to make sure your treatment is as effectiveand comfortable as possible.

1) “Who is at risk for sleep apnea?” National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 2) Tuomilehto, Henri P. I. et al. “Lifestyle Intervention with Weight Reduction: First-line Treatment in Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea.” American Thoracic Society Journals. 3) Philip L. Smith, M.D. et al. “Weight Loss in Mildly to Moderately Obese Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.”Annals of Internal Medicine. 4) David L. Greenburg, MD, MPH et al. “Effects of Surgical Weight Loss on Measures of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Meta-Analysis.”The American Journal of Medicine.

Julia joined Advanced Sleep Medicine Services, Inc. in 2011 with a background in sales, marketing and customer service. She is currently the vice president of marketing and operations and enjoys the opportunity to educate and interact with those looking to improve their health through better sleep.Long term weight loss can have a significant impact on patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a common but serious sleep disorder. Weight maintenance is also of importance when considering long term success of apnea treatment, especially with oral appliance therapy (sleep mouthguards).

Sleep Apnea And Weight Gain: Reasons And Answers

In this article, we will be sharing information on the relationship between weight changes after successful obstructive sleep apnea treatments as well as perspective on the best long term weight maintenance strategies.

Unfortunately, many patients often continue to gain weight after successful apnea therapy, even though controlling apnea events helps regulate hormones that are involved in weight control and metabolism cycles. For information on hormone effects of untreated apnea affects see 4 Ways Sleep Apnea Affects Weight Loss Efforts.

Our American lifestyle and access to processed foods makes weight loss efforts difficult. Obesity is expected to continue to rise in America, as is apnea.

Can Weight Loss Cure Sleep Apnea?

Unfortunately, increased weight is one of the most significant predisposing factors for obstructive sleep apnea. And as individuals continue to gain weight across America, more people will have apnea.

For apnea patients, increases in weight may result in the need for higher therapeutic CPAP pressures. This, in return, can lead to mask leaks and lower compliance.

Lower compliance can result in a return of apnea symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness, poor sleep quality, and snoring which had been relieved through earlier CPAP use.

Understanding Sleep Apnea: Risk, Effects & Treatment

Although CPAP therapy is a highly effective treatment choice for OSA, many people prefer to turn to oral appliance therapy, a common treatment alternative for apnea sufferers.

Most successful oral appliance therapy patients use custom dental mouth guards called mandibular advancement devices (MAD). The MADs work by advancing and stabilizing the jaw in a forward position. Muscles and tissues are prevented from collapsing into the airway, preventing the obstructive apnea events from occurring.

For patients who are successful with oral appliance therapy, weight gain may lead to a return of apnea events and associated symptoms and cause the dental sleep mouthguard to be less effective or simply not work.

Losing Tongue Fat Improves Sleep Apnea

Should this occur, the dental sleep apnea mouthguard would need to be further advanced. However, a lower jaw (mandible) can be advanced only so far without discomfort. This limiting factor can lead to treatment failure. These patients may then need to stop oral appliance therapy, turn to CPAP therapy as a primary treatment choice or seek adjunctive therapies.

Body mass index or BMI is a way to help you figure out if you are at a healthy weight for your height. The BMI chart or calculator calculates a number range based on your weight and height. In general, the higher the number, the more body fat a person has. The BMI screening chart is often used to decide if your weight might be putting you at risk for health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

A perfect system for analyzing health for several reasons. BMI does not take into account gender differences nor adjust for athletic composition of muscle-fat ratios.Your calculated BMI index should be used ideally as a screening tool only.

The Importance Of Weight Management/loss With Successful Apnea Treatment

It is not uncommon for an individual to have several medical visits to tackle sleep issues. During a patient’s journey through medical appointments, they have often been told to lose weight as part of the treatment recommendation to ‘reverse’ apnea or curb the severity. But rarely do medical providers give patients specific direction as to the

Of losing weight Those who struggle with weight know that “Eat healthier food and exercise more” is not enough to help them on their journey to better health.

Admittedly, this is not an easy task for medical providers. There are many reasons for such little guidance. These may include a lack of nutrition and weight loss training in the medical field, time restraints during medical visits, and lack of a consensus of recommendations. Medical doctors have very little training in nutrition as they focus the majority of their time on disease management.

Does Sleep Apnea Cause Weight Gain?

I personally feel that we as health leaders need to take a more proactive role in helping patients find tools and resources that discourage fad diets and encourage healthy life habits.

An eventual painful trigger instigates these individuals to take action.  Often, individuals turn to diet fads thinking the guidance and details will help them and remove the feelings of being overwhelmed. The promises of timed weight loss are even more appealing to our impatient culture. But eventually, a life event or too much stress occurs, and we return to our old habits until the next trigger gets us to seek another weight loss effort.

Many of us who struggle with weight issues have bounced around the yo-yo weight loss cycle. Rarely do we find peace and long term maintenance with dieting.

Sleep Apnea And Obesity

Most weight management and health educators would agree that the first place to start on a path to a healthier weight needs to occur in changing our mindsets.

“Your state of mind either creates success and new opportunities and seeks progress, or it instructs you to repeat past patterns and remain where you are.”

Changing your mindset and focusing on small incremental changes in lifestyle choices can help lead to small wins that can be celebrated and built upon. Eventually, long term weight loss results as a byproduct of these habits and weight MAINTENANCE becomes EASIER.

Having Trouble Losing Weight? It Could Be Sleep Apnea • Dr. Sadaty Gynecology Functional Medicine Ny

According to Karen R. Koenig, author of The Rules of “Normal Eating, ” to reprogram our thoughts and mindset through Behavioral – Cognitive Therapy (CBT) beliefs, emotions and behaviors interact.

“Simply put, your beliefs, whether