[Hades]

Hey guys, I'm somewhat convinced that I've gradually developed sleep apnea over the last few months. Not too surprised considering most of the men in my family snore pretty hard. My roommate tells me that I snore even when I'm not drinking (kind of surprised about that to be honest) and that I quit breathing every now and then while sleeping. He's pretty pissed about it too but it can't really be helped.

I have also noticed that I've been sleeping much harder than usual. My typical night used to involve me sleeping about four to six hours (with some pretty vivid dreams) and I'd go to school or work just wired and anxious as shit. Nowadays I can sleep anywhere from eight to ten very hard hours, with no dreams whatsoever, and only wake up on the third or fourth alarm clock ring. I especially get tired while out drinking. The last two times I have gone out drinking I have to get home before 1100 PM due to fatigue, where earlier I could stay out until 400 AM no problem.

I guess my question is, how do I cut down on my snoring? I've been smoking something in the vicinity of a pack of smokes a day and am not entirely willing to quit cold turkey. I am willing to cut down to half a pack or less.

I have been gradually losing body fat so that (can't?) be an issue, as I'm already pretty lean. Can chewing gum help? Or running more sprints? I'm sort of at a loss for what to do about this.

I'm trying to avoid medical treatment or a sleep study due to money reasons. Also curious to know if any rooshers have successfully treated their own sleep apnea. Thanks for any advice gents.

edit: Aw shit, I should have used the search function. I found some threads dealing with this.

[MikeCF]

http://blog.joerogan.net/archives/215

[DVY]

I dont have much experience w/this personally, but a snore-guard could help. Its like a nightguard but it keeps your mouth open. Def. worth a shot before surgery.

[Hades]

I have been looking into snore guards but the only ones I have found seem to be for teeth grinding. Amazon is not a very good candidate for this since I'm definitely a mouth breather. My nose is pretty messed up and I can't easily breathe out of it. Do these mouthguards on Amazon help out for snoring as well? Here's an example.

http://www.amazon.com/Snoring-Mouthpiece...mouthpiece

Here's the snore solution whatchamacallit

http://www.ultimatestopsnoringsolution.com/product.html

Not sure if either work, both seem sketch.

[Faust]

If you're hard up for money, a free and clinically proven way to reduce your symptoms is throat exercises. Throat exercises strengthen the muscles in the throat, and in doing so reduce the severity of Sleep Apnea.

Check this study at pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19234106

The average severity of patients' sleep apnea symptoms went down by almost half if they did a half-hour of throat exercises a day. That's a lot of time to be spending on throat exercises, but if you've got time and no money it's a good way to do it. You can find routines online.

[Hades]

Alrighty, I have only had two cigarettes today and something like six yesterday. Also went running. I'll see how tonight goes but maybe a doctor is in order for one of those snore guards. Throat exercises sound pretty strange to me.

[scubadude]

As previously mentioned the exercises mentioned have been proven to reduce apnea and snoring. They do however take weeks to months of consistent performance to achieve results. Losing the weight as you mentioned you are doing is great as well. The gold standard of course is the c-pap machine. If you have insurance your Dr will prescribe it for you. If not, they can be had pretty cheap on craigslist. Just put it away before you have broads over. Either way, it's definitely something you want to address as it can lead to significant increases in stroke and heart attack risk.

A poor mans sleep study is also the Zeo, works pretty good for tracking how many times you wake up and the amount of time spent in different sleep phases.

[DVY]

Disclaimer- Am a dentist

Recommend custom snore guard. Over the counter/Generic snore guard are generally bulky and uncomofortable. But custom snore guards can run a few hundred buxs. Check out amazon for regular snoreguard, and see if it works. AT worst, you lose 30-50 buxs.

[JVH]

I have a Cpap machine. But have been considering one on these for when I travel.

https://puresleep.com/s30/homepage.php?a...MgodRygA7w