Improving sleep quality using a CPAP machine

Getting a good night sleep is very important in keeping a healthy lifestyle. Sleep disorders can lower the quality of your sleep, cause daytime sleepiness and many other conditions. The negative results can be immediate and manifest as car accidents caused by daytime fatigue and sleepiness, or long term and manifest as physical and psychological chronic conditions that can be very difficult to overcome.

Sleep quality can affect your cognitive abilities, as well as your decision-making skills. Getting a good night’s sleep will improve your memory and learning capabilities. On the other hand, if you do not get enough good quality sleep during the night, you will find it difficult to focus during the day, which will affect your skills at work. You will not be able to pay attention, solve problems, or cope with changes and concentrate on your tasks.

Long term, low sleep quality can cause chronic diseases, such as depression, obesity, and heart diseases. The most common sleep disorders include sleep apnea, insomnia, narcolepsy, and others. Sleep disorders have different causes that range from shift working, jet lag syndrome, stress and anxiety and others.

How to Improve Sleep Quality

One of the best ways to improve upon your nighttime sleep is to create and follow a sleep pattern. The natural sleep-wake pattern of your body, called a circadian pattern, is very important in improving the quality of your sleep. You should try to go to sleep at the same time at night, and wake up at the same time in the morning, even on weekends, to avoid disrupting your circadian pattern.

Avoid bright screens before you go to sleep. Many people tend to linger on their smartphones and laptops before going to sleep, or watch television. However, the bright blue screen tricks your brain into thinking it is daylight, which prevents you from falling asleep and disrupts your sleeping pattern.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Sleep disorders like sleep apnea that need special treatment with the help of sleep clinics and CPAP machines. Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes obstruction of the breathing channels, and causes snoring, sleep choking, and respirational difficulties during sleep.

The result is lack of oxygen in your body and brain while you sleep, due to the lack of air reaching your lungs. Moreover, you wake up often during the night, even if you are not aware of it, which disrupts your sleep. In the morning, you feel exhausted, instead of rested, and suffer from increasing amounts of daytime fatigue and sleep deprivation, despite getting more than enough hours of sleep during the night.

What are CPAP Machines

CPAP machines are used to treat obstructive sleep apnea with CPAP treatment. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. This type of treatment involves using a CPAP machine to keep your airways open while you sleep, and prevent the tissues of your airways swelling and obstructing the airflow. The CPAP machine provides a constant stream of air into your airways through a mask or nose pillows.

CPAP treatment involves a CPAP machine, a flexible tube, and a mask. The CPAP machine is very small and portable, and can be used both during the day for naps, and during the night. The CPAP machine can also have a humidifier function to prevent inflammation of your pathways and improve your overall health.

The tube is necessary to connect the machine with the mask, and should be flexible, especially if you tend to toss and turn during your sleep. If the tube is not flexible enough, the machine and the mask will disconnect easily.

The mask is the most important element of the CPAP machine. There are three different types of masks. There are masks that cover only your nose, masks that cover both your mouth and nose. However, they might be uncomfortable for you, in which case, you can use nasal pillows, which are very small and fit into your nostrils.

How to Use a CPAP Machine

In order to use a CPAP machine correctly, you need to consult a sleep doctor, or go to a sleep clinic and get proper diagnose of your condition. In most cases, you would need to spend the night at the clinic. However, if you know you are suffering from obstructive sleep apnea, you can get a home test to determine the severity of your case. These tests are necessary to make sure that you calibrate the CPAP machine correctly. Once you have a diagnosis, you will know the level of air pressure you need, and whether you need a humidifying option or not.

Modern CPAP machines have a timed pressure level calibration. You can calibrate the machine to use a lower amount of air pressure as you fall asleep, and then increase it when you are asleep and need a bigger pressure to keep the airflow continuously open.

CPAP treatment is not temporary. Stopping the treatment will bring back the obstructive sleep apnea symptoms and have a negative effect on the quality of your sleep. This is why CPAP can be a significant change in your lifestyle. You need to use the CPAP machine if you nap during the day, and during the night. In order to ease yourself into the treatment, you can start small and use it only for a few hours during the night. It will help you get used to wearing the mask as you fall asleep, which will ease you into full night sleeping with a CPAP machine.

Health Benefits of Using CPAP Machines

Once you start sleeping with a CPAP machine, you will notice a decrease in the symptoms and results of obstructive sleep apnea. Your overall health will improve proportionally with the improvement of your sleep, and you will enjoy different health benefits.

People that suffer from sleep apnea often suffer from heart problems as well. Using a CPAP machine will help prevent hear problems such as irregular heartbeat, heart failure and improve your overall cardiovascular health.

Sleep apnea causes lack of oxygen in your brain during sleep, which can strain and affect the health of your brain. This can lead to a stroke, a condition where the brain stops functioning. With a CPAP machine, you make sure that your brain receives the optimal amount of oxygen during the night and lowers the strain on the brain, which reduced the risk of getting a stroke.

Moreover, your emotional and psychological wellbeing will also improve. Getting good quality sleep during the night will make it easier for you to concentrate on your tasks during the day, reduce the amount of stress, and help you battle depression, among other psychological disorders. You will become more productive, and emotionally well adjusted, and improve upon the overall quality of your life.