Sleep Apnea Cured in Three Steps

By Tim Mulligan

This book is for people who have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but can't tolerate using a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) machine. Usually, people resist using CPAP due to the claustrophobic feeling of the CPAP mask over the user's face. The author encountered this problem after being diagnosed with OSA and prescribed a CPAP machine. He experienced many frustrating and sleepless nights until he found medical research showing three natural methods proven to allow the OSA sufferer to breathe and sleep soundly without using CPAP. Besides allowing natural breathing and healthy sleep to occur, snoring is lessened or eliminated due to these methods. These three natural methods or processes are: oropharyngeal exercises, specific cardiovascular and resistance exercises, and incorporating a diet that promotes low inflammation in the body. The book contains all the specifics on the original medical mouth, throat, and tong research which helped OSA sufferers, as well as the exact cardiovascular and resistance training routines that aided sufferers in sleeping. Also included is the eating method that helps reduce inflammation and promotes weight loss which helps reduce OSA symptoms. There is also a chapter on how to incorporate all three helpful methods, or practices, into your daily routine, starting from your shower to bedtime. If you suffer from OSA but can't tolerate a CPAP mask, please purchase this book and begin using the methods contained here. Once diagnosed with OSA, the sufferer has only a few choices: do nothing and suffer the health consequences, use a CPAP if possible, get an operation and hope for good results, or try natural methods which have worked for many and will also help your overall health as a byproduct.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tim Mulligan
• Release date: Dec 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463689257

Tim Mulligan

After reaching middle age (I still wonder how did this happen?) I felt like I had some things to share with people. Things that were in my immediate periphery, things I had experienced first-hand. These included health issues that I was fortunate enough to overcome or decrease the severity of by using natural remedies. I also wanted to share creative learning aids that were developed for my grandkids. Now, I haven't beaten all my health issues, but the ones that I feel that I have made significant progress against, I write about. Someone else may find relief in what has helped me with issues, such as sleep apnea and prostate cancer. Something tells me that there will be more health issues to come, so stay tuned and pray that I can find relief from them, which, of course, I will publish.Now children, especially grandchildren, are amazing to be around. And it is very satisfying to see their excitement when they learn new concepts, like writing, reading, and arithmetic. That's why I also write books that help children, the joy of seeing them learn and gain confidence, plus my grandkids are the beta testers for my children learning books.

Book preview

Why I Wrote This Book

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

– Proverbs 3:24 New International Version (NIV)

The idea for this book came to me a few years ago, when one night while attempting to sleep, my breathing stopped. I was jolted awake of course because my body was telling me that I needed to breathe! This happened more frequently over the subsequent nights. Each night I would hope for a different outcome, but experienced the same thing. Around this time, I noticed an increase in fatigue and a lessened ability to concentrate. My morning coffee would turn into two, just to get by. My snoring was incredibly loud, so loud I could easily wake up our daughters who were trying to sleep in their rooms further down the hall. After some time, and quite a bit of research, I discovered the reason for this issue: My tongue was falling back into my throat as I tried to sleep, blocking my airflow. This was my not-so-subtle introduction to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

I had an in-home sleep study that indicated OSA. I was prescribed a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) machine with a face mask. I couldn’t tolerate the mask and used it only for a few hours due to feelings of claustrophobia and confinement. I was not alone in feeling this way; numerous OSA sufferers find wearing a CPAP mask intolerable. Although everyone with OSA may not be fearful of wearing a mask, if they don’t address their sleep apnea they will experience the bodily damage that OSA delivers. This includes a greater risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, fatigue, and decreased concentration.

I was able to sleep again only after I learned, and began to practice, three natural techniques that were medically proven to minimize OSA symptoms and allow sufferers to sleep without the use of a CPAP machine. I call these helpful approaches Solution Behaviors due to their effectiveness. These behaviors tackle poor oral muscle health, insufficient cardiovascular functioning, and the condition of being overweight. They are shown below:

The Three Solution Behaviors:

1.Physical Exercise covered in Chapter Three

2.Oropharyngeal Exercise covered in Chapter Four

3.Weight-Loss- Eating covered in Chapter Five

The helpful benefits of these behaviors were discovered by medical research project teams through sleep apnea studies done in Brazil and in India. The US lags behind in natural remedy studies for OSA, even though sleep apnea is an increasing problem in there. Before we get to the Solution Behaviors, the book will present some sleep apnea history and why people develop OSA. Practicing these three Solution Behaviors is what will help you lessen or reduce your OSA symptoms and regain your sleep.

Apnea-related cases are on the rise, and sedentary lifestyles and the resulting obesity that comes with such lifestyles are fueling this increase. Many people work at desk jobs where they sit for hours at a time, and when they are ready for lunch, they often pick up something from a fast food restaurant, because of the convenience and low cost. A CPAP machine will usually help a person suffering from OSA who has a sedentary job and might be carrying a few extra pounds, but if that person cannot tolerate the mask used with the CPAP, then lifestyle changes must be made that will allow healthy sleep without the use of a CPAP machine.

Once a person is diagnosed with sleep apnea, they only have a handful of choices:

•Use of a CPAP machine. This works for most people, but some just can’t tolerate the sense of claustrophobia created by wearing a mask over their face, (there are masks available that only cover the nose in addition to the full-face masks; these may be a workable alternative for some people), and others dislike the extensive regular cleaning routine these machines require.

•Take medication, undergo a surgical procedure, or have a sleep aid prescribed for the ailment. These treatments will help reduce symptoms in some cases, but not all. There may be side effects that accompany such procedures or medicine, too.

•Do nothing, and continue to suffer a decrease in oxygenation to the brain and organs, which will likely lead to illness and possibly death.

•Find another way (the Solution Behaviors) to facilitate sleep without CPAP…this book outlines such behaviors!

This book is for people who:

•Were diagnosed with OSA

•Were prescribed a CPAP machine

•Can’t or won’t use the CPAP machine due to discomfort, claustrophobia, or another issue.

•People who begrudgingly use their CPAP but don’t experience deep sleep

•People looking for an alternative to traditional medical treatments for OSA

This book will help you obtain beneficial and healthy results and be able to sleep without a CPAP machine, minimizing or avoiding any harm to the brain and body from OSA.

Let’s get started on curing your OSA with the three Solution Behaviors!

Chapter 1

About Sleep Apnea

The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.

– Ecclesiastes 5:12 (NIV)

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is defined as a stoppage in breathing while the sufferer is sleeping. The word apnea comes from the Greek language and means a stoppage or cessation. Apnea is medically defined as an incident in which there is a greater than 90% decrease in airflow that lasts for at least ten seconds.¹

The types of sleep apneas include: central sleep apnea (CSA), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and mixed sleep apnea, which is a mixture of OSA and CSA. With CSA, the brain doesn’t send the signal to the body to breathe during apneic episodes. This book will not cover CSA, since its focus is what OSA sufferers can do to sleep without a CPAP machine. More information on OSA is found in Chapter 2.

History of Sleep Apnea

In Charles Dickens’s first novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837), he wrote of a character named Fat Boy Joe. Joe was seen sitting on a box as a plump boy in a state of drowsiness. To quote Dickens, Joe, damn that boy, he’s gone to sleep again. This may have been one of the first written descriptions of a person, although fictional, suffering from sleep apnea.

In the time of Charles Dickens (1812-1870), it was believed that patients who had Pickwickian Syndrome had problems sleeping due to the amount of body fat they carried. Any apnea study was focused solely on the patient’s body fat as the reason for developing a sleeping disorder. It was later learned that obesity can definitely contribute to sleep apnea, but it was not always the only reason for its development.

A century later, in 1965, Dr. Henri Gastaut introduced polysomnography studies. (Polysomnography is a sleep study that records brain waves, blood oxygen