You’re always exhausted. No matter when you go to bed or what evening/morning routine you follow, you wake up feeling tired. This is the everyday reality for people struggling with sleep apnea, and anything that could provide relief would be welcome. Many turn to sleeping pills, which seem like an intuitive solution, but unfortunately, they can accidentally make symptoms much worse. Why should you avoid sleep medication, and better yet, what can you do to help you start getting the rest you need?
Why Sleeping Pills & Sleep Apnea Don’t Mix
The most common form of sleep apnea is called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and it stems from the muscles and tissues in the mouth and throat relaxing too much when someone lays down and dozes off. A person’s airway becomes physically blocked, causing the body to repeatedly wake up and interrupt sleep to restore normal breathing.
Most sleep medication works by sedating a person, meaning it can cause the throat to relax even more, worsening sleep apnea symptoms and creating more episodes per night. A person might sleep through them, but their quality of rest will go down.
Plus, sleep medication can also depress the cardiovascular system, and this combined with the extreme stress placed on it by sleep apnea drastically increases the risk of an event like a heart attack or stroke.
What About Melatonin Supplements?
Melatonin is the hormone your body produces to help you go to sleep, and there are many supplements for it available on the market. However, research has shown that they are very inconsistent and only work in the short term (if at all). Essentially, these supplements often give you several times more melatonin than you would produce naturally, which can dampen your body’s responsiveness to it as well as hamper your ability to make it.
This means when you stop taking the supplement, you might not be able to make the melatonin you need, and the supplement will probably become less effective over time. It’s best to avoid, especially for sleep apnea patients, as it can make the already complicated sleep process even more fraught.
What Really Works for Sleep Apnea
If you’re struggling with sleep apnea, the most dependable and effective way to handle it is with professional treatment. For many people, this comes in the form of a CPAP machine, which keeps the airway open by forcing oxygen into the throat throughout the night.
But more and more patients are turning to a gentler alternative known as oral appliance treatment. Working with a sleep dentist, they craft a custom mouthguard you only wear to bed that slightly reorients the jaw so that the throat remains open during sleep. This leads to better breathing, deeper rest, and energetic mornings.
If you want to start feeling rested, rather than picking up some sleeping pills, the best thing you can do for yourself in both the long and short term is schedule an appointment with a sleep dentist—a single oral appliance will do much more good than countless capsules!
About the Author
Dr. Jeff Rodgers is an experienced sleep expert who has been in private practice for more than two decades. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine and the American Sleep and Breathing Academy. To learn more about sleep apnea or to schedule a screening at his office in Dunwoody, visit his website or call (770) 394-4310.