Healthy Living: CPAP Adventures

Yesterday I shared with you some quick tips on the advantages of using CPAP.  If you've been thinking that you may have sleep apnea and just not gotten around to doing something about it, consider these points:
Do you:

• drift off to sleep only to suddenly awaken
• awaken gasping for breath
• get up multiple times a night to go to the bathroom
• have disjointed dreams, if you dream at all
• toss and turn during the night, waking up frequently

If you experience any of these, you may have sleep apnea and I would strongly suggest you get checked out by a professional sleep study doctor.  I suffered with lousy, interrupted sleep for years before I finally bit the bullet and went for a sleep study.  

Wow, my sleep study showed that I was stopping breathing 57 times an hour!!  Image the stress that was putting on my heart.  I decided then and there that I needed to follow through with a CPAP therapy if I was going to continue to live a full and healthy life, and today, with my CPAP mask, I sleep deeply and restfully and would never sleep without it. 

I'll tell you a bit more about CPAP masks in later posts so you will know what's out there, what works, and what type may be right for your sleep apnea.  If you use CPAP, let me know what you use and what your experience has been. If you're thinking of getting a sleep study, let me know if you have concerns or misgivings.