We all have heard that losing weight can help massively with sleep apnea, but just how much can it help? A recent study published in the British Medical Journal showed that sleep apnea could be reduced in 50% of obese people when a strict weight-loss regimen was followed. Each patient on the regime lost an average of 42 pounds, and around 20% of patients in the study were thought to be cured of sleep apnea entirely. Patients with severe sleep apnea were found to benefit the most from losing weight and were found to gain the most from being slimmer. But can individuals who are just slightly overweight gain from losing some weight?
Many sleep apnea patients get frustrated at the notion that losing weight can cure them of sleep apnea entirely, and whilst this is understandable, losing weight is one of the easiest and most simple ways to reduce your sleep apnea symptoms or to make them disappear entirely. The reason that losing weight helps is because excess weight means excess fatty tissues in the back of the throat, and these fatty tissues can make it far more likely that your throat will collapse in sleep and that the tissues in your throat will cause an obstruction and therefore an apnea. If the weight is excessive, losing this weight will mean that these tissues are far less likely to fall into the back of the throat.
Unfortunately, some patients can feel ‘fobbed off’ by their doctors when their doctor tells them to lose weight. Patients can feel as though their doctor doesn’t want to offer them the help or that their doctor believes that sleep apnea is really easily cured. This isn’t likely to be the case – because of the study mentioned above, we do know that if you are obese and you lose some of that excess weight your sleep apnea can be more easily treated and managed and in some cases, cured completely. Because losing weight is a relatively easy thing that you can do in the comfort of your own home, doctors tend to recommend it as a primary treatment option.
However, most doctors will start you on CPAP or BiPAP after a diagnosis of sleep apnea so that you can lose weight and have the benefits of CPAP whilst you’re losing weight. If any doctor gives you a choice between CPAP and losing weight, you should see another doctor. Although losing weight can be instrumental in treating some sleep apnea sufferers, we don’t yet know if it is all that effective on individuals who are only carrying some extra weight. We know that it can be effective for overweight individuals with mild to moderate sleep apnea, but the effects will not seem to be as great as for those individuals with severe sleep apnea.
Although losing weight may seem a bit pointless if you’re being treated with CPAP for sleep apnea, it’s a really simple way to help with a multitude of health problems, including arthritis, joint problems, heartburn, GERD and of course sleep apnea. Losing weight will also ensure that your sleep apnea can be more easily treated by CPAP and that you’ll be more likely to stick with CPAP, as you’ll have fewer side effects than someone who is obese.
Either way, whether losing weight means that you’ll never have to use CPAP again, or whether it means that your CPAP therapy is more effective, losing weight will not be harmful to your health in any way. Speak to your doctor if you’d like some advice on losing weight and how they think losing weight could improve your sleep apnea.