Sleep Apnea Pillow

Relieve Your Symptoms with a Sleep Apnea Pillow

There are a variety of sleep disorders that affect people all over the world but one of the most common, sleep apnea, can be treated with a sleep apnea pillow.  Along with night terrors, sleep walking, and other sleep disorders sleep apnea can be very detrimental to the quality of sleep a person achieves.  Quality of sleep is directly related to an individual’s health, so sleep apnea is considered a serious disorder.  Luckily, there are several treatment options available, both non-medical, like the sleep apnea pillow, and medical methods like surgery.

Sleep apnea is a condition characterized by pauses in breathing while an individual is sleeping.  An interval during which an individual stops breathing for ten seconds or longer is called an apneic episode and sleep apnea patients typically experience five or more apneic episodes per hour while asleep.  Snoring is often associated with sleep apnea but not all patients experience snoring as one of their sleep apnea symptoms.  There are three types of sleep apnea: central, complex, and obstructive.  Each of these conditions affect patients in different ways and each may be prescribed with different sleep apnea treatments.

Obstructive sleep apnea is one of the most common breathing-related sleep disorders and it can be easily treated by using a sleep apnea pillow.  One of the leading factors in an individual’s risk for developing sleep apnea is the position in which he or she sleeps and this is the factor that a sleep apnea pillow addresses.  Individuals who sleep on their back are more likely to have breathing problems during sleep because the soft walls of the airway are prone to relaxing and collapsing.  The sleep apnea pillow encourages an individual to sleep on his or her side, thus allowing the airway to remain open.

There are many kinds of sleep pillow on the market and some of the most popular are those made from orthopedic materials like memory foam.  Memory foam is a heat sensitive material that aligns itself with the shape of the body which contributes to better sleep and better support of sensitive body parts like the neck.  A sleep apnea pillow made from memory foam is most likely to be used in cases of mild obstructive sleep apnea and it is known to be among the most effective sleep apnea remedies.

Another type of sleep apnea pillow is the CPAP pillow which is typically used by patients who are also using a CPAP or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine.  CPAP pillows are very similar to any other sleep apnea pillow but it has several attachments to accommodate the CPAP mask.  Most sleep apnea patients who use a CPAP pillow or other better sleep pillow find that they are able to sleep comfortably and achieve relief from their sleep apnea symptoms.  For many patients the nonmedical treatment option of using a sleep apnea pillow is much more preferable to more extreme treatments and for many patients it is all they need.