According to the National Council on Aging, roughly thirty-nine million people in the United States are diagnosed with this sleep disorder. Many constantly search for new supplements to help with sleep apnea. Some opt to add new medications for sleep apnea to their routine, like taking tirzepatide for sleep apnea. Others want to give oxygen therapy a shot.
Oxygen therapy doesn’t necessarily fix the airway blockages that cause sleep apnea. Instead, the extra oxygen provides additional support to maintain healthy oxygen levels in your body. It’s most often recommended for people who don’t use a CPAP machine.
When to Use Oxygen Therapy
Because sleep apnea can cause oxygen levels to drop, doctors may prescribe supplemental oxygen for patients who don’t use CPAP or may have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) combined with sleep apnea. If your doctor thinks oxygen therapy is right for you and your health, here’s how it works:
- A small oximeter is clipped onto your fingertip to monitor your oxygen levels at night. If your oxygen level drops below 88% for more than five minutes, it’s a sign your body could use a boost.
- The extra oxygen is sent through a thin tube (also known as a ‘nasal cannula’) that sits comfortably under your nose, usually with a flow rate of a few liters per minute.
While oxygen therapy can bump up your oxygen levels, it doesn’t solve everything. It won’t keep airways from collapsing, so issues like poor sleep and carbon dioxide buildup might persist.
Does Oxygen Therapy Work?
Extra oxygen might help some, but it certainly won’t solve all your sleep apnea troubles.
Some studies show that oxygen therapy doesn’t reduce the number or length of breathing interruptions. This means those pesky symptoms, like daytime grogginess, don’t necessarily go away. The National Institute of Health even says extra oxygen can increase the number of sleep apnea-related breathing disturbances, in some cases.
It can also provide you with a false sense of security. The problem is that untreated, underlying issues related to sleep apnea pose the risk of more serious problems, like stroke or heart attack.
Other Approaches to Sleep Apnea
While supplemental oxygen isn’t a cure-all for sleep apnea, there are other approaches that may be worth trying. Something as simple as changing the position you sleep in, the food that you eat, or how often you exercise may provide some relief.
At Optimal Circadian Health, we believe in a multi-faceted approach to sleep apnea. Our book, Sleep Apnea Solution, provides numerous resources to help you make lifestyle changes, improve your sleep hygiene, train your breath, and calm your nervous system. Our goal is to find healthy ways to tackle sleep apnea by addressing the root cause, helping you to overcome sleep apnea and doze off into dreamland without any unwanted interruptions!
