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 attempts to maintain healthy oxygen levels in your body. It’s most often recommended for people who don’t use a CPAP machine but can be in addition to a machine, depending on what’s happening.
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 maintain higher oxygen saturation, 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.
I believe this is the case because we need to have the capacity to metabolize and “tolerate” oxygen. Excess oxygen that can’t be processed ends up fueling free radical production in poorly functioning mitochondria. Normally, oxygen gets turned into water during the energy production process (oxidative phosphorylation) in the powerhouse of the cell (mitochondria). However, if that process isn’t happening efficiently, oxygen can instead be partially reduced, leading to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide.
These ROS are byproducts of inefficient mitochondrial function and cause oxidative stress, aka inflammation. Excess inflammation damages the cells and mitochondria even more. This creates a vicious cycle of oxidative damage.
In this context, supplemental oxygen might exacerbate the issue in individuals with impaired mitochondrial function because the additional oxygen increases the likelihood of incomplete reduction, leading to even more ROS production. This highlights the importance of addressing other influences of oxygen saturation, like mitochondrial dysfunction, and ensuring that oxygen supplementation is tailored to the individual’s metabolic capacity.
Supplemental oxygen 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 important considerations, as mentioned with the mitochondria, that have value in supporting better oxygen metabolism. Something as simple as changing the position you sleep in, the food that you eat, or doing a specific breathing exercise can set you up for more refreshing sleep.
At Optimal Circadian Health, we believe in a multi-faceted approach to sleep apnea. The Sleep Apnea Solution book has resources, including an easy breathing routine before bedtime, to help you breathe and sleep easier!
