You have a positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. But you don’t use it as much as you should, do you? Most people don’t.
And you know, if you don’t use it consistently for four hours a night, it’s useless.
Now, there is a solution to this. And it’s simple and free.
And it was tested in a new study published in the Sleep and Breathing journal.
CPAP therapy is effective against sleep apnea, but only if it’s used consistently for four or more hours per night.
Accordingly, the authors of this study wanted to find out whether a mobile app could help people use their CPAP machines more often and for longer periods.
The study involved three groups of people with sleep apnea who were undergoing CPAP therapy.
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1. A control group received regular care without extra support.
2. An educational booklet group received a booklet explaining how CPAP therapy works.
3. A mobile app group used a smartphone app designed to encourage CPAP usage.
Researchers looked at several factors: how many days and how many hours participants used the machine, understanding of their condition and the importance of therapy, how much they believed sleep apnea could harm their health, what benefits they thought CPAP therapy would provide, and confidence in using the machine correctly.
They tracked these factors before and after the intervention, comparing results among the groups over one month.
Their results showed that the group using the mobile app performed significantly better than the other two groups.
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1. The app users spent more time using their CPAP machines, particularly using them for more than 4 hours a night, which is considered the minimum for effective therapy.
2. Patients in the app group had a better understanding of their condition and how CPAP therapy could help.
3. Those using the app were more aware of the potential health risks if they didn’t stick to their therapy.
4. The app group felt more confident in their ability to use their machines correctly.
Interestingly, the study found that patients tended to overestimate how long they used their CPAP machines. On average, they reported using the machine about 50 minutes longer per night than they actually did.
Unfortunately, most people hate using CPAP.
And you may not need it anymore. Yes, CPAP treats sleep apnea by keeping the airways open while sleeping, which is a great start.
But an even more effective way to HEAL sleep apnea is to train the muscles around the breathing passages. This keeps your airways open night and day. It only takes 3-7 minutes a day and you can start right now.
You can learn the stop snoring and sleep apnea exercises here…