CPAP Benefits

What Are the Benefits for Using a CPAP Machine?

It's easy to neglect the CPAP benefits when you struggle to continue the CPAP therapy, especially when the machine is so uncomfortable and annoying.

In this article you'll learn that CPAP therapy actually worth the effort to try different ways to adapt.

The Most Important CPAP benefits

For many patients with sleep apnea, CPAP is considered a burden, a very difficult way to cope with sleep apnea syndrome.

These patients have a lot of problems with their CPAP machine and they may want to quit their treatment and search for alternatives ways to treat sleep apnea, without CPAP therapy.

However, considering that CPAP is the gold standard treatment for your sleep breathing disorder, you need to give your best shot to make it work for you.

Below you'll learn why CPAP is so vital for your quality of life:

1. CPAP Helps Heart to Heal

We know too well that quitting CPAP therapy is not a good idea. Knowing the CPAP benefits will not only improve the CPAP adherence, but will also make you love your machine.

For example, scientists realized that before the treatment with CPAP, the heart of the patient was enlarged. However, after only 3 month of carefully use of their CPAP machine, they saw a reduction of the enlargement of the heart.

This is AMAZING news! You can actually reverse the damage of the heart by using the CPAP every night!

Watch this video to learn more:

Many sleep apnea patients feel the benefits of CPAP when they go for a sleep study. The majority of patients have no problem wearing the CPAP mask and report that their night in the laboratory was the best night's sleep they've had in years.

Others find it difficult at first to breathe out against a constant stream of air and to sleep with their mouth closed, but they usually get used to it with time.

Some patients with sleep apnea realize how good is a CPAP machine only after they give up their CPAP therapy. Without a tretment, the side effects of sleep apnea can worsen in time and can become quite dangerous for your life.

The consequences of untreated sleep apnea are many and vary from sleepiness throughout the day, preventing daytime functioning, to an increased incidence of cardiovascular conditions such as:

2. CPAP is Decreasing Daytime Sleepiness

In general, the appropriate use of CPAP therapy will improve sleep quality and lead to a decrease of daytime sleepiness. 
If you have complaints of morning headaches, most likely associated with changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels throughout the night, you may see improvements in the frequency and intensity of those headaches.

3. CPAP Improves memory and cognitive functions

Did you noticed that you have problems with short-term memory, if you have an untreated sleep apnea? Well, as sleep quality improves with CPAP treatment, there may also be a concurrent improvement in daytime cognitive function and short-term memory.

4. CPAP is Improving the time spent in deep sleep

Continuous positive airway pressure generally leads to a great improvement in the amount of time spent in restorative deep sleep, which in turn leads to improvement alertness the next day.

5. CPAP can treat hypertension in sleep apnea patients

In many cases, CPAP also reduces or eliminates hypertension.

6. CPAP Prevents the Risk for Myocardial Infarction

Untreated sleep apnea is also associated with a nighttime increase in sympathetic activity of the nervous system, causing both systolic and diastolic blood pressure increases as well as cardiac arhythmias and an increase in the development of atherosclerosis.

However, if you use CPAP therapy to treat sleep apnea, you will soon see the CPAP benefits. Eliminating sleep problems with CPAP can result in decrease in nighttime and daytime blood pressure, and can be associated with the reduction or elimination of tachycardia, premature beats of the heart, and potential myocardial infarction.

7. CPAP Prevents the Risk for Diabetes

Poor sleep quality and sleep deprivation have been associated with the development of insulin resistance in normal volunteers.

Sleep apnea patinets are at high risk of the development of insulin resistance, and those patients who have diabetes may find the condition difficult to control until sleep apnea is treated.

CPAP can be very helpful in this situation.

8. CPAP Helps Control GERD

Patients with GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease) can also feel the CPAP benefits, because GERD has been associated with sleep apnea and is likely due to the increased negative intrathoracic pressures generated by breathing against a closed airway.

For more tips on how to prevent GERD during sleep, please see acid reflux and sleep apnea.

9. CPAP Prevents Excessive Urination in the Night

Another important CPAP benefit is that the improvement of sleep quality will likely lead to an increase in the deeper stages of sleep and promote the secretion of anti-diuretic hormone essential for the control of nighttime fluid production.

10. CPAP Helps Improving the Depression Symptoms


The improved sleep quality is also associated with improvement in mood, decreases in depressive symptoms, and improved psychosocial relationships both at work and at home.




› CPAP Benefits

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