Sleep deprivation is a growing problem in America, where many people burn the candle at both ends. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have labeled insufficient sleep a public health epidemic, citing statistics which suggest as many as 50 to 70 million U.S. adults suffer from a sleep disorder. To promote better sleep, many people are willing to try all sorts of remedies, from pharmaceuticals to sleep masks to acupuncture and more. Recently, researchers studied yoga to see if it might serve as a good remedy for sleep difficulties. While interesting, their results didn’t necessarily provide much help for people who are struggling to fall and stay asleep each night.
Assessing Yoga
To test the efficacy of yoga as a potential treatment for various psychiatric disorders, a group of researchers poured over numerous older studies which used the alternative therapy to treat everything from depression to schizophrenia to insomnia. According to their report, yoga is an attractive potential remedy, because it is cost-effective, safe and acceptable to patients.
Unfortunately, although they did assert that they found studies which appeared to support the use of yoga as an effective way to combat sleep disorders; the researchers ultimately deemed these studies as limited, because they weren’t double-blind and hadn’t been successfully replicated.
What if You Have Sleep Apnea?
Many people love yoga, because they say it enhances mental health by promoting feelings of well-being. For people who suffer from general insomnia, this benefit could theoretically help support better sleep. On the other hand, for people who suffer from sleep apnea, more is needed.
Since it creates breathing difficulties, sleep apnea can cause maintenance insomnia, which is characterized by frequent waking with an inability to return to sleep. Because they can’t do anything about these breathing problems, pharmaceuticals and alternative therapies such as yoga offer no benefits to sleep apneics.
On the other hand, because oral sleep appliances adjust the jaw to provide a more open airway, they provide very real, lasting sleep apnea relief. To learn more about this simple, effective treatment, contact our Omaha sleep clinci today.
