Most of the time, we focus on the dangerous impacts sleep apnea has on your health. It’s hard not to take it seriously when people with moderate or severe sleep apnea have an elevated death risk. But beyond the health risks, sleep apnea can significantly impact your quality of life. Constant fatigue, lack of interest, mood problems, and more can make it hard to enjoy life if you have sleep apnea.
People with mild sleep apnea often experience these problems, even though they might not suffer serious health risks. Because they don’t have serious health risks, they might not think they need to treat their sleep apnea. However, a new study shows that treating mild sleep apnea can improve your quality of life.
Impact of Treating Mild Sleep Apnea
To study the impact of treating mild sleep apnea, researchers recruited 301 patients and found that 233 of them had mild sleep apnea. The patients were randomized, with 115 getting treatment and 118 getting standard care without treating their sleep apnea. Patients took a 36-question vitality quiz to measure their quality of life for this study.
After three months, 209 patients completed the trial and were given the vitality quiz again. Researchers found that the treatment group saw their vitality scores improve by an average of 10 points over the untreated group. (The treatment group improved 9.2 points, while the usual care group actually worsened by 0.8 points.)
Several different types of analysis confirmed the significant level of improvement.
Oral Appliances Are Great for Mild Sleep Apnea
This study shows us that you can benefit from treating even mild sleep apnea. However, the study also has the limitation that it focused only on CPAP treatment. The problem with CPAP treatment is that many people don’t like the idea of CPAP treatment, especially for mild sleep apnea.
Long-term CPAP compliance is only about 50%, even for people with relatively severe sleep apnea. For mild sleep apnea, many people don’t feel that using CPAP is worth it for the benefits they receive.
On the other hand, oral appliance therapy works great for mild sleep apnea. It’s easy to use, comfortable, and convenient. Plus, it can be just as effective as CPAP. You’ll enjoy the benefits you get from oral appliance therapy, and you’ll love it even more because it’s so easy to use. It’s so subtle and unobtrusive that your partner will hardly notice. And it’s so transportable that you can easily take it with you whenever you travel, and never have any issues with TSA when you fly.
Get Treatment for Mild Sleep Apnea in Omaha
This study reminds us that there are benefits to treating even mild sleep apnea. If you’ve been diagnosed with mild sleep apnea, don’t ignore it. Instead, focus on getting a comfortable, convenient treatment that can easily give you the benefit of treatment. Enjoy improved vitality and a higher quality of life.
To learn more about the benefits of sleep apnea treatment in Omaha, please call (402) 493-4175 today for an appointment with a sleep dentist at the Advanced Dental Sleep Treatment Center.
