New ways to treat sleep apnea....

Tuesday, 9-30-2014

Earlier this month Medical News today had an article titled: 

“Sleep apnea: weaker brain blood flow damages the brain”

Sleep apnea and reduced brain blood flow and brain damage go together.

Clearly sleep apnea which cuts off oxygen intake tends to cause reduced brain blood flow and brain damage.

But that may not be all.  

What if reduced brain blood flow and brain damage also cause sleep apnea?

That could mean that taking steps to increase brain blood flow and repair brain damage might prevent or reduce sleep apnea. 

And, of course, it could prevent some damage from sleep apnea from other causes.

(The CPAP machine is a great short term symptom remover for those who have access to one and can stand to use it and be connected to one all night.  But it is expensive, obnoxious to use, and does not remove the causes of sleep apnea. 

Until the causes are removed, it IS protective however and clearly is medically indicated for that use.)

Sleep apnea that has not been turned off either by the CPAP or by removing the causes also can cause fatal car accidents and falling asleep on the job and high blood pressure and help trigger heart attacks and strokes – in addition to brain damage!

Obstructive sleep apnea needs to have the obstruction removed to improve.  

The Pillar procedure and/or  removal of nasal obstructions as needed in some people do this effectively.  And, in some very fat people losing over 10% of bodyweight and using cold packs to spot reduce neck fat may help also. (For many such people the Pillar procedure can get you from zero to 70 to 90% there within a few days.  But even for such people losing the neck fat can help a lot as well.)

But the part of sleep apnea caused by a diminished breathing capacity and signals for it may be improved or reversed by taking ubiquinol and PPQ and by regular vigorous exercise, particularly vigorous higher intensity variable or interval cardio, and by other helps to brain repair such as taking or eating DHA and choline.

(If the mitochondria, the cell’s energy generators, for the nerves and muscles that trigger breathing signals or do the breathing are too weak or too few, that may be a key cause of non-obstructive sleep apnea.  Damage to or shrinkage in the nerves in the key breathing centers may also be a key cause of non-obstructive sleep apnea.

Taking ubiquinol (and NOT taking statins) has been shown to strengthen the action of mitochondria.   And, taking PQQ has recently been shown to increase the number of mitochondria by growing new ones.  So taking these two supplements may well turn this off as a cause of non-obstructive sleep apnea.

Regular and vigorous exercise most days of every week has been shown to release the brain cell and nerve growth hormone, BDNF, and prevent brain shrinkage when done for often enough and long enough.  In addition, such exercise increases circulation to all of you.  It strengthens breathing muscles and the nerves that serve them in particular.

So anyone with sleep apnea likely would benefit from very slowly starting and then maintaining such an exercise program.

And, several research studies show that taking DHA and choline in addition to such exercises helps cause such nerve growth, maintenance, and repairs. 

Wild caught fish, particularly small ones such as sardines and herring, and octopus have DHA; and egg yolks from pasture fed chickens are high in choline.  But for consistent intake, supplements are a good idea.  Nordic Naturals sells DHA and Jarrow has MaxDHA.  And the supplement lecithin is an inexpensive source of choline plus you can buy choline supplements

Besides this effect on the brain and nerves, such exercise, DHA, and choline each increase HDL AND  lower triglycerides, thus lowering small particle LDL and preventing the blood vessels from getting clogged up and reducing heart attacks and strokes!

This entire set of things clearly is a good idea for any kind of sleep apnea.  But they may also remove the causes of non-obstructive sleep apnea!  

It seems to me that these protocols are missing now in the treatment of sleep apnea.  And both reducing it and the damage from it could be greatly helped if they were always added!

Here’s the Medical News Today story and the link to it.

Sleep apnea: weaker brain blood flow damages the brain

http://mnt.to/l/4qDy

People with sleep apnea experience weaker brain blood flow, finds a new study 

from UCLA, which also suggests females are more affected than males.