Dr. Howell from GEM SLEEP.  

I want to talk to you about a few things that you can do to help improve your nasal breathing.  It’s really important to breathe well through your nose. It's important both during the day, but especially at night when we're sleeping. Just breathing a little bit better through your nose at night can by itself help address your Obstructive Sleep Apnea, but even if it doesn't completely fix all your Obstructive Sleep Apnea it's going to make whatever treatment you use more effective. Whether or not that's CPAP or an Oral Appliance or whatever other treatment you may use for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  

The better that you can breathe through your nose the better sleep that you're going to get. So my general advice is do the best you can when possible to try to have a clean filtered air system in your bedroom when you're sleeping. In addition to that if you have allergy medication don't forget to take it at night or if you use a nasal spray to help decrease the inflammation in your nose. There are both prescription and over-the-counter steroid sprays that can be very helpful to decrease congestion at night. Don't forget to use them in addition to that sometimes nasal saline rinses can be very effective in helping us clear out our sinus passageways make it easier to breathe at night. We hope these tips help. Don't hesitate to go ahead and give them a try and if you're struggling at all feel free to discuss this with your provider.  

Best wishes and sleep well.

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