01-19-2025, 05:31 PM
Would Polyphasic Sleep reduce sleep apnea symptoms?
Hi everyone, i got diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea after doing the sleep study but my CPAP machine might take over a month to arrive so i'm looking for a way to organize my sleep patterns to reduce the impact of sleep apnea for the time being. Would sleeping in 1.5-hour cycles help with reducing sleep events compared to sleping 8 hours? I feel exhausted even after getting 8 hours of sleep and need to take quick naps throught the day to feel okay so ditching the night sleep all together might work better? What do you think about this?
RE: Would Polyphasic Sleep reduce sleep apnea symptoms?
No, I don't think sleeping more often for short times would be better. I'm sure you would feel the best you can right now by sleeping through each night. You also don't want to unintentionally train your body to wake up often, as that will hinder future therapy.
Again, welcome, and good luck with your upcoming therapy! Let us know when you need help.
Machine: ResMed AirCurve 10 Vauto
Mask: Bleep DreamPort Sleep Solution
RE: Would Polyphasic Sleep reduce sleep apnea symptoms?
(01-19-2025, 07:01 PM)Deborah K. Wrote:
No, I don't think sleeping more often for short times would be better. I'm sure you would feel the best you can right now by sleeping through each night. You also don't want to unintentionally train your body to wake up often, as that will hinder future therapy.
Again, welcome, and good luck with your upcoming therapy! Let us know when you need help.
Thanks for replying!
Is there any sleep cycle where the number of AHI/sleep distruptions seems to spike though? I'm guessing most people experience a lot less AHI for the first hour on average? Or are the events consistent throughout the night for most? I know that obstructive sleep apnea is caused by soft tissue relaxing and closing the airways so i'm wondering if this relaxation happens mainly when sleeping for longer periods of time. I'm probably wrong about this but still want to shoot my shot i guess.
01-19-2025, 08:42 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-19-2025, 08:46 PM by DancesWithCats. Edited 2 times in total.)
RE: Would Polyphasic Sleep reduce sleep apnea symptoms?
Note, I don't actually do this (I'm also rather non-standard as an apnea case) but what I have gleaned from this forum would cause me to suggest that you get yourself a "soft Cervical Collar" which many people end up needing because they have "positional apnea" where their head flops while asleep and cuts off their airway, which even a CPAP/APAP machine can't help with. Often described as "like kinking a garden hose" with respect to your airway.
Those are inexpensive and you can just buy one NOW.
I gather the average user gets to one by first using CPAP/APAP and finding they still have unresolved events, but I see no reason you couldn't switch that process up if your machine will take a long time to get to you. If you are having such events, it would help to resolve them, as it does for people who have such events despite having a CPAP/APAP. Won't help with other types/causes of apnea, but that is a terribly common one, and the collar is the terribly common solution to them. So it might reduce your apneas by whatever fraction those ones are in your case.
RE: Would Polyphasic Sleep reduce sleep apnea symptoms?
@foolishfish
Welcome!
You raise an interesting point, polyphasic sleep.
Never really read much about it, but have heard of people who have patterns like this and seem to be ok.
I checked out a bit on internet.
Most say stay away from doing it, but who knows.
Seeing you are from Ireland, check out Patrick McKeown!
You could possibly even meet him and ask him!?
His knowledge on sleep apnea is quite extensive.
And also, breathing exercises will help you at all times, especially waiting for your PAP machine.
Check him out!!
