Sleep. A time when the body relaxes, recharges and heals. But not all of us are resting easily. According to the National Commission on Sleep Disorders, one in six Americans, suffers from some degree of sleep apnea.

When we sleep, the air passages shrink, and eventually become blocked. In some people, it will be a mild narrowing; and in some people it will be complete obstruction, so that the air will not get into the lung from the air passages. There are several symptoms. One is excessive sleepiness; they just don’t want to wake up. Some people wake up with a headache and a dry mouth. Then they have a lack of energy.

Because the severity of sleep apnea was not recognized by the medical community until recently, only a fraction of sufferers have been diagnosed. Common methods of treatment include sleeping on breathing machines and surgery to enlarge the air way.

Because the surgeries can come with complications and there can be issues to deal with post-op and because the equipment can be cumbersome; it would be nice to have a simplistic solution.

Working towards that end, a new jaw supporting device has been designed to help reduce snoring, and the symptoms associated with obstructive sleep apnea. It works at retraining the tissue and muscles around the mouth, to stay closed while sleeping.

Ultimately, it is just helping you keep your mouth substantially closed while you are sleeping. It is keeping the jaw substantially supported, so it can’t collapse backwards, and your tongue can’t collapse back and close off your air. It does not work for everybody; it is not a Cure All for obstructive sleep apnea. But, we have a very high success rate.

I guess I was thinking that I was not getting enough sleep at night, I was waking up constantly. So, I just figured that I would have it checked out. They found out that I had sleep apnea. The device does help out a lot. Now I seem to get up and feel just fine in the morning, whereas I am not near as tired as I used to be.

In the limited pilot study that we did, which involved eleven patients; we have had very positive results with the majority. The patients have reported that they have been feeling better, one patient in particular. This technology has great potential.

Further research shows that if not treated correctly, sleep disorders may open the door to other health problems.

It may lead in to stroke, blood pressure, diabetes, depression; all those are there as far as from the medical stand point. It has been estimated that an average American needs at least seven and a half hours of sleep, every night on a consistent basis. Even one night’s sleep deprivation can lead to sleepiness, lack of interest, concentration problems, productivity will go down. So that is extremely important.

For those who suffer from a sleep disorder, resting out tired bodies can some times turn into a nightmare. But, continued changes on how we address mechanical problems may help us lay our apprehensions to rest and put some of our health problems to bed.