Do you wake up groggy even after a full night of sleep? Or do you wake other members of your household up with loud snoring? If you do, you may be among one of the 6% of Americans who live with sleep apnea. (1) Sleep apnea can be a very serious condition, and one that leads to other more serious diseases in the future if left untreated.
There are a myriad of treatments available for sleep apnea from implants, structural surgery, as well as oxygen tanks for night time sleep all of which depend on your needs, the severity, and type of sleep apnea that you have. Included in these treatment options are some lifestyle changes. Sleep apnea may occur because of genetic inheritance, or as a result of sinus congestion, as well as certain neurological conditions. But statistically, a person is more likely to suffer from sleep apnea if they are overweight, consume alcohol before bed, smoke, or use tranquilizers/sedatives in order to sleep. (2) This means that for many individuals with sleep apnea there are non-invasive and health affirming methods to treat sleep apnea successfully.
Among many lifestyle changes that can positively impact sleep apnea is evening sauna use. Saunas are effective in improving bioavailability of Nitric Oxide. This has been found to positively impact those with a specific type of sleep apnea and chronic heart failure as you will see in the outlined study below. (3)
In addition to improving Nitric Oxide availability, regular sauna use has been demonstrated to reduce excessive weight, augment insulin sensitivity, relax the nervous system, improve sleep quality, lower blood pressure, help with smoking and alcohol cessation. All of the above mentioned results from sauna use are relevant to anyone looking to improve sleep apnea and also prevent more devastating outcomes from living with sleep apnea for a prolonged period of time.
Find out if sauna therapy is a tool that may work for you in treating sleep apnea, as well as some of the lifestyle causes behind its expression.
What is Sleep Apnea? A Detailed Analysis of its Expression, Causes, and Potentially Dangerous Effects on the Body
Sleep apnea is fundamentally considered to be a sleep disorder, and it occurs when air flow is blocked to the lungs. A lack of access to oxygen can wake the individual up in some cases of sleep apnea for a very brief period of time during the night, while in other cases it can cause prolonged insomnia. (2)
Not all individuals with sleep apnea snore, and not all individuals who snore have sleep apnea. So, just because someone is snoring during sleep does not mean that they have sleep apnea.
The Mayo Clinic distinguishes three separate expressions of sleep apnea:
- “Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax and block the flow of air into the lungs
- Central sleep apnea (CSA), which occurs when the brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing
- Treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, also known as complex sleep apnea, happens when someone has OSA — diagnosed with a sleep study — that converts to CSA when receiving therapy for OSA” (2)
Some individuals may have a structural blockage that causes sleep apnea from birth as a result of heredity, and this may require more invasive procedures to fix. For many others who suffer from sleep apnea a few lifestyle changes can dramatically improve and perhaps even cure sleep apnea.
Chronic heart failure and sleep apnea married together may create a deadly concoction, however there are treatments for both. For these individuals who also have CSA, as opposed to OSA improving Nitric Oxide availability with sauna was shown to improve sleep safety. (3,4)
Living with both OSA and chronic heart failure (CHF) is very serious, and using a sauna is not a substitute for the medical treatment that you are currently receiving. However, sauna use could be considered as an additional tool to help improve both CHF and OSA.
(2)
To find out what the scientific research has found so far regarding sleep apnea and sauna use read on to find out if this treatment method may be for you.
The Science Behind Sauna and Sleep Apnea: Increase Nitric Oxide Availability For Individuals With Chronic Heart Failure and Central Sleep Apnea.
Science Direct has two separate publications that link the amelioration of Central Sleep Apnea (CSA), in individuals with chronic heart failure (CHF) with improved availability of oxygen. These same publications demonstrate that sauna use can improve the availability of Nitric Oxide which is necessary for the delivery of oxygen to the necessary parts of the body.
The publication entitled: ‘Association of central sleep apnea and nocturnal CO2 exhalation volume under oxygen inhalation in patients with chronic heart failure’, writes:
“In CHF with CSA, a low level of SBCO2 was observed. It was suggested that O2 improved this low value and suppressed CSA.” (3)
Improving oxygen availability can be done in a variety of ways including sleeping with an oxygen tank and mask. In addition to this method of treating CSA, some individuals may want to consider creating more available oxygen via sauna use in the evening before bedtime.
A publication by Science Direct entitled: ‘Sauna therapy increases nitric oxide production through increasing arterial endothelial, but not inducible, nitric oxide synthase in heart failure’ details how sauna use can improve oxygen delivery in individuals with chronic heart failure, and sleep apnea. (3) This publication writes the following:
“Our studies show that nitric oxide (NO) carried by Hb dilates the microvasculature to increase local blood flow and thus oxygen delivery… Repeated sauna therapy increases NO production by the upregulation of the decreased eNOS expression in cardiomyopathic hamsters with heart failure, suggesting the improvement of endothelial function in CHF.” (3)
So, although saunas are certainly not a replacement for an oxygen mask and tank, or a sleep apnea implant necessary for some individuals, it may be used as an additional tool to improve both conditions.
Reduce Stress, Enhance Sleep Quality, Relax the Body & Mind With Sauna Use to Improve Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- Weight loss
- Smoking cessation
- Relax the body & mind in the evening without the use of alcohol or sedatives
- Improve sleep with temperature modulation
- Augmented Insulin sensitivity
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is much more common than central sleep apnea (CSA). It may be associated with excessive weight, smoking, evening alcohol consumption, insulin sensitivity, and a lack of quality of sleep. If you are not sleeping well due to sleep apnea, many areas of your life will be negatively affected. This means that it may be difficult to discern if weight gain, for example, is a result of sleep deprivation, and sleep apnea, or the cause.
The same list mentioned above may be both the correlative cause and the result of sleep apnea in many individuals. this means that by improving each aspect of health with the help of a sauna, obstructive sleep apnea may improve.
The peer review journal published by the National Library of Medicine entitled: ‘Heat Stress and Cardiovascular, Hormonal, and Heat Shock Proteins in Humans’ (6), very succinctly outlines how saunas can positively affect so many aspects of human biology.
“On a cellular level, acute whole-body thermotherapy (both wet and dry forms) induces discrete metabolic changes that include production of heat shock proteins, reduction of reactive oxygenated species, reduced oxidative stress and inflammation pathway activities, increased NO (nitric oxide) bioavailability, increased insulin sensitivity, and alterations in various endothelial-dependent vasodilatation metabolic pathways.” (6)
This elaborate display of positive physiological outcomes from sauna use demonstrates how its use can improve many effects and correlative causes of sleep apnea.
One of the many disappointing side effects of sleep apnea is that despite a long night of sleep, the next day can feel like you have barely slept a wink.
Improve Sleep With Sauna Use
Improving overall sleep quality with evening sauna use will help apnea sufferers reach deeper states of sleep by relaxing the nervous system naturally (without cigarettes, alcohol, or sedatives), and work with the thermoregulatory system to help initiate states of deep sleep.
You will want to take your sauna as close to bed time as possible. By increasing internal body temperature right before bed, the necessary drop in temperature in order to find states of sleep (the sense of falling asleep may be attributed to the drop in body temperature) may help sleep apnea patients fall asleep faster.
Furthermore, by relaxing the central nervous system with sauna use, individuals will be less inclined to use substances such as alcohol, sedatives, and cigarettes (all substances known to disrupt quality sleep) to relax at the end of the day.
A publication in early 2024 by the National Institute of Health reveals how impactful sauna use was on sleep and relaxation in this publication: ‘A hot topic for health: Results of the Global Sauna Survey’, the authors write:
“This cross-sectional study documents that sauna-bathing participants, particularly those from Finland, Australia and the United States, are motivated to use saunas predominantly for relaxation, reporting health benefits especially around mental well-being and sleep, with relatively few adverse effects.” (7)
Even if saunas cannot fully cure sleep apnea, it is likely that those living with this condition will benefit from regular sauna bathing in many different areas of life.
Saunas May Not Cure Sleep Apnea, But May Serve to Improve Overall Quality of Life For Those Living With It
Whether you are living with central sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea, you may want to consider using a sauna to improve your quality of life. Saunas can help make oxygen more available in many different parts of the body, help you to lose excessive weight, relax the mind and body, as well as improve overall quality of sleep.
Saunas are not a substitute for medical treatment especially in serious cases and are in conjunction with chronic heart failure. However, saunas may be helpful in allowing you to access higher levels of health. Whether it is improving insulin sensitivity, creating more bioavailable nitric oxide, or simply calming the mind, regular evening sauna use could become a pillar of your new lifestyle.
Before making any changes to your lifestyle that include regular sauna use, please consult with your doctor to ensure that it is safe for you, and that it will not aggravate your sleep apnea. Please read the article on sleep apnea implants to find out if it is safe to sauna with one, or consult with your surgeon before using a sauna with a sleep apnea implant.
Even if your sleep apnea does not go away, by using a sauna regularly you are sure to feel better living in your body very soon!
Sources Cited:
- https://houstonsleepsolutions.com/blog/the-statistics-of-sleep-apnea/
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sleep-apnea/symptoms-causes/syc-20377631
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1071916404008061
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1071916404008048
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7034631/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3418130/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31126560/