I recorded myself sleeping with a night vision camera tuesday night and last night. I twitch awake and proceed to scratch my head or arm for a few seconds every 15-20 minutes. Sometimes I can see my mouth puff before I wake up so I am assuming all of these are apnea events.
Last night I tried wearing one of those nose strips that keep your nose open and I actually feel great. The recording shows about a 40% decrease in events. And I only slept 5.5 hours and feel better than I usually do sleeping 10.
Last night I actually completely opened my eyes, body stayed motionless and I looked around with just my eyes for like 15 seconds. It looked creepy lol. And I don’t remember a thing lmao.
Did you ever see an ENT about maybe the cause of your apnea being your nasal airway or something? I am thinking about seeing one and considering a surgery if it means I don’t have to worry about the CPAP machine.
I am not sure how much my sleep apnea is weight related. My neck is only 14.5" and I have been skinnier and heavier than this before and never noticed such a disruption in my sleep. I have noticed since a few months ago that it’s been harder to breathe through my nose while awake. Maybe something changed in my skull shape to make it harder to breath or maybe I have a deviated septum
Yes - I had septoplasty (deviated septum) and turbinate reduction - would not recommend it.
Get to a 25 BMI or less and then decide. For you at 5’3", that’s about 140.
You can actually get to 105 and be considered “healthy,” a BMI of 18.5. You would most likely look skinny asf at that weight, but you would have much better life expectancy.
As mentioned, I am, or was, 6’1" and am currently at 180 pounds, which is a 23.7 BMI and many people are asking me if I am sick. Healthy is between 18.5 and 25 according to the powers that be - gross generalizations based on data. That means I could weigh 140 and be considered healthy.
I would be a skeleton. Kind of am at 180.
So, take it all with a grain of salt, but I can guarantee you that the apnea will most likely resolve if you get to a 25 BMI.
Yeah I know my healthy weight by bmi standards is like 105-140 but there’s zero chance I am getting there. I have too much of an appetite. I know guys my height at that weight (that don’t exercise) and they eat like two things a day. I was 135lbs in high school when I lived on ritz crackers and diet pepsi. I got to 135lbs when I was around 22 while lifting and that was really difficult and I looked like a human stickbug. My arms are 14" now at 160, at 135 they’d be like 11-12".
How does weight make you have sleep apnea if you don’t have a fat neck? Idk. Maybe visceral fat is stopping the diaphragm from working?
Sorry about your surgery problems. So it wasn’t worth it at all? Can’t you breathe better?
I used to literally eat every 30 minutes. As in, eat something, watch the clock tick for 29 minutes and then eat the next thing. And I was ALWAYS starving.
I spent a good long while sorting out my nutrition and got myself to a point where I can painlessly fast all day, if I need to.
You aren’t doomed. There is still a future for you.
Im not worried about it at all. I have been recomping at 160 looking better every week.
And yeah I can fast or be in a deficit but why bother when I can’t sustain it? I can sustain 160. Might as well not worry about losing weight and do a recomp at a weight I am comfortable at.
For myself, vegetables were part of the problem. A lot of folks try this idea of just filling the space of the stomach with fiber and roughage, as though we can trick hunger away by just occupying the space. There are a LOT of causes for hunger, but rarely is it simple physical emptiness of the stomach.
For me, I had to figure out WHY I was so hungry and sort that out. Getting myself into a fat adapted state really went far there.
I don’t know what the cause of your appetite is. I’m saying that you don’t have to resign yourself to it, if you have a goal of overcoming it.
I understand what you are saying but 160 at 32% BF and 160 at 22% BF are different. I had prediabetes when I was 154lbs last year because I wasn’t lifting that much and I was eating a lot of processed sugar but now it is gone
to go from 160 32% bodyfat to 160 22% bodyfat I only have to recomp 15 pounds
I have done keto and yeah its pretty good but its not sustainable for me. The way I have been eating lately is by far the best for me. No processed sugar or sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners, eat fruits and vegetables, lean meats/greek yogurt/protein powder to keep sat fat low, nuts and olive oil for fat, potatoes and oatmeal for carbs.
Who knows, maybe once I get my CPAP machine my sleep apnea will be resolved and my appetite will decrease.
I have done keto and yeah its pretty good but its not sustainable for me.
Same.
Who knows, maybe once I get my CPAP machine my sleep apnea will be resolved and my appetite will decrease.
Definitely a chance of this. There are consistent links between poor sleep and increased appetite. Sleep is a lever of recovery, and when that’s compromised, the body will find other ways to achieve it.
I looked it up and apparently being fat and having sleep apnea is a viscous cycle. The fat creates apnea then the apnea makes you hungrier, and vice versa. Even visceral fat reduces lung volume. I am assuming I have a lot of visceral fat because my belly is 38.5 inches or so but I don’t have much fat hanging on the outside of the belly.
Is your belly kind of firm? Usually people with visceral far have harder bellies. All the fat is under the muscle so your muscle is stretched out, kind of like a pregnant woman would have. People with less visceral fat tend to have squishy bellies because the fat is outside of the muscle.
Visceral fat would make it harder to breathe as your diaphragm would have less space to move (also similar to a pregnant woman). Not trying to compare you to a pregnant woman, but the theory of the two would be the same.
It’s ok, Beth, I myself have compared it to a pregnant woman
Yeah my belly is very firm lol. And yeah depending on how fat I am at a given time it changes my ability to breathe all the way. It actually impacts acid reflux and even my hunger too because if I have too much visceral fat it pushes on my stomach and pushes the stomach acid up.
I remember in my early 20s when I first started lifting, I was able to get down to 140lbs and my belly was basically gone. So I just have to lose 15-20 pounds of fat and the vast majority of the visceral fat will be gone.
So now I have even more of a reason to lose fat. Good thing
I just figured out that I have been breathing inefficiently. Idk when or why I started doing this but for the past few months at least I have noticed I can’t really get those big deep breaths that I used to. Well this is because I have been belly breathing which has been cutting my lung capacity at least in half.
I figured this out on my own and then I looked it up and found this video:
Basically I was only allowing my belly to expand when breathing, which limits how much air I can take in per breath. I have been taking big breaths for the past few minutes and it is such a relief. My hands feel tingly and warm and I feel way more relaxed. This is how I remember breathing feeling like.
Check out some breathwork videos - it makes a difference.
Stan Grof developed Transformational Breathwork after LSD was outlawed for research - it does get you high, releases DMT, can give you a psychedelic type experience. Wim Hof is similar.
Conscious continuous breathing shuts down the pre-frontal cortex and allows you to view your life objectively.
Check it out. If you’re interested, I can give you some resources. I am trained in breathwork by Alchemy of Breath - a good resource.
I am actually a fan of yogic breathing - belly, then chest. For me, the main thing is remembering to breathe. The whole ND mental health thing for me has me holding my breath most of the time, clenched.
Stanislav Grof was a MD/Ph.D doing psychedelic research when they outlawed it so he developed holotropic transformational breathwork. It’s circular breathing with no pauses. A breathwork session of this style typically lasts an hour. If you pay for it and see a professional, it will be two hours and about $250. The current psychedelic guides are doing basically the same thing. Set an intention, have the breathwork, then a half hour or so of integration.
Breathwork is a broad term. I can just mean pranayama in a yoga session, or something longer like circular breathing for an hour. The US Military uses box breathing - inhale for five, hold for five, exhale for five, hold for five - to calm their heartbeat and increase awareness in bombat. Particularly snipers.
It can also just be coherence breathing - inhale for five, exhale for five. The theory is that this is six breaths a minute which mirrors the frequency at which the earth vibrates and puts you in coherence.
Alchemy of Breath does a free guided breathwork on Sundays at 9AM via zoom - about 500 people from all over the world breathing consciously together. It’s pretty amazing. You have to sign up to get the link, and you will get an email or two, but not spammed hard.
I do think breathing consciously changes your natural breathing pattern, but I have no evidence of this.
