Are sleep apnea products nothing more than ineffective short term solutions? If you think about it, what do sleep apnea products actually do? How do they purport to alleviate your problem? If apnea is the temporary stoppage of breathing due to an obstruction in your airways, how do these products actually claim to address the issue? Obviously the short answer is that they would have to prevent the blockage from occurring, right? Okay, then let us examine this claim, using a handful of the most common over-the-counter solutions as examples: Example #1: Nasal strips.
Nasal strips are designed to open up your nostrils to let more air in.
Unfortunately they are not very effective because apnea can be caused by obstructions in the throat.
By allowing more air into the nostrils does not address the fact that air still flows in and out of your mouth when you sleep, and this air is still being blocked.
Example #2: Sleep positioners.
Does apnea only occur when you sleep flat on your back? Not necessarily.
It can also occur if you sleep on your side.
So how does a sleep positioner, that is designed to keep you from rolling onto your back while you sleep, help prevent apnea from occurring? Example #3: Chin straps.
Chin straps supposedly help to alleviate apnea by keeping your mouth closed, encouraging you to breath more through your nose than through your mouth.
But as an experiment, you can shut your mouth right now and attempt to relax your soft palate.
I'll bet you will be able to emulate the sound of snoring right now, while you are awake, with your mouth shut.
Therefore, snoring can occur even with your mouth shut.
So how do chin straps help in this scenario? The conclusion is that sleep apnea products do not necessarily solve your problem as they claim.