According to researchers at Penn State University, people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), benefit more from their prescribed treatments if they have a consistent bedtime routine. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy (CPAP) is a popular in-home treatment for OSA that must be adhered to consistently for the majority of sleep hours each night in order to be effective. The researchers define CPAP adherence as using the treatment for at least 4 hours each night.
Amy M. Sawyer and her colleague Tonya King are the first to study the consistency of bedtime and its correlation to treatment adherence. 97 volunteers who were about to begin CPAP, kept sleep diaries to record what time they went to bed and woke up each day, beginning 7 days before the start of their treatment and for the first 7 nights of the actual treatment. Participants also agreed to use CPAP machines with a built in microprocessor, which sent information every 24 hours to the researchers.
The routine was found to have a direct link to sticking with the medication schedule. Patients, who had a consistent bedtime within 45 minutes each night, were more likely to stick with the CPAP machine requirements. If a patient had an inconsistent bedtime, which varied by at least 1 hour and 5 minutes, he or she would be less likely to adhere to the treatment for the first month. Adults with a varied bedtime by 75 minutes or more per night were 3.2 times less likely to use their CPAP treatments for the 4 hours required.
Although adding a CPAP treatment to a person’s daily life is a challenge, doing so will ensure the treatment of OSA leading to a night’s of sleep.
Remember, sticking to it is the genius! All of us here at Gallery Furniture believe in you!
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