Dr. Michael Breus

don't want to get sleep tested.

And the reason they don't want to get sleep tested is because they think they're all going to end up on a CPAP machine.

So let's talk about what that is and how that works.

Okay.

So sleep testing is where we learn if you have one of 88 sleep disorders, but the truth of the matter is most people are just looking for one.

They're looking for sleep apnea.

The reason they're looking for sleep apnea is because it's the easiest one to treat.

Now, the treatment for sleep apnea historically has been something called a CPAP machine.

This stands for continuous positive airway pressure.

So basically it's a hairdryer blowing up your nose all night long.

Now you might say, that sounds terrible.

Why would the treatment for stopping breathing be a hairdryer blowing up my nose all night long?

So let's talk about the biology.

So what ends up happening is when you breathe in, you cause a suction and that suction pulls all of your anatomy together.

For most people, if they're not, for example, heavy, if they don't have

large tonsils, if they don't have big adenoids, some anatomical structure isn't in the way, they breathe just fine.

But if they have any one of those things, the suction pulls all this stuff in and eventually your throat collapses.

So how do we open up your throat?

You put a little mask on your nose, has an air compressor by your bed, thin stream of air through a tube.

When it hits that area, it just ever so slightly opens it up.