As I wanted to add more information on certain cluster headache triggers, I had Annie write two articles on ‘sleep apnea’. Annie has a site on sleep anxiety and she wrote an interesting article on the treatment of sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a potentially dangerous condition in which breathing is interrupted during sleep. The good news is that many mild cases can be taken care of with some simple lifestyle modifications unless the condition is caused by certain illnesses, such as cluster headache.

Men, people over 40 years of age and people who are overweight are disproportionately affected by the condition. Okay, there is no treatment for being a man and turning back the clock so we never reach 40 is not an option either. However, losing weight is possible and something that should be done for a better quality of health in general.

Get off the couch and go for a walk. Spend more time playing outdoors with the kids or grand kids. Join a health club; a membership at the local Y may be exactly what your body needs. Take up a sport or just go for a long walk. There are many ways to get exercise. You have to decide to make getting in better shape a priority and get to it.

Provided you are not addicted, avoiding alcohol and sleeping pills is another relatively easy one of the sleep apnea treatments. If you are addicted, there are places you can go for help. Start by checking the phone book or doing a search on the computer. Also, stop smoking.

The answer may be as simple as changing sleeping positions to enhance regular breathing, and avoiding sleeping on your back as this seems to be the worst position for promoting continuous breathing.

When these steps do not do the trick, there are other sleep apnea treatments that include various surgeries, dental devises and masks designed to promote continuous breathing. Other minimally invasive procedures include implants and injections. However, long term data is not available on these implants and injections.

The first step is sleep disorder diagnosis, which may include a sleep study specifically for sleep apnea. Your doctor will be able to tell you more about this process. Do not ignore the problem. Untreated sleep apnea can cause hypertension, stroke and heart failure.