COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) can make breathing extremely difficult. Smoking, exposure to toxins, dust, fumes, and genetics are a few of the most common causes. Some COPD patients are also diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, and this can give them a hard time sleeping well at night. For this, breathing devices such as CPAP machines can drastically improve sleep quality. And innovative features in breathing devices, like the new ResMed AirSense 11, make them highly effective, and convenient for patients.
Along with breathing issues, the prescribed medications can cause daytime drowsiness and insomnia. Of course, this can lead to anxiety and depression in COPD patients.
Hence, in this article, we have listed 5 valuable ways to help COPD patients sleep better at night. Keep reading to discover!
1. Avoid Daytime Naps
Although daytime naps can help you feel energized and fresh, longer ones may work against you. If you can, you should limit your naps to only 30 minutes, not longer than that. That, too, during early- or mid-afternoon.
Otherwise, your bedtime sleep issues may exacerbate, and you may feel sleepy during the day, which can further aggravate your COPD symptoms and anxiety and stress.
2. Tweak Your Sleep Position
Adjusting your sleep position can significantly help you sleep well, even with COPD symptoms. Most COPD patients complain about having acid reflux or GERD problems. Therefore, you should slightly elevate your head with the help of additional pillows and sleep in an upright position.
Since airways stay open when you sleep on your side, you can also try this position for comfortable sleep with COPD. Of course, you must keep your head slightly raised when sleeping.
3. Exercise Regularly
You should try incorporating moderate physical activity into your daily routine five times a week. This will not only help with blood circulation but also strengthen your lung tissues to ensure better inhaling and coping with your COPD symptoms.
In addition, working out in the daytime will get your muscles moving and make you tired. So, when you go to bed at night, you can quickly fall asleep. Just make sure you don’t work out in the late evening or night as your body may feel sore.
4. Create an Ideal Sleep Environment
To ensure a healthy quantity and quality of sleep, you must consider your sleep environment. This can have a major impact on how quickly you fall asleep and wake up feeling fresh.
You should declutter your space as it can easily make you feel distracted and irritated. You must also pay attention to the comfort level of your bed, noise distractions, room lighting, and room temperature and make changes accordingly.
5. Get Your Medications Reviewed
At times, COPD medications can lead to sleep issues. Therefore, you must talk to your doctor about it, and they may be able to adjust your medicine schedule. This should generally resolve your sleep problem.
If your issue still doesn’t get resolved, your doctor may entirely change your medication or provide better techniques to sleep better at night while ideally managing COPD symptoms.
