Treating your obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) doesn’t just mean getting more satisfying sleep. When your OSA is well managed, you may have better focus, a brighter mood, and a lower risk for heart disease and other related conditions. Not to mention less snoring, which can mean better sleep for your partner.

Most OSA treatment options focus on removing the blockage that interrupts your breathing as you sleep or widening your airway for better airflow. When you breathe better at night, your brain and body receive the oxygen they need to function properly. The right OSA treatment can improve or resolve sleep apnea symptoms.

Here, we discuss 10 OSA treatment options that can improve your sleep while supporting your mental and physical health.

Common Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatments

OSA treatments offer ways to manage the condition effectively. Here are common treatments your doctor may recommend.

1. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy has long been considered the gold standard treatment for OSA. Your doctor might recommend CPAP therapy as a first-line treatment for your OSA if it’s moderate to severe, if you have OSA with symptoms of disrupted sleep or sleepiness, or if you have OSA alongside other cardiovascular health problems.

CPAP involves using a machine at night to keep your airway open. The machine delivers continuous air pressure through a mask worn over your mouth and nose as you sleep. OSA causes the tissues in your throat to relax, which can make the airway narrow or close. The airflow from a CPAP can help prevent this so that the airway stays open.

CPAP machines aren’t all the same — some have adjustable settings or extra features like humidifiers. There are also different types of masks to choose from. Your healthcare provider can help you find a mask that fits comfortably and choose a machine that fits your preferences.

2. Oral Appliances

Oral appliances are another common treatment for OSA, often recommended for people who can’t use a CPAP machine for any reason. They are also sometimes the first treatment doctors recommend for mild OSA.

Dentists design custom oral appliances for sleep apnea based on your jaw structure. The appliance should position your jaw so that your airway stays open when you wear it to bed. Most devices pull the lower jaw forward (mandibular advancement devices), while others only reposition the tongue (tongue stabilizing devices).

For the oral appliance to be effective, you must put it in before bed, wear it all night while you sleep, and remove it only when you get up in the morning.

Lifestyle Changes for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Losing weight, changing the way you sleep, and making other simple changes to your lifestyle can make a significant difference in how well you sleep with OSA. Lifestyle changes may even resolve your OSA symptoms without any other treatments.

3. Weight Loss

Obesity is a major sleep apnea risk factor, as excess weight can compress the tissues in your airway when you relax. In one study, people who lost just 10 percent of their body weight had a 26 percent reduction in their apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). AHI measures the severity of OSA according to the number of breathing events (e.g., pauses in breathing) that a person experiences per hour of sleep.

Exercise can help with weight management, and some studies suggest it can improve sleep apnea even if you don’t lose much weight. Your doctor might recommend exercise if you have OSA because it can also support your cardiovascular health. One new weight-loss drug, a GLP-1 agonist called tirzepatide (Zepbound), is approved for the treatment of OSA in some adults with obesity.

4. Avoiding Alcohol

Drinking alcohol is another OSA risk factor. Alcohol can relax the muscles around the airway, which can worsen sleep apnea. Your doctor might tell you to avoid drinking alcohol, especially before bed, to improve your OSA.

5. Sleep Position Changes

Improving your OSA might be as simple as changing your sleeping position. When you sleep on your back, your AHI may be twice as high as when you sleep on your side. If you usually sleep on your back, your doctor might recommend side sleeping to keep your airway clear and reduce snoring.

Alternative Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatments

Newer and less common OSA treatments might work better for some people than the more conventional CPAP and oral appliances.

6. Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure Therapy

Bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) therapy uses two air pressures instead of one continuous air pressure. More specifically, a BiPAP machine applies a higher air pressure when you breathe in and a lower air pressure when you breathe out.

Your sleep specialist might recommend BiPAP therapy if you don’t tolerate CPAP well for any reason.

7. Adaptive Servo-Ventilation

Adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) is another type of positive airway pressure device therapy that treats complex sleep apnea, a type of sleep apnea that has features of both OSA and central sleep apnea — sleep apnea that happens when your brain doesn’t regulate your breathing properly.

ASV devices work very similarly to standard CPAPs. However, instead of delivering a continuous stream of air, they use a built-in sensor to detect pauses in your breathing and only send air when your body needs it.

Surgeries for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Doctors usually only recommend surgery for OSA when other options, like CPAP and oral appliances, haven’t improved symptoms. Before deciding on a procedure, sleep surgeons perform a drug-induced sleep endoscopy. This is a diagnostic procedure that uses a lighted camera on a flexible tube to find out which part of your airway gets blocked when you sleep.

8. Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is a surgery for OSA that involves reshaping the soft tissue in your upper airway to allow more airflow. Your surgeon may remove or restructure the tissue of your uvula, soft palate, tonsils, or other structures that block your airway when you sleep. Some UPPP surgery is performed with a laser to be less invasive, but this is typically only used to treat snoring and is not a great treatment for sleep apnea.

Success rates can vary, but a meta-analysis found that UPPP lowered AHI by 33 percent on average. Your AHI might slowly increase later on, as scar tissue after surgery loosens.

UPPP is sometimes performed with a tongue reduction, which removes some tissue from your tongue to make it smaller and less obstructive.

9. Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014, hypoglossal nerve stimulation therapy is one of the newer surgeries for OSA.

The surgery implants a three-part device in your neck and chest, which you can control with a remote:

• Breathing monitor — A sensor that detects your breathing patterns
• Pulse generator — A disc-shaped device that sends electrical impulses from the breathing monitor to the cuff electrode
• Cuff electrode — A cuff that fits around a nerve under your tongue with electrodes that move your tongue when stimulated by an electrical impulse

You can use the remote control to set the device to turn on before you go to bed and off again when you wake up.

Using modern implantation techniques, success rates for hypoglossal nerve stimulation may be as high as 80 percent.

10. Maxillomandibular Advancement Surgery

Maxillomandibular advancement surgery moves your mandible (lower jaw) and maxilla (upper jaw) forward to expand your airway, which helps prevent airway obstruction when you sleep.

This surgery is less popular than UPPP for treating OSA because it is much more extensive, but it may reduce your AHI by up to 87 percent. Keep in mind that jaw surgeries like this can change the way your face looks.

Talk to Your Doctor

If you have OSA, individualized treatment is important for getting the best outcome. Your doctor or sleep specialist monitors you at every step with follow-up visits to make sure you get the best outcome. Diagnostic tests, like sleep studies, can help you understand whether or not a treatment is beneficial.

An effective OSA treatment plan can lead to less daytime sleepiness, better cardiovascular health, and a longer life expectancy.

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On MySleepApneaTeam, people share their experiences with sleep apnea, get advice, and find support from others who understand.

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