Latest news with #Rohrscheib
Buzz Feed
01-04-2025
- Health
- Buzz Feed
Have Sleep Apnea Or Suspect You Do? Certain Pillows Might Help
The experts consulted for this story do not necessarily endorse the products ahead unless otherwise noted. Sleep apnea — a disorder in which one's breathing is interrupted for seconds or minutes at a time during sleep — affects people of all ages, genders, and body types, according to Dr. Indira Gurubhagavatula, a sleep medicine physician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). Yet more than 80% of sleep apnea cases remain undiagnosed, she said. 'The most common symptom of sleep apnea is loud, persistent snoring,' Gurubhagavatula noted. However, because of the unconscious nature of sleep, it can be tricky to determine whether you snore, much less experience sleep apnea episodes, unless a family member, roommate or partner notices. However, if you notice yourself waking up gasping or choking, or even frequently using the bathroom at night, these can all constitute sleep apnea symptoms, too. The interruptions in breathing that occur with sleep apnea 'lead to frequent drops in blood oxygen levels, severely disrupting sleep quality,' explained Chelsie Rohrscheib, a neuroscientist and head sleep expert at Wesper. The consequences of such diminished sleep quality can be dire, affecting daytime hours and the broader constitution of one's life emphasized Gurubhagavatula. 'For about half of those with sleep apnea, symptoms worsen when sleeping on their back,' explained Rohrscheib. This is called positional sleep apnea, she noted, and occurs because sleeping on your back can actually block your airway. Specifically, gravity can cause your tongue to fall into the throat during sleep, obscuring the airway, both experts said. The good news is that sleep apnea is treatable. 'Patients with positional sleep apnea often benefit from sleeping on their side or elevating their head,' added Rohrscheib. 'For people with mild sleep apnea, sleeping with a firm, elevated pillow might improve their respiration, as softer pillows that are thinner tend to promote airway blockage.' If you suspect you may have sleep apnea, seek evaluation by your doctor or a specialist from an AASM-accredited sleep center. A healthcare professional can order you a sleep study, which often can be done right at home. 'Those with positional sleep apnea may still experience breathing disruptions, though typically to a lesser degree than when sleeping on their back,' Rohrscheib noted, and 'not everyone with sleep apnea will see improvements by changing their sleep position.' It's best to consult with a sleep specialist about whether positional therapy makes sense for you. If your doctor agrees that swapping out your pillow might help, you can check out some pillow aids informed by expert insight ahead. 1. Tempurpedic Switching to a side sleeping position with an appropriate pillow can be helpful if you have mild or positional sleep apnea, in which the disorder worsens during back sleeping. 'Typically, someone with positional sleep apnea will benefit more from a pillow that allows them to sleep comfortably on their sides, such as a medium firm memory foam pillow," said Rohrscheib. Based on Rohrscheib's advice, we selected Tempurpedic's beloved memory foam pillow, which is designed to comfortably support your head and neck during side sleeping. Get the large pillow from Amazon for $63. 2. An adjustable memory foam pillow for personalized support Amazon This popular contoured side sleeping pillow is another solid option based on Rohrscheib's recommendation. It's so important for any good side pillow to support the space between your shoulder and head as closely as possible, yet that distance is unique to each person depending on their particular physical makeup, according to sleep brands like Tempurpedic. After all, shorter folks may have different head-to-shoulder widths than taller people. As a result, it can be advantageous to choose an adjustable pillow, like this one. Oeko-Tex-certified and made out of memory foam, the pillow provides four different heights for you to choose from to help achieve optimal profile support while helping minimize neck strain. Another plus is that this option comes in a travel size for easy portability. 3. Amazon For folks with positional sleep apnea, "The simple practice of sleeping on their side or stomach can help keep the airway open throughout the night," noted Gurubhagavatula. A concave contoured pillow, like this bestselling one that we selected, may help side sleeping feel comfier by providing additional support. Made with memory foam, the pillow is designed to ergonomically cradle the head at a 15-degree angle while supporting the natural curve of the neck and shoulders. This option features convenient removable inserts, too, so you can adjust it to your ideal side profile width. If you'd like the pillow to be even taller than the available inserts allow, the company says you can even contact them for an additional insert. Get it from Amazon for $35.98 (available in three colors). 4. A wedge pillow to comfortably elevate your upper body Amazon Both Gurubhagavatula and Rohrscheib recommended wedge pillows for folks with mild or positional sleep apnea, since this kind of pillow helps encourage sleeping with the upper body elevated. "A wedge pillow that allows [patients] to sleep at a 45-degree angle ... reduces the risk of soft tissue blockage in the back of the throat" and thus helps improve respiration, explained Rohrscheib. Based on the experts' input, we think this bestselling memory foam wedge pillow is a great option. Available in tons of different sizes, including options that span your whole headboard, the adjustable pillow is plenty versatile (and surprisingly chic thanks to its Jacquard pillow cover). It's designed to help with snoring and encourage more comfortable sleep, but can also be used for back support while reading or watching TV or for elevating your feet or legs after a long day. Get it from Amazon for $29.88+ (available in various sizes). 5. Amazon If you already know you have sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine to assist with nighttime breathing, you might benefit from a pillow that's designed specifically with CPAPs in mind. "There are ... pillows made for sleep apnea patients that use other therapies, like CPAP," noted Rohrscheib. This Contour CPAP Max pillow, which we selected, is one such option. The adjustable, orthopedic pillow sports side cutouts to help minimize leaks from your mask and prevent your mask from moving around. Its concave center cradles your head while providing facial support to help facilitate comfortable airflow and side positioning. With the pillow's three removable layers, you can add and subtract inserts to achieve an ideal height for your side profile. Available in original and cooling versions, the pillow even has a tether for attaching your machine's hose to further minimize shifting of your mask. 6. A especially firm pillow made for CPAP machine wearers Amazon This popular, firm Lunderg memory foam pillow, which we also chose, is also designed for folks with sleep apnea who use CPAP machines. Designed to reduce mask air leaks, the pillow's two sides offer different thickness levels to accommodate differing side profiles; the pillow also comes with an additional removable insert for further customization. The piece also includes two pillowcases (one of which is cooling)! Get it from Amazon for $79. 7. A full body pillow for increased comfort and support while side sleeping Amazon In previous reporting, a sleep medicine physician recommended using a full-body pillow to make side and stomach sleeping easier while providing additional pressure-relieving support. Based on this advice, we selected this popular adjustable full-body pillow from Pharmedoc. The piece is customizable, so you can opt for its full U-shaped style, or detach one of its legs for a C-shape, and use the removed part for additional support between your legs or behind your head. It also comes with a heat-absorbing cooling cover. Get it from Amazon for $29.71+ (available in five colors). 8. A contoured knee pillow to encourage side sleeping in comfort Amazon A sleep medicine physician also previously told us that a small pillow in between the knees can help align the spine for more comfortable side sleeping. Based on this suggestion, we think this orthopedic knee pillow from Luna is a solid option. Contoured into an hourglass shape and made with memory foam, the knee pillow is designed to support your body while adapting to your particular shape and maintaining breathability with its cooling fabric. Designed to help align the spine, the sleep tool helps reduce pressure in the neck and shoulders while distributing your weight more evenly in the side sleeping position. Get it from Amazon for $22.79+ (available in two sizes).
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WIRED
09-03-2025
- Health
- WIRED
How to Arrange Your Room for the Best Sleep
These tips and tricks will help your dreams stay sweet. Illustration:If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIRED Good sleep hygiene is important. And for the 25 percent of Americans who experience insomnia every year, finding your best bedroom setup for sleep can be a monumental task. There are gadgets and gifts and advice galore to help you sleep, from supplements to setting up a dedicated bedtime routine. In 2024, the United States sleep aids market grew from around $59 billion to $64 billion. And while all of these products can absolutely be helpful, which I can personally attest to, you might not have to buy anything to catch those elusive zzz's. It might just take rearranging your bedroom. I spoke with a few sleep experts to get their advice on how to arrange a bedroom for optimal sleep, including Shawna Robins (a National Board Certified health and wellness coach), Leah Kaylor (a psychologist specializing in sleep), and Chelsie Rohrscheib (a sleep expert and neuroscientist at Wesper). Experts agree that bed placement matters. Your bed should be positioned so that your head is against a solid, quiet wall. Rohrscheib says that means 'a wall that [isn't] shared with another bedroom or loud area in your house.' If you live in a high-traffic or urban area, that means a wall that isn't facing the outside. If all of your walls are connected to high-noise areas, she advises placing your bed toward the center of the room. Kaylor adds that this will 'allow for a sense of security and reduce disturbances.' You also might want to place your bed facing the door, if possible, to add to that feeling of security. If your bed frame is too high, too low, too noisy, or too flimsy, it can affect your sleep quality too. And of course, your mattress and pillows should be comfortable. Photograph: miniseries/Getty Images Rohrscheib also suggests keeping your sleeping area away from vents, since sudden temperature changes can make you too warm or too cool during the night, which can increase 'sleep fragmentation and restlessness.' When it comes to electronics, experts say you should consider removing them completely from your room. That includes TVs, smartphones, tablets, and laptops. 'Your brain is highly adept at forming associations between environments and behaviors, meaning that how you use your bedroom influences your ability to sleep well,' says Rohrscheib. That's why sleep experts advise refraining from working from bed or lounging in it all day. Your bed should be where you sleep, and the more you spend time in it doing other things, the more your brain might start to associate it with something other than a dedicated sleeping spot. To put it more bluntly, Robins says, 'Your bedroom should be for two things—sex and sleeping.' Rohrsheib adds, 'Your brain is highly adept at forming associations between environments and behaviors, meaning that how you use your bedroom influences your ability to sleep well.' And the blue light emitted from screens like smartphones suppresses melatonin production. Melatonin is responsible for regulating your sleep-wake cycle. Rohrsheib adds that 'even passive exposure to notifications, vibrations, or standby lights from devices can increase alertness and disrupt your ability to fall and stay asleep.' Robins says that if you want to read before bed or need to use the restroom during the night, you should consider using a red light flashlight. Photograph: YiuRealistically, I know a lot of people (myself included) are still going to be using electronics before bed. I personally have a habit of reading on my phone's Kindle app before falling asleep. There are some phone settings that can mitigate the blue light emitted from your phone. On iOS, you can turn on Night Shift in your Control Center or phone's brightness settings. This adds a yellow tint to your screen. On Android, go into your Display settings and choose Night Light. You can also lower the phone's brightness even further by going into your Accessibility Settings (on iOS) and choosing Reduce White Point, and even more by selecting Zoom. This darkens your screen much more than the default lowest brightness. On Android devices, navigate to your Display settings, choose Advanced, and then slide the White Balance slider lower to achieve a similar effect. For other devices (such as some e-readers), consider turning the screen brightness down and the warmth level up where possible to help cut back on that sleep-disrupting blue light. Photograph: Nena Farrell As far as lighting goes, Kaylor advises to 'get as much natural daylight as you can to strengthen the circadian rhythm.' She says you can dim the lights in your environment as it gets closer to bedtime to mimic the sunset. This is easy to achieve with smart lighting, smart bulbs, and even some smart alarm clocks—such as the Hatch Restore 3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which is a sound machine and a sunrise alarm all rolled into one. Your circadian rhythm relies on cues from the environment to signal to your body when it's time to get up or go to bed. Electronics can disrupt it, but they also can be of some assistance if you set up lighting routines to help with those cues. Natural daylight plays a factor too. 'We want the bedroom to be dark, cool, and quiet!' says Kaylor. Research says that something in the low 60s Fahrenheit is the ideal sleep temperature. She advises minimizing noise, either with earplugs or a sound machine, and that you should use blackout curtains or a high-quality eye mask to block out light. Robins adds that you should have breathable cotton or bamboo sheets, and that you might want to keep a weighted blanket on the end of the bed in case you get chilly. If weighted blankets are too heavy, or you struggle to regulate your body temperature, a good comforter can make a difference too. I like the Buffy Breeze, since its eucalyptus fabric helps to keep me cool during the summer and warm in the winter. Photograph: Buffy Your general environment also plays a role. Kaylor advises that you keep your room tidy and clutter-free to reduce stress and improve sleep quality. You know how after you do a deep clean of your room—vacuuming, washing the bedding, putting away the clothes piled up on your chair—you sleep like a baby? You can achieve that feeling all the time if you keep your room tidy. (Advice I myself should absolutely be taking.) Robins also points out that adding plants can help improve the oxygen levels in your bedroom (spider plants and snake plants are two low-maintenance houseplants that can help), and suggests using neutral colors for paint, rugs, and bedding. All in all, your bedroom should be a sanctuary. Keep busy decor and clutter limited to other areas of the house, set yourself up for success, and you'll have an easier time getting high-quality sleep.
