TUESDAY, July 25, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep apnea patients are more likely to use their continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines after they see a video of themselves fighting to breathe at night, according to a study presented recently at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (SLEEP 2017), held from June 3 to 7 in Boston.
Mark Aloia, Ph.D., a sleep expert at National Jewish Health in Denver, and colleagues wanted to find a way to convince patients of the urgency of their condition.
"People who watched themselves gasping and struggling to breathe with sleep apnea used their CPAP machines three hours more per night than those who saw no video, and nearly two and a half hours more than those who watched a video of another patient with sleep apnea," Aloia said in a news release from National Jewish Health.
"We really created a personal sense of urgency in these patients in order to change their behavior," Aloia added.
Press Release
More Information
