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Comment by NelsonMinar | Hacker News Reader

Another reason to take sleep apnea seriously! I just started using CPAP about 6 weeks ago and it's been life changing. I'm full of energy now! I have no idea what my testosterone levels are but my sexual health has improved along with a lot of other things. Although I chalk that up just to being well rested, not something as specific as a hormone.

If you think you are having trouble breathing at night or are sleepy all the time please consider looking into whether you have sleep apnea. It's very common, has many serious systemic health consequences, and can be easily treatable. I wrote a blog post about my experience with diagnosis and treatment here: http://www.somebits.com/weblog/life/cpap-obstructive-sleep-a...

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Read your blog - mine has a nice travel bag and I can evem go camping where there is no power.

I bought a travelling battery (lithium-ion pack) and it lasts about two nights and can re-charge from a cigarette lighter.

I haven't had to travel yet. May I ask what battery pack you have? Also do you use a heated tube and/or humidifier? That takes a lot more power.

No heated tube but have a humidifier. I would suggest Jackery - seen them used by lot of travel camping vloggers I follow.

Normally turn off the humidifier when I am using portable power.

https://www.jackery.com/pages/portable-power-stations

Any tips for those of us who have very poor sleep but have done a sleep study and been determined to not have sleep apnea?

Sorry, no, but I sympathize. There's a huge amount written on this topic, "sleep hygiene" can be a useful keyword to look for. There are many different causes for sleep problems.

The funny thing about my obstructive sleep apnea is I didn't think I was having trouble sleeping. I'd sleep 8 hours and have no memory of any problems. In reality I was gasping for breath every 50 seconds, all night.

I had the same and it turned out to be asthma.

Note I had no symptoms during the day (even when jogging or weightlifting). In my case it's induced by dust mites and there is no good defense against this except asthma medication.

There are also people with sleeping problems due to silent reflux.

If you feel you're clearing your throat often, burp a lot or lacking air, check for those two.

one can definitely do something about dust mites. I thought I had a cold, flu or something and could not breath comfortably because of the congestion; I tried cold medicine and allergy medicine and it did not help. I ended up searching internet at 2am and found out about dust mites. They and their poop will be in any sort of cloth material. Think matress, sheets, etc. enclose your matress in a 6 side dust mite proof matress cover. Supposedly matresses will accumulate 15 or 20 pounds of dust mites and their poop; think about how much that is. Also, your flaked off skin in food for them. You need to clean your sheets in 130 degree F water temperature to kill them. Same with all pieces of bedding; needs to be dust mite proof and properly cleaned to rid of them. Get a pillow cover that is dust mite proof. You can get dust mite proof comforter cover as well. Also, carpeting below bed could house them and their poop. I switched to hard flooring. Anyway, you can definitely do something about the dust mites. After doing this, problem went away and I slept much better.

I forgot to mention that I removed the carpeting myself and even though I used a very well rated HEPA vacuum; the crap that I found under and in the carpeting was disgusting. It was like there was a beach party or something. After see that I would remove any carpeting from a home that I owned and I would not rent a place that had carpeting.

Do you drink any caffeine at all?

I used to think (or I believe was told), that two cups and no more before noon is ok, but found my sleep was just an utter mess. I tried everything , sleep test, black out curtains, magnesium, CBD oil, melatonin, yet it never occurred to me it could be coffee as I never drank it outside of the morning.

I cut out caffeine completely. Had a horrible withdrawal; headache from hell, back ache , neck ache, everything ache, but then around day 6 or 7 I did something I had not done in years - slept all night AND had a vivid dream (showing I was in deep REM sleep).

I would suggest getting checked for vitamin/nutritional deficiencies If you haven’t already done so. Exercise regularly if you don’t already.

Poor sleep can also be caused by stress/anxiety/depression, or just poor sleep hygiene.

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