I'm super fit. Probably one of the worst sleep apnea scores. Others like me, this advice will just mislead them (possibly kill them, as sleep apnea does kill).

But for those it will work on, the machine will help! Sleep apnea is a killer of motivation to workout, it destroys the body's ability to recover (and messes with metabolism / mood). So it's a vicious cycle. The sleep apnea makes you gain weight, the weight makes the apnea worse, and so on and so on.

So use the machine, exercise if you can to try and reduce your score if you are overweight, but don't feel bad about needing help to break the cycle. And in the end, you still might need it, just like folks need glasses to see. It sucks that this can happen with something as fundamental as sleep, but I've come to accept it.

For example, pretty much anyone who looks even slightly unhealthy will repeatedly be told by their doctors about a healthier lifestyle with or without sleep apnea. Never mind doctors. People around them will remind them constantly. And never mind the people around them. The person knows already knows themselves.

So the idea that the OP has made some brave out of the norm recommendation (and this is not a criticism of theirs since unlike you they’re not haranguing other people but relaying their own experience) by suggesting a healthier lifestyle is laughable.

But what makes it even worse in the case of sleep apnea is that sleep apnea itself is a massive drag on living a healthier lifestyle. If a person is unable to sleep properly because they are waking up 30-40 times every hour at night because they’re essentially suffocating themselves each time, it’s almost impossible for them to live a healthy lifestyle. It’s almost impossible to have the energy during the day to exercise, self control when eating goes out of the window, and even if they somehow make a superhuman effort to eat and exercise well, the lack of sleep means their exercise recovery will be poor and they are far more likely to significantly injure themselves while doing exercise, and the subsequent rest to recover from the injury will push them right back to 0.

So yeah, your comment is way dumber than how dumb people who recognize it as dumb will think it is.