The first is that I wonder if this has the opposite effect on people who use CPAPs? About a third of their life their diaphragm isn't needing to exert nearly as much force for them to inhale.
The second is that I wonder if this has any effect on people who vape, especially with small sub-ohm units. Many of them have very limited airflow, which seems like it would emulate the effect of this device to some degree.
>people who use CPAPs? About a third of their life their diaphragm isn't needing to exert nearly as much force for them to inhale.
Most recent advancements in CPAP is to provide as little pressure as possible while still keeping the airway open. Higher air pressure increases discomfort and undermines compliance, and the effect is huge. The pressure never goes up high enough to force the diaphragm to move, sooner the mask will fly off the face.
Auto CPAPs are fantastic, they're still under-prescribed by doctors however.
Good news is that a lot of patients have figured out you can trivially re-configure a fixed pressure unit to be an Auto CPAP because most CPAPs sold today are both.
The great thing about Auto CPAPs is that they use predictive algorithms to figure out when an Apnoea–Hypopnoea will likely occur, ramp pressure up preemptively, and can sometimes avoid the event entirely.
A recent software update to Respironics/Philips Auto CPAP in particular had people seeing a lower AHI because the machine was making better predictions and stopping events in their tracks. This directly results in better sleep/better compliance.
PS - Obviously don't take medical advice from Hacker News. If you have a high air pressure/a high AHI you may not be suitable for Auto CPAP therapy and could cause harm, talk to your doctor. There's a lot of information/literature out there if you wish to learn more. Right now Auto CPAPs are under-prescribed, but that doesn't mean everyone is a suitable candidate.
A friend of mine in med school said they did their autopsy on someone with sleep apnea and the man's diaphragm was unusually thick. I myself have sleep apnea and my allergist was surprised how hard I could blow into her breath measuring thing. Not off the charts but high enough that she noticed.
I guess there are other reasons to be on CPAP, but that's my personal datapoint.
(Imagine how strong your diaphragm would be if you spent a third of your life breathing through a crushed straw.)
The first is that I wonder if this has the opposite effect on people who use CPAPs? About a third of their life their diaphragm isn't needing to exert nearly as much force for them to inhale.
The second is that I wonder if this has any effect on people who vape, especially with small sub-ohm units. Many of them have very limited airflow, which seems like it would emulate the effect of this device to some degree.