Sleep apnea natural treatments with some trial evidence are weight loss, avoiding the back position, exercise, mouth and tongue exercises (myofunctional therapy), and cutting alcohol near bedtime. The effects are real in the studies but modest to moderate and the trials are small: exercise lowered the apnea-hypopnea index from 32.2 to 24.6 events per hour in 27 adults while a stretching group got slightly worse, myofunctional therapy roughly halved it across 9 studies with 120 adults, and a four-month didgeridoo trial in 25 people gave a borderline improvement. Nobody can promise to get rid of sleep apnea this way, and none of it replaces a sleep study. Things like herbs, oils and supplements have no verified trial behind them in this article, so I make no claim for them.
Someone you trust has just been told they have sleep apnea, or you suspect you have it, and the first move on the screen is a search for something that is not a machine. That is a reasonable instinct. It is also where the quality of information falls off a cliff, because natural is a word that sounds like evidence and is not.
This is an attempt to separate the two: natural things that were actually tested against sleep apnea, and what they did, from the rest. The measure used almost everywhere is the apnea-hypopnea index, the number of breathing stops and shallow breaths per hour of sleep.
Sleep apnea natural treatments: sorting claims by what was actually tested
Natural, in this article, means something you can do without a prescription or a machine: change how you lie, move more, train the muscles of the mouth, drink less. The same hope sits behind the snoring version of the question, which is why snoring gets its own paragraph further down.
I looked for human trials with a measured outcome for each idea below. Where I found one I give its size, because size is the main thing that separates a signal from a story. Where I found none I say so and leave it out.
Position and weight: the two with the strongest data
Both have their own articles, so briefly. If your apnea is position-dependent, a small trial of 38 people found a positional device brought the apnea-hypopnea index under 5 in 92%, against 97% with CPAP. I go through the prevalence and the limits in the article on the best position to sleep in for sleep apnea.
Weight has more data. In the Sleep AHEAD trial, 264 people with type 2 diabetes and obesity were randomized, and a year of lifestyle intervention (10.8 kg lost) cut the index by 9.7 events per hour compared with the control group and made total remission more than three times as common. There is more in weight loss for snoring, including the cohort showing that a 10% weight change moved the index by about a quarter to a third.
Foster GD, Borradaile KE, Sanders MH, Millman R, Zammit G, Newman AB, Wadden TA, Kelley D, Wing RR, Pi-Sunyer FX, Reboussin D, Kuna ST, Sleep AHEAD Research Group of Look AHEAD Research Group. A randomized study on the effect of weight loss on obstructive sleep apnea among obese patients with type 2 diabetes: the Sleep AHEAD study. Arch Intern Med 2009. PMID 19786682
Exercise, even without losing weight
Forty-three sedentary, overweight or obese adults aged 18 to 55 with at least moderate untreated apnea (index of 15 or more) were randomized to 12 weeks of exercise, 27 people, or a stretching control, 16 people. The exercise group did 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity plus resistance training twice a week. Compared with stretching, exercise gave a significant reduction in the index: 32.2 to 24.6 events per hour in the exercise group, while the stretching group went from 24.4 to 28.9. The authors suggested exercise may help beyond simply helping people lose weight.
Kline CE, Crowley EP, Ewing GB, Burch JB, Blair SN, Durstine JL, Davis JM, Youngstedt SD. The effect of exercise training on obstructive sleep apnea and sleep quality: a randomized controlled trial. Sleep 2011. PMID 22131599
Note that 24.6 events per hour is still moderate apnea. This was a moderate treatment effect, in a small group, over 12 weeks.
Mouth and tongue exercises (myofunctional therapy)
These are structured exercises for the tongue, soft palate and throat muscles, often coached. A 2015 systematic review and meta-analysis pooled nine adult studies with 120 patients: the index fell from 24.5 to 12.3 events per hour on average. The reviewers concluded it cuts the index by about 50% in adults, that lowest oxygen levels, snoring and sleepiness improved, and that it could serve as an adjunct to other treatments, not as a stand-alone answer. The studies are small and varied, and who does the exercises daily for months is its own question.
Camacho M, Certal V, Abdullatif J, Zaghi S, Ruoff CM, Capasso R, Kushida CA. Myofunctional Therapy to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sleep 2015. PMID 25348130
A didgeridoo, of all things
The odd one, and a real randomized trial in the BMJ. Twenty-five adults with an apnea-hypopnea index between 15 and 30 who complained about snoring got four months of didgeridoo lessons and daily practice at home (about 25 minutes a day, almost six days a week), or stayed on a waiting list. Compared with the waiting list, daytime sleepiness fell by 3.0 points on the Epworth scale (95% CI -5.7 to -0.3), the index fell by 6.2 events per hour (-12.3 to -0.1, p = 0.05), and partners rated their sleep as less disturbed.
Puhan MA, Suarez A, Lo Cascio C, Zahn A, Heitz M, Braendli O. Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2006. PMID 16377643
A confidence interval that nearly touches zero, 25 people and a waiting-list control make this an interesting idea, not a plan. The authors' idea was to reduce how easily the upper airway collapses, which is a close cousin of the thinking behind the mouth and tongue exercises above.
Alcohol: the natural thing that makes it worse
This one runs the other way. Pooling 13 laboratory studies with 279 patients, the apnea-hypopnea index was 3.98 events per hour higher after alcohol than on control nights, and the lowest oxygen level was 2.72% lower. For people prone to snoring or apnea, drinking close to bedtime is the cheapest thing to test on yourself.
Burgos-Sanchez C, Jones NN, Avillion M, Gibson SJ, Patel JA, Neighbors J, Zaghi S, Camacho M. Impact of Alcohol Consumption on Snoring and Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2020. PMID 32513091
Tonsils and adenoids: when people say surgery is the natural fix
Tonsillectomy for sleep apnea is a question that parents and adults both ask, and the adenoids belong to the same discussion. For children there is a landmark trial: 464 children aged 5 to 9 with obstructive sleep apnea were randomized to early adenotonsillectomy or watchful waiting. Attention and executive function, the main outcome, did not differ significantly. But behavior, quality of life and sleep-study results improved more with surgery, and sleep-study results normalized in 79% against 46%.
Marcus CL, Moore RH, Rosen CL, Giordani B, Garetz SL, Taylor HG, Mitchell RB, Amin R, Katz ES, Arens R, Paruthi S, Muzumdar H, Gozal D, Thomas NH, Ware J, Beebe D, Snyder K, Elden L, Sprecher RC, Willging P, Jones D, Bent JP, Hoban T, Chervin RD, Ellenberg SS, Redline S, Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT). A randomized trial of adenotonsillectomy for childhood sleep apnea. N Engl J Med 2013. PMID 23692173
For adults I did not find a trial I could verify, so I make no claim. Surgery, in a child or an adult, is for a specialist to weigh, and it is not natural in the sense this article uses the word.
How to get rid of sleep apnea: the honest framing
The wording matters here. Remission is possible, mostly through weight loss, and in Sleep AHEAD it happened in a share of the lifestyle group. But the Sleep Heart Health Study, which re-measured 2,968 adults five years apart, found that sleep-disordered breathing progressed over time even in those with stable weight. So the realistic reading of how to get rid of sleep apnea is: some people get a lot better, some get fully better for a while, and anyone who does should keep checking.
Newman AB, Foster G, Givelber R, Nieto FJ, Redline S, Young T. Progression and regression of sleep-disordered breathing with changes in weight: the Sleep Heart Health Study. Arch Intern Med 2005. PMID 16287771
How to stop snoring naturally is the lighter version of the same question. There is no single snoring natural solution with trial proof behind it; weight, position, alcohol and a blocked nose are the verified levers, and I go through them in how to stop snoring. Mouth taping gets its own caution in its article.
How to tell whether any of it is working
This is where an audio recording is useful and where it stops. A phone microphone cannot measure the apnea-hypopnea index. It records snoring, gasps and apparent pauses with a time and a clip. SleepTrace is a wellness app, not a medical device, and it cannot diagnose sleep apnea.
- If you try one change at a time, for several weeks, and the snoring and gasping stretches get shorter and quieter, that is encouraging.
- It is not proof that the apnea is better. A hidden pause can sit in a quiet night.
- The proof is a repeat sleep study, which is a question to put to the doctor who diagnosed you.
Testing for sleep apnea at home explains what the options are and where an app fits among them.
A natural approach should never be a reason to delay a diagnosis. Waking up gasping, witnessed pauses in breathing, strong daytime sleepiness, morning headaches or high blood pressure deserve a medical assessment first. If you have already been diagnosed, ask your doctor before changing a treatment you were given. Nothing here is medical advice.
Which natural change to test first: a decision guide
This is a ranking by how easy a change is to try and to measure, not a treatment plan, and it assumes you have a diagnosis or are on the way to one.
- Alcohol close to bedtime. The cheapest to test and the easiest to see in a recording: 13 laboratory studies point the same way.
- Sleeping position, if your apnea is mild or your gasps cluster early in the night when you start on your back. Mild apnea is where the position-dependent form is most common.
- Weight, if it applies. It has the strongest randomized evidence and the slowest payoff: a year in Sleep AHEAD.
- Exercise, which can run alongside the others. The effect was moderate in 43 people over 12 weeks.
- Mouth and tongue exercises or a didgeridoo: interesting, small, and best discussed with the doctor who knows your numbers.
I found no trial that stacks these approaches for sleep apnea, so whether weight, exercise and position add up, or overlap, is a guess. The studies above test one thing at a time, in small groups, for weeks or months. If you try one, do it with a diagnosis in hand and a way to check the result.
Frequently asked questions
There is no single best one. The options with trial evidence are weight loss (in a randomized trial of 264 people with type 2 diabetes it lowered the index and sent apnea into remission more often), keeping off the back if your apnea is position-dependent, exercise, mouth and tongue exercises, and cutting alcohol near bedtime. Which one fits depends on your apnea, which a sleep study defines.
For some people sleep apnea can improve a lot or go into remission, mainly with weight loss. In the Sleep AHEAD trial, more than three times as many people in the lifestyle group had total remission as in the comparison group. But in the Sleep Heart Health Study, a cohort of 2,968 adults re-measured after five years, sleep-disordered breathing progressed over time even in those with stable weight, so it can return.
In one randomized trial of 25 people with moderate apnea and snoring, four months of didgeridoo lessons and daily practice lowered daytime sleepiness and the apnea-hypopnea index, and partners reported less sleep disturbance. The sample was small, the control group was on a waiting list, and the index difference sat right at the edge of significance (p = 0.05), so it is an interesting result, not a recommendation.
In children, a randomized trial of 464 children aged 5 to 9 found sleep-study results normalized in 79% after early adenotonsillectomy versus 46% with watchful waiting. I could not verify an equivalent trial for adults, so I do not make a claim for them. Surgery is a decision for an ear, nose and throat specialist.
SleepTrace is a wellness app, not a medical device. This article is general information, not medical advice. If your symptoms are frequent, severe or worrying, please talk to a doctor.
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