Weightlifting and sleep apnea!

Hello All,

Apologies if this has been covered but I'm seeking firsthand experience from active weightlifters (or exercise enthusiasts!) with OSA. Upon my diagnosis, my resp. therapist told me that any exercise that builds the upper chest or trapezius ("traps") will worsen my OSA. I understand building muscles around the neck will in fact do that - no disputes here. But I am curious to see if anyone else got similar advice? If so, how have you changed your routines? The trap muscles are engaged in a variety of exercises - does this mean those exercises have to go as well? Would love some perspective!

Neck size is an indicator that a person may have a propensity for developing OSA but your traps certainly are not involved in the area where OSA occurs. You BMI needs to be kept in check and exercise helps with that a bunch as fat is a much larger contributor to apnea issues. I am no longer an active lifter as I have had some med issues in my old age but anything over 17" neck may contribute but that measurement isn't taken over the traps... The upper chest development and larger lung capacity means treatment will likely require higher pressures but should CAUSE OSA. My current bipap pressure is 25/21 and that is about max any machine can deliver. Smoking and drinking can also contribute but you don't sound like this is a factor in your possible therapy... just keep the BMI reasonable as any weight lifters are not big on diet and can get pretty stout... some aerobics mixed with lifting is always a great idea and also contributes to heart health. good luck.

I try to exercise 1 hour a day, primarily cardio, and do weights about every 2 or 3 days. I have not considered that it could have any effect on the severity of my apnea. It strikes me that doing weights is unlikely to make much of a change to the throat area. Excess body fat probably does not help though.

Thank you both! Those were my suspicions as well. @Wiredgeorge you’re absolutely spot on about throwing some aerobics in the mix. I don’t do enough but will select some days to add it in

How can building muscles AROUND the actual muscles that contribute to sleep apnea, actually worsen sleep apnea? You're not even working the muscles that directly contribute to sleep apnea. I know this was posted years ago but I just want to state my opinion (and perhaps facts) on what that respiratory therapist told you.

There's no way that working your upper chest could worsen sleep apnea. First of all, sleep apnea is caused by the relaxation of your neck and throat muscles, particularly the front neck muscles. Your upper chest is not your neck or throat. As for your traps, they can contribute to bad forward head posture which contributes to sleep apnea. But if you maintain good posture, then working the traps by themselves should not contribute to apneas. Your traps are located on your back. As far as I know, your traps are not your (front/side) neck or throat. If you were to look at the anatomy of where your airways are located relative to your trapezius, you will see that they are very decently far away from each other. Additionally, people on forums claim that when they bulk up and work traps, they have worse conditions. Sleep apnea is more directly correlated with body fat percentage than body mass index (and there are studies that confirm this / it should also just be obvious - a flabby body functions poorly versus a toned body). So having larger traps or an upper chest alone is far less worse than really just being fatter and having an -overall- thicker neck.

I'm a guy who's looked into sleep apnea on and off for the past 6 years. I don't have a medical degree, I have an advanced degree in engineering. Pretty sure respiratory therapists only need their associates, I wouldn't trust everything they say. People in the medical field get things wrong all the time.

Unless someone can point to actual medical literature that proves this, then I wouldn't trust what that resp. therapist said. I wouldn't even trust what some doctors say sometimes because even they get things wrong.

I'm not aware of any specific medical literature on AHI/OSA and weight lifting. But increasing muscles in the neck area has anectdotal correlation in increased sleep apnea given other factors staying the same. There is a very high prevalance of osa in NFL lineman who while in top shape do lots of exercise to increase their neck strength. When you sleep the neck muscles relax collapsing the airway.

Hope this information helps.