The Bradley research group at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute in Canada, has demonstrated that sleep apnea is associated with fluid shifts during the night. During the daytime, gravity pulls blood down into the lower body where it collects throughout the day. Then, when the individual lies down, this fluid starts shifting back up into the upper body. This fluid shift can result in expansion of the soft tissue structures in the mouth and throat which causes the airway to become blocked. The best solution to this is to prevent the buildup of fluid in the legs during the day.
HeartPartner stimulates the soleus muscles which serve as the secondary hearts in the body. Soleus muscle activation results in the pooled fluid in the lower limbs being pumped back up to the heart where it reenters the circulatory. As a result, much less fluid pools into the legs during the day, and so there is less fluid to shift up into the head area of the body at night. Recent clinical research by Dr. Baniak and her team at Binghamton University has demonstrated that daily use of the HeartPartner results in significant improvements in quality of life for individuals with sleep disturbances.