Snoring often seems like a joke, even if it's one that's on us. It's a loud, buzzing, honking noise that is amusing in a movie and annoying if it's going on next to us when we're trying to get a good night's sleep. What you might not know is that snoring can have serious health consequences and be a symptom of even more serious issues.
Snoring is the noise created when you breathe while you sleep. The vibration from your of the soft palate and your uvula can cause snoring, but there are other culprits as well. Any irregular airflow can produce snoring and some other causes include allergies, tension in the jaw muscles, throat weakness, and obstruction in the nasal passageway.
While it is often played up for laughs, snoring is usually an involuntary act, and one that can end up quite frustrating to deal with. There are several effects that snoring can have on your life.
Most obviously, snoring can have an affect on an individual's social life. It can strain interpersonal relationships, especially between spouses. This can be anything from a minor annoyance to a serious impediment to the desired lifestyle of the couple in question. Like a relationship, the effect snoring has can change over time. It can go from an easily-ignored irritant to the ignition for a truly horrible fight, depending on things like the stress level and physical health of the individuals involved.
One statistic says that sleep partners of heavy snorers can awaken over twenty times per hour, which drops the value of their sleep significantly. One common solution is separate sleeping areas, but the lack of intimacy, both physical and emotional can be draining on a relationship, especially one where both partners are snorers.
Snoring can also have impacts on things like business weekends and holidays. If a person has trouble sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings, it can aggravate a minor snoring problem into a severe one, and the resulting lack of sleep can create a variety of problems.
Even more seriously, snoring is associated with several serious health problems. Diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure and heart disease are only a few of the health concerns that are linked to snoring.
Snoring can also be a symptom of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is the periodic interruption of breath during sleep. With this condition, it is possible to restart breathing up to 100 times during the course of your night's sleep. Heavy snoring, combined with frequent cessation of breath and sudden awakenings can point to sleep apnea. As it is a progressive disorder, it will worsen as time goes on.
90% of people who have sleep apnea aren't aware of it and thus they are unaware of the sleepiness and compromised immune system that are just a few of the results. If you share a bed with a partner, it is worth noticing each others sleep patterns and snoring. If there is a marked increase in snoring, it could be worth seeing what other symptoms might be cropping up.
There are several things that you can do prevent snoring. Possibly the best way to reduce snoring is to lose weight in general. Fatty tissue exists in your airway and a combination of eating less and improving your body can heighten your ability to breathe freely when you sleep. You can also avoid drinking and eating before bed, as it will relax your muscles and make you snore more.
You might also wish to try changing position. If you sleep on your back, try sleeping on your side. This trick works because sleeping on you back can result in the flesh of your throat relaxing into your airway, thus impeding your breathing. Similarly, you may wish to sleep without a pillow, which can help straighten your airway
There are also several substances you can cut out of your life in order to sleep without snoring. Milk, sleeping pills, alcohol and antihistamines are all things that can make you snore, mostly by relaxing the throat muscles and obstructing the flow of air.
In more extreme situations, a variety of surgeries can correct snoring problems when they start contributing to bad health problems. Essentially, surgeons can increase the size of the airway through the removal of tissue. Tonsils, adenoids or excess tissue along the back of the throat or in the nose can all be excised in the pursuit of this goal. Reconstruction of the jaw is another option in severe cases.
Snoring is not a problem you have to put up with for your entire life, just remember that there are solutions that are closer than you might think!
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