Comedians joke about snoring, but snoring can be deadly serious. Snoring can be much more than a nuisance – it can keep you awake, get on your nerves and drive your partner into denial about how loud they are doing it when you confront them the following morning. So if your partner doesn’t believe he snores, you will have to persuade him that he does.
Your partner’s snoring could be a serious health and quality-of-life issue for both of you. If your partner’s snoring undermines your sleep then your brain and body are doing less well. With poorer sleep your work life, friendships, memory, driving, and everything else you do in life may suffer. The snoring can even become a threat to your relationship.
In fact, it’s recorded as the third biggest reason for divorce and forces many couples to sleep apart even when still together. However you can play an important part not only in keeping the relationship together, but also in making significant improvements to the health of you both by avoiding major health problems now, and more so later in life. Therefore it’s actually very important to monitor your partner’s snoring and keep your ears peeled for particular sounds and changes.
Firstly, although snoring isn’t natural, it’s very common as we all know, and steps should be taken to resolve it. The cause is a simple one. Snoring mostly occurs when the soft tissue part of our upper airway vibrates. This is called the uvula or soft palate and it normally happens when someone inhales during sleep. Although it is most common in middle-aged men, many women, and younger people suffer from the problem too.
Snoring is most commonly caused by someone being overweight, smoking, drinking alcohol and nasal obstruction (from flu or allergies etc.) – all of which are very important health issues in themselves. The cause of the snoring should be addressed in it’s own right – a quiet night’s sleep is an added bonus. Although the snorer is asleep, the person isn’t actually sleeping well and this can result in fatigue and headaches.
After years of snoring, it is possible for it to develop into Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Signs of OSA include very loud snoring with periods when the person stops breathing for up to 10 seconds before gasping and choking. This could happen many times throughout the night. At this time oxygen is unable to reach the brain, which alerts the person and they wake briefly, but they won’t remember doing so.
OSA should always be addressed urgently as it can develop into more serious conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart issues. It has now been prove to be a significant cause of diabetes type 2, and also to advance cognitive problems such as Alzheimer’s or dementia by anything from five to ten years.
Women suffer too and they are more likely to snore after the menopause as a drop in their oestrogen and progesterone levels leave them less protected against lifestyle changes. They are more likely than men to suffer from problems such as depression, insomnia and headaches due to snoring.
To overcome the problem of snoring and prevent it’s development then obviously certain changes in lifestyle will be helpful, but these are often slow and difficult targets to attain – and sometimes far from popular so people give up. However if you do take active steps to improve your lifestyle then you will feel the benefits in other consequential areas.
To prevent snoring and OSA, there are products available with virtually 100% success rates and these are both recommended and approved by the NHS without the need for a prescription or making visits to Hospitals with designated Sleep Centres.
A simple, comfortable oral appliance, similar to a sports gum shield can be worn during sleep to eliminate the problem. They are unobtrusive and comfortable to wear as they mould easily in seconds to fit the shape of your mouth. They’re also inexpensive and start at under £40 whether it’s just for snoring, or for the more dangerous version called sleep apnea.
What price a healthy longer life?
