How snoring can become disturbing
When you snore, the muscles which hold open your pharynx — part of your throat at the back of the tongue — relax during sleep and partially close off the airway. This partial closure causes the pharyngeal walls to vibrate, creating the sound of snoring. When the pharyngeal narrowing results in a total block of your airway during sleep, you actually stop breathing momentarily, and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) occurs. At this point, your brain will wake and stimulate the muscles to open your airway and let breathing return to normal. When you fall asleep again, the muscles relax and your airway is once again blocked. This cycle can repeat every 1 to 2 minutes, becoming very disruptive and resulting in a range of adverse effects. The really disturbing thing is that you never really wake up during this disordered sleep process, so you are largely unaware of what’s going on.
Why do you snore?
Not everyone who snores has OSA, but studies have shown that if you snore, you have a 7x magnified risk of obstructive sleep apnea¹. There are many reasons why people snore — including:
- drinking alcohol
- smoking
- being overweight or obese
- a cold, sinus or allergy problems
- sleeping on your back
- medicines
- pregnancy
¹Young T, Palta M, Dempsey J, Skatrud J, Weber S, Badr S. The Occurrence of Sleep-Disordered Breathing among Middle-Aged Adults. New England Journal of Medicine 1993;328:1230-5.
Sleep disorders don’t just make you tired
There are many types of sleep disorder, but the common one most associated with snoring is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Millions of people worldwide suffer from this potentially serious sleep disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts. If you snore loudly, feel tired even after a full night’s sleep, or experience flagging attention and emotional slumps in the afternoon, you may have OSA. Symptoms like these should not be ignored — you should explore your options and see a sleep disorder specialist for a proper analysis of your particular condition.
The disruptive cycle of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Some people know their breathing is not normal at night, but they ‘tough it out’. You need to know that this could be a harmful medical problem and that sleep apnea treatments are available. According to the Sleep Health Foundation, sufferers of sleep apnea experience multiple episodes of partial, or complete, airway obstruction during sleep. Narrow throats are also more likely to vibrate during sleep, which causes snoring, according to sleep disorder specialists. These partial or complete obstructions can cause breathing to reduce, or even stop, for anywhere from 10 seconds up to a minute or more — causing blood oxygen levels to fall in the body. After one of these pauses in breathing the sufferer wakes up briefly — just 3 seconds or so — which allows breathing to start again, but disrupts sleep throughout the night.
Did you know?
40% of adults snore regularly1
An estimated 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders and more than 25 million of these have sleep apnea 2
More than 85% of patients with clinically significant sleep apnea have never been diagnosed3
References:
1 – Ohayon MM et al. Snoring and breathing pauses during sleep: telephone interview survey of a United Kingdom population sample. BMJ. 1997;314:860-3.
2 – Institute of Medicine. Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2006
3 – Kato M(1), Adachi T, Koshino Y, Somers VK. Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cardiovascular Disease. Circ J. 2009 Aug; 73(8):1363-70. Epub 2009 Jun
Are you at risk for Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
Have you been told that you snore? Do you often wake up tired or unrefreshed? Do you suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness? Do you wake up choking or gasping for air? Do you have trouble with concentration/memory? If you answered YES to any of these questions, you may be at risk!
Find out more with this OSA Fact Sheet
Download this OSA Fact Sheet for details on symptoms, risks, and potential sleep apnea treatment pathways.
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