Snoring is often considered to be an annoyance, a common occurrence and an inconvenient disruption of sleep, especially when you are not the person doing the snoring. It is not really anything to worry about, or is it? There are many common health problems that can be aggravated, or even caused by conditions that are commonly diagnosed through a major symptom, that of snoring.
High blood pressure, increased occurrences of diabetes, and deaths caused by stroke or heart disease can all be tied to a common sleep disorder marked by frequent loud snoring or choking sounds and disruptions in breathing. The disorder called sleep apnea can be due to airways that collapse or are disrupted or by brain signals that are intermittent and failing to signal the breathing mechanism. Both types of apnea can result in long-term health deterioration and emotional symptoms such as depression, anger and stress.
If you or someone you care about snores regularly, especially when the snoring comes along with pauses in breathing that are worrisome, it is essential that the sufferer goes in for a sleep study which can map the occurrences of apnea throughout a particular sleep episode. Doctors have a hard time recognizing this problem at the office, as it is something that only presents when the patient is sleeping. Once diagnosed there are some common treatments some small, and easy to apply each night such as Provent, which maintains airway pressure through slowing the exhalation of air and some that are more complex such as CPAP machines which are far more complex and burdensome to the patient. If you get diagnosed you may need to try out a few different treatments to find what works the best to keep the breathing disruptions at bay.
Sleep is essential to maintaining a high level of energy throughout the day, in maintaining balanced emotional health and in allowing the body to achieve cellular level repairs against all the daily wear and tear. Without a good night sleep regularly, the body begins to break down, the mind gets less sharp and the emotions fall into dark and unhealthy places. It can be just as difficult to live with someone who is snoring regularly as it is to be the person experiencing the snoring first hand. Snoring grates on the nerves, disrupts deep sleep and creates frustration and animosity in relationships.
Provent may be a possible solution for those suffering from apnea that is caused by airway obstruction problmes, though it may not be as useful for occasions when the problem is caused by misfiring of brain signals since it is based on maintaining pressurization of the airway not allowing it to collapse and block free air flow. In these cases CPAP might be necessary to regulate breathing more aggressively and ensure death does not occur during sleep. Take snoring seriously when it occurs often enough that others are mentioning it, or if you are waking yourself up regularly with the noise. Though snoring alone isn’t a scary thing, the problems it can be indicating are.