If your bed partner’s snoring wakes you up at night, you have probably considered smothering them with a pillow to allow yourself a good night’s sleep. Partners of people who snore lose 2 hours of sleep a night on average due to the noise. As aggravating as this can be, the reality is that snoring is a medical condition that can actually be causing severe health damage to your partner and yourself.
Snoring is a common disorder. Nearly 45% of adults snore occasionally while 25% are habitual snorers. Occasional snoring can be caused by too much alcohol consumption, allergies, and a variety of other elements. This occasional snoring is not really harmful aside from irritability resulting from a lack of sleep. However, habitual snoring can have some very harmful effects.
One common cause of snoring is obesity, which narrows the airway making it more likely that parts of the throat and mouth will rub together. Another common cause is nasal congestion, due to allergies or a cold. Also, alcohol and sedating medications can relax the muscles in the airways leading to snoring in people who normally do not snore, or intensified sound in already habitual snorers.
Habitual snoring prevents both the snorer and their partner from
entering the deepest and most important part of sleep. REM sleep is the period of sleep when your body is able to repair itself and help you feel rejuvenated in the morning. Without this deep sleep a person will feel more tired with each sleepless night.
Along with the short term effects of fatigue and irritability, there are also profound long term effects for the snorer. Snoring can contribute to high blood pressure and even cause stroke, according to the National Institutes of Health. The heart is forced to work harder as breathing difficulty increases, which over time can lead to a heart attack.
Believe it or not, marriages have even been broken up over snoring. It is harmful to the snorer and their partner. There are over the counter devices to help stop snoring such as mouth pieces and “snore pillows” which can be used to help many minor or moderate snorers. If these devices are not effective, there are also many medical treatments that will help, and even simple surgical procedures that will correct more severe cases. Snoring should never be ignored when there are so many readily available treatments to solve the problem.
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