About half of men and a quarter of all women snore regularly. Both men and women are more likely to snore as they age and is more common in people who are overweight. The tissue in the back of the throat becomes looser and the greater amount of fat in the back of the throat narrows the airway and vibrates as they sleep. If you cannot breathe through your nose due to nasal obstructions you are more likely to snore and should seek help for Dallas sleep apnea.
In the early stages the person snoring suffers no consequences in many cases, except the elbow in the ribs from their spouse who cannot sleep. Often sleeping on your side will help as when you are on your back the weight of your jaw and tongue fall back narrowing your airway causing you to labor to breathe resulting in snoring. Sleeping on your side, the jaw and tongue fall with gravity away from your airway and you can breathe easier decreasing snoring. Sewing tennis balls into the back of your pajamas to prevent you from rolling onto your back is another home aid. Some people benefit from snore strips on their nose if they have nasal obstructions. Losing weight will help open up the airway and decrease snoring. Alcohol consumption and drugs to help us sleep also increase snoring. Dental oral appliances much like a sports night guard or a retainer worn at night can hold the lower jaw forward and thus open the airway to allow a person to breathe easier and reduce snoring.
Sometimes, at some point the spouse must leave the room to sleep and they end up in separate bedrooms which can lead to relationship and marriage problems. Now the snorer is affected and must make a decision if they want to address the issue or continue to ignore it. No solution is perfect for all people and may take an adaptation period. But what people do not often realize is snoring is a warning noise produced by the force of air through a narrowed upper airway caused by the collapse of the soft tissue in the back of the throat. It is an indication that there is a problem with normal breathing. Anytime we cannot get enough oxygen into our system we have a problem. As the problem progress the snoring gets louder and eventually the snoring is interrupted by pauses in breathing and then a gasping noise for breath. We must breath and as our oxygen levels go down a feedback mechanism in our body takes us out of a deep sleep to a lighter level of sleep so we can gasp for air. The snorer is never awake enough to remember or be aware of these episodes. This can happen a few times per night to several hundred times per night. The result is the snorer cannot get into a deep sleep where we feel rejuvenated in the morning and rested. This is sleep apnea.
Contact Dr. Sowell for sleep disorders in Dallas.
0 comments:
Post a Comment