Tag: using snoring mouthpieces

Obstructive Sleep Apnea 101: What You Need To Know About It

We are more familiar now with the sleep disorder that is sleep apnea. It is the most common diagnosed sleep disorder in sleep clinics and affects a great majority of the population wherever you are in the world. We know that we need sleep to function normally throughout the day but there are times when sleeping at night is easier said than done. Some people don’t have any problem drifting off to sleep once they hit the sack but there are also those who dread bedtime either because of sleeping difficulties or a snoring partner.

Snoring is the characteristic symptom of sleep apnea. While it is often annoying to sleep beside snorers, it is also a cause of concern as snoring is a serious sign of breathing issues. It has even been discovered that the heart of people who suffer from sleep apnea also temporarily stops beating when they sleep (which can be aided with this: https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx). This condition is no laughing matter and requires immediate medical attention or risk not being able to wake up the following day.

If you stop breathing while you’re sleeping, you may have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea affects over 18 million adults and can take three forms. The first is called central sleep apnea, which is where the brain fails to notify the muscles to control breathing. This type of sleep apnea is less common and does not cause snoring. The second kind of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when the soft tissue of the throat relaxes during sleep and blocks the airway, resulting in snoring. Finally, the third form is called complex sleep apnea and is a combination of the two previous forms.

(Via: http://www.belmarrahealth.com/stop-breathing-sleeping-affect-body/)

Imagine how scary it is to find out that your life is in this much danger because of snoring. Not only you and your partner lose precious sleep and predispose you to other deadly diseases but the thought of your breathing and heart stopping in your slumber can send shivers down your spine.

He said: “Yes. It is estimated that five per cent of the adult population in the UK it  that is 1.5 million. 

“Of those, more than 600,000 will have moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea which can be a serious threat to health. 

“Undiagnosed, it can lead to excessive tiredness, interfering with a person’s ability to carry out complex functions like driving a motorcycle, car, truck or bus, flying a plane, driving a train or tram or operating machinery.” 

If you have obstructive sleep apnoea which affects your ability to drive safely or obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome you must notify the DVLA. 

You could be fined up to £1,000 if you don’t tell DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving and you may be prosecuted if you are involved in an accident as a result.

Obstructive sleep apnoea can also lead to high blood pressure, irritability, under performance at work, diabetes, depression, extreme mood swings and other health problems.

(Via: http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/743409/sleep-apnoea-definition-symptoms-apnea)

We now know what sleep apnea is:

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes you to stop and start breathing repeatedly throughout the night. For most people, sleep apnea is caused by “some sort of obstruction in airflow in the back of the throat which blocks air from getting into the lungs as you sleep,” Joseph Ojile, M.D., medical director of the Clayton Sleep Institute, tells SELF. This could be due to large tonsils, congested sinuses, or a variety of other factors. In rare cases, it can be caused by a problem in signaling, so that your brain doesn’t send the message to breathe correctly.

And the health risks involved:

Untreated sleep apnea can, over the years, contribute to chronic disease like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, so getting a proper diagnosis is important for your long-term health. Here are the top symptoms of sleep apnea you need to know.

Here are the common sleep apnea symptoms to watch out for:

  1. You’re exhausted all day despite getting plenty of sleep.

  2. You wake up with headaches.

  3. You wake yourself up gasping or choking.

  4. Your bed partner says you snore, choke, gasp—or stop breathing—when you sleep.

  5. You have high blood pressure.

  6. You experience heart palpitations, “fluttering” in your chest, or your heart is pounding for no apparent reason.

  7. You have high blood sugar.

  8. You have insomnia.

  9. Your mood is all over the place.

(Via: http://www.self.com/story/9-signs-you-might-have-sleep-apnea)

While it remains to be a serious health issue, there are different sleep apnea treatments and managements to choose from, so you can sleep soundly once again. It does not always have to be CPAP for all. There are more anti-snoring devices like https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet that you can choose from like anti-snoring mouthpieces and mouthguards that are more convenient to use and provide the same benefits as other traditional treatments.

It is not the end of the world if you have sleep apnea. Many people are also diagnosed with it and many have managed to overcome it for good. Technology – although a major distraction in itself – has provided us with effective and affordable snoring solutions that fit most lifestyles. You can sleep soundly at night knowing you can possibly beat sleep apnea and get the sleep your body needs and deserves.

Personalization In Your Mouth

When it comes to common treatments of snoring many people will depend on oral appliances. Depending on the issue  you face, you might require a device that will push your jaw forward to allow more airflow or you might require a device that will hold your tongue in place. When you sleep, your muscles relax. Snorers often have muscles that relax too much in their mouths. This causes the tongue to fall to the back of the throat and obstruct the airflow. The loosened muscles and blocked airflow also cause that snoring sound we have come to expect from a snorer.

Getting devices that work isn’t that hard, but the tricky part can be finding a device that will fit your mouth. Some products will come in several sizes to help you determine which one is going to work and some just come in one-size-fits-all. That can be exceptionally distressing to someone who does not have an ‘average’ shaped or sized mouth.

But what if you could get a completely customized mouthpiece without shelling out hundreds of dollars to your dentist? One company in Australia is interested in making this idea work:

Australian medical device company Oventus Medical recently launched a new 3D printing facility in Melbourne that will produce new anti-snoring devices customized to an individual’s specific needs.

The Oventus 3D printing facility is located at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization’s (CSIRO) Clayton site. It will manufacture O2Vent, a lightweight titanium device which stops patients from snoring by delivering air to the back of the mouth, alleviating multiple sites of obstruction including the nose, soft palate and tongue.

Research shows that sleep apnea, which is caused by excessive snoring, can lead to high blood pressure, stroke, irregular heartbeats, heart attacks, and diabetes.

The company said the device could benefit the estimated one million Australians that suffer from sleep apnoea and millions more around the world.

Australia’s Minister for Innovation, Industry, and Science Greg Hunt said it is a major step forward for Australian innovation that changes lives and creates employment.

Oventus’ partnership with CSIRO has been cited as an example of collaboration between private sector and public research, creating businesses opportunities and new jobs – a key aim of the National Innovation and Science Agenda.

Research Director of CSIRO Manufacturing Dr. Keith McLean attributes the science organization’s unique multidisciplinary capabilities for the speedy delivery of the Oventus project.

Via: http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/3d-printing-facility-australia-produce-anti-snoring-device-1517203475

While this idea is cropping up in the Land of the Down Under, that doesn’t mean the idea won’t come to North America either. It might already be here, just happening in secret. It’s a great idea and an awesome example of how to make partnerships work. It’s exciting to see a technology like 3D printing being used for such a practical purpose. The fact that it’s also being developed by a medical team shows how serious the company is on ensuring that this product is safe and meets various requirements.

If this goes forward, hopefully it will make the idea of customized mouthpieces less expensive than the options currently available. Right now, the most customizable and adjustable mouth guard is the SnoreRX. While of course it doesn’t have the kind of personalized design that a mouthpiece that comes out of a 3D printer does, it more than does the job as being one of the most adjustable mouth guards out there.

Prove You’re Not Lying with this App

If you live with someone who snores, you have probably been told that you’re making it up when you confront them with the snoring issue. Many people who snore are either blissfully ignorant of the fact that they can rattle windows in their sleep or truly believe they don’t snore. As someone who is sharing a bed with a snorer in denial you might find yourself fighting a losing battle every time you try to bring it up. Your option might be to stay up all night to try to record them snoring, but that won’t be doing you any favors. So what’s a person to do? That’s where this handy app comes into play:

Snore Metrics has launched Snore Report – an iPhone app aimed at monitoring sleep and snoring. Snore Report will allow FitBit integration, and is available for download in the Apple App Store for free right now, with Android launching in the spring of 2017.

The app works by recording your sleep overnight. In the morning, the app provides a “Snore Score” assessment with the option to listen to the recording in its entirety, along with computed analysis and analytics.

Developed by world class engineers from the United States, China and Ukraine, SnoreReport features sophisticated algorithms to factor out the megahertz of the television sound, ensuring that it does not compromise, or interfere with the Snore Score. The app integrates the sleep tracking data with FitBit, to incorporate the heartbeat and provide a more comprehensive assessment of sleep quality.

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving was responsible for 72,000 crashes, 44,000 injuries and 800 deaths in 2014,” continued Fallon. “Snore Report allows you to monitor your sleep in the comfort of your own home. Sleep disorders are a silent killer, and we are working with Dr. Robert Lebby, a Board Certified Sleep M.D., to consult on further advancing the accuracy and analytics of the app.”

Via: https://appdevelopermagazine.com/4709/2016/12/12/New-app-records-your-snoring-then-gives-you-a-report-to-help-you-stop-it/

BAM! All you have to do is install this app on your phone and leave it running one night to pick up your partner’s snoring. The catch here is if you also snore, you won’t know who the app is tracking. You might be better off sneaking to another room for the night to ensure that the app captures the right culprit (or, why not wear a mouthpiece like the Good Morning Snore Solution to practically guarantee that it isn’t you that is snoring). Not only will this app provide a written report it will also allow a recording to be played. There’s no denying the fact that someone snores when you’ve got this much proof. This app is more productive than Johnson in accounting!

If your blissfully unaware snorer still denies they have an issue even after all of this, you might need to rethink everything. Chances are, one confronted with this proof they may be willing to at least have a conversation about it and you can work together. Dispelling some sleep myths right off the top is a good idea. Teamwork is what makes a relationship thrive so don’t just try to blame them for this issue they really can’t control when they’re unconscious. Maybe you need to review your habits and activities to ensure that you both can have a happy, healthy, quiet sleep.

Say Ah: What’s in Your Mouth?

mouthSnoring is a common sleep disorder although many just brush it off. Some people think snoring is caused solely by eating or drinking too much before bed, sleeping on your back or being sick. While these can contribute to snoring, the fact of the matter is that there are physical components of snoring. While you sleep your whole body relaxes, right? The means more than just your mind; your muscles relax as well. When the muscles in your mouth and throat relax they can cause your tongue to fall to the back of your throat and block your airways.

This causes that snoring sound we are all too familiar with. The kind that can only be remedied with a stop snoring mouthpiece like the ZQuiet (https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet). If the situation is intense, snoring may also be a sign of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes a person to stop breathing completely, for a few seconds, dozens of times a night. There are other physical betrayals for sleep apnea:

Enlarged uvula can lead to snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. Among normal adults, 45 percent are occasional snorers and 25 percent are habitual snorers. Most commonly seen in males, snoring may be a result of an obstruction, so it should be considered a serious symptom to address with your doctor.

There are numerous causes for snoring, including poor muscle tone of the tongue and throat, excessive bulkiness of throat tissue, long soft palate or uvula, or obstructed nasal airways.

Snoring can result in a health condition known as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is when a person stops breathing numerous times throughout the night. Being overweight or having high blood pressure can contribute to OSA, but another common cause is an enlarged uvula, the dangling piece of flesh at the back of the mouth.

The role of uvula is not fully understood, but its possible functions are assisting with speech formation and production of saliva.

Inflamed or swollen uvula is the main symptom of a health condition uvulitis, which can contribute to sleep apnea. If the uvula becomes very swollen, it may even reach the tongue, causing an obstruction. Other signs and symptoms of a swollen uvula include redness, as well as difficulty breathing or swallowing.

If your uvulitis does lead to sleep apnea, you may also suffer from high blood pressure, daytime headache, constant low energy or fatigue, and weight gain. Treating enlarged uvula and sleep apnea is important for reducing your risk of complications.

Enlarged uvula treatment methods

You should see a doctor for your enlarged uvula if you experience severe pain, difficulty breathing, uneasiness due to lack of oxygen, severe pain or difficulty swallowing, grunting and choking, pus or blood from the uvula, or if you stop breathing throughout the night.

Via: http://www.belmarrahealth.com/enlarged-uvula-can-lead-to-snoring-and-obstructive-sleep-apnea/

Snoring can be a very real indicator that you or someone you love suffers from sleep apnea. The problem with this disease is that it can often go undiagnosed for those who live alone or for those who brush off their snoring issue. It is imperative if you snore, and have continued to do so even after you’ve tried to stop it, that you meet with a health care professional. You may need to undergo testing in a sleep lab to find out if you suffer from sleep apnea. Don’t wait until it’s too late!