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Sleeping Before Dusk Can Cause Heart Danger

clockSurely you remember the prime of your youth: staying up until 3am working on that final paper for your course or playing video games until midnight. As we get older our bedtimes tend to creep ever forward. We have more stresses in our lives and therefore need more time to recuperate from the long days we sludge through. But having an early bedtime could be a massive warning sign, especially for men:

Men who want an early night could be showing a warning sign of heart problems, medics have warned.

A study of 2,400 adults found that among men, bed times were significantly earlier among those suffering from high blood pressure.

On average, those with the condition – one of the key risks for heart disease – retired for the night 18 minutes earlier than those without it.

And once they got to bed, those with high blood pressure were significantly more likely to spent the night tossing and turning, the Japanese study found. 

Researchers said the desire to turn in early could be a clue to health problems which might otherwise be missed.

While early nights were linked with higher blood pressure, getting more sleep was unlikely to do anything to help the condition, they cautioned. 

Despite going to bed earlier, those with high blood pressure managed no more sleep overall – and scored significantly worse in tools used to measure the quality of slumber. 

On average, those with high blood pressure – also called hypertension – scored 5.3 in assessments, where a score of five or more indicted poor sleep quality. 

Among those with normal blood pressure, the score was 4.7, according to the study findings, presented at the European Society of Cardiology, in Rome.

Lead researcher Dr Nobuo Sasaki, from Hiroshima University, said: “Early bed times were associated with hypertension independent of anything else.”

Via: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/31/early-bed-time-could-be-warning-sign-for-heart-problems-in-men/

It’s very important to listen to your body. Is it strained? Is it weak? Is it tired? If your body is trying to tell you something you might not be listening close enough. As we age, we start ignoring what our bodies try to tell us in favour of what our minds tell us we can and cannot do. There will come a point in your life where eating an entire large pepperoni pizza on your own is going to cause serious gastrointestinal problems. Sure, you might have been able to pack a whole pizza away in your twenties, but maybe now you’re in your forties and pizza is not your friend.

The same can be said for sleep. Are you really so tired that a 7pm bedtime is appealing? What kind of work do you do? If you don’t do anything overly physically taxing and your commute isn’t that long, wanting to hit the hay so soon after supper is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong.

Make an appointment with your medical professional about a sleep study. Remember, we’re supposed to have a full physical at least once a year, possibly more often if you have other health concerns. Sleep is a wonderful thing and lying around in bed every once in a while isn’t really a bad thing. But we’re not teenagers any more. Staying up late and sleeping in until lunch is only going to cause problems, not solve them.

Don’t put off what important concerns and make sure that you address them right away. Chances are if you want to sleep that early, and actually do, you might not be getting the restful sleep you want. This is only going to create more concerns. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee, my friends.

 

If You Want Good Grades, Get Some Sleep

collegeIt’s the time of year again. Students are swarming schools all over the country from kindergarten all the way to university and college. It’s back to school and that means a more regimented schedule should be implemented for everything. This includes parents as well as students. For those who are finding themselves in post-secondary for the first time might have a harder time trying to control themselves. Safeguards, like parents, might not be there and the newfound sense of independence and freedom could very well be their undoing.

If you want to be successful at anything in life, you need to put your best effort into it. This holds true for education. Lack of sleep can be the simplest cause of your undoing when it comes to performing in the workplace, and at school:

College students who deprive themselves of sleep are more at risk of losing academic success, according to health professional Dr. Keith Willmore.

Willmore, medical director of the BYU Student Health Clinic, said there is definitely a connection between lack of sleep and poor academic performance. He said cognitive functions are worsened due to sleep deprivation.

“Most students tend to stay up much later and sleep in, resulting in both less quantity and quality sleep,” Willmore said in an email.

Daniel Kay, an assistant professor of psychology, explained there is a danger for students when it comes to this “sleep debt.”

“‘Sleep debt’ as it’s called, accumulates over time,” Kay said. “So if an individual obtains 15 minutes less sleep than is needed on a nightly basis, after a week or two that starts to add up, and can have an impact of daytime functioning that is as great as going a whole night without sleep.”

An article written by Dr. Ronald D. Chervin and Dr. Shelley D. Hershner, published in the Journal of Nature and Science of Sleep, states “the consequences of sleep deprivation and daytime sleepiness are especially problematic to college students and can result in lower grade point averages, increased risk of academic failure, compromised learning, impaired mood and increased risk of motor vehicle accidents.”

Students who slept for more hours had higher grade point averages than shorter sleepers, according to the article.

The article also said “students with sleep disorders probably do not achieve optimal academic performance, and up to 27 percent of students may be at risk for at least one sleep disorder.”

Via: http://universe.byu.edu/2016/09/06/health-officials-say-lack-of-sleep-can-negatively-affect-students-grades/

University and college are not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination. Even if you’re lucky enough to be the recipient of a scholarship or have family who are able to pay the way, that’s still a hefty chunk of change. You don’t want all the hard effort you put into your courses to go down the drain because you’re having issues with your sleep schedule. Lack of sleep can be brutal for your health.

Like any other health concern you might have, you should visit a doctor if sleeping, or lack of sleep, is happening more often than not. It could be that you’re suffering from insomnia or maybe you snore in your sleep and need to wear a mouthpiece. It doesn’t have to be a struggle if you get help for it sooner rather than later. You just have to take charge of your life and if that means missing out on a party or two so you can get some proper sleep and not bomb that final exam in two days, then maybe that’s what you need to do.

Can A CPAP Machine Do It All?

CpapSleep is a precious commodity that we all need in order to survive. During sleep is when our bodies grow, our brain cells replenish and our emotions reset. Regardless of age everyone needs to get a good night’s sleep. There is a reason that children need to sleep more when they’re very young: they’re growing and without sleep those little bodies can’t get much bigger.

Even as adults if we neglect to get a proper sleep we can wake up feeling restless, irritated and just downright cranky. This will impact our daily lives in various ways. But what if you can’t get sleep? There are those who suffer from sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea and snoring. Suffering from a sleep disorder impacts your sleep. Either you can’t sleep or you can’t get quality sleep. Both are detrimental to your physical and emotional health.

When you have sleep apnea you actually stop breathing several times a night. Certainly, this is obviously very concerning and the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine was designed to blow continuous bursts of oxygen into the sleepers airways in order to keep them breathing through the night. Complicated and expensive, yes, especially when compared with something as simple as the ZQuiet mouthpiece (https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet). But can CPAP machines do more than help with sleep apnea?

An international study led by Australian sleep specialists has shown machines designed to help people with sleep apnoea do not reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke, but significantly improve quality of life.

The study of more than 2,700 sleep apnoea sufferers with cardiovascular disease estimated 25 per cent of middle-aged men and 10 per cent of middle-aged women suffer from sleep apnoea.

The Sleep Apnoea Cardiovascular Endpoints (SAVE) study monitored sleep apnoea patients with a pre-existing vascular disease over four years in 89 hospitals in Australia, New Zealand, India, the US, Spain and Brazil.

Researchers were looking at whether a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine would prevent major cardiovascular events including heart attack and stroke.

Irishman David Cahoon emigrated to Australia more than a decade ago after undergoing heart bypass surgery in the UK in 1994.

“I’ve always been a terrible snorer,” Mr Cahoon told the ABC.

In England he had been prescribed a rubber mouthpiece designed to hold his jaw forward at night to reduce his snoring, but until he came to Australia he did not realise he had sleep apnoea.

Early testing at the Flinders University Sleep Lab in Adelaide indicated Mr Cahoon’s breathing was being interrupted 53 times an hour while he slept.

Most days Mr Cahoon found it difficult to stay awake.

Via: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-28/cpap-machines-do-not-reduce-risk-of-heart-attack-or-stroke/7792624

Now that researchers know what a CPAP machine can’t do, they can focus on addressing those concerns. There is no doubt that the CPAP improves quality of sleep which in turns leads to a better quality of life. A better quality of life leads to a better outlook for the future and allows us to be more positive and productive in our everyday lives. You never thought that sleep could be so important, did you?

While it may be disappointing to learn about the shortcomings of the CPAP machine, it just gives researchers more drive to find a better solution to such an important problem. Perhaps an addition to the CPAP machine will address the issues with heart disease or maybe a new medication will do the trick. When it comes to research the disappointments are just as important as the discoveries: they can all lead to a solution. You can rest easy knowing that there are people hard at work trying to find out how to keep you healthy and hale, during your states of consciousness and unconsciousness.

Can You Afford to Ignore Your Snoring?

Unless you live comfortably as a member of the 1%, chances are you are attempting to be financially savvy by implementing a budget and adhering to it. The world costs money and we can only work ourselves to death so often before we really do die in our boots.

moneyIn order to be ready to put in those long hours either during your commute or at the office you need to make sure you’re getting a good night’s sleep. There are several variables that will impact your sleep health: your stress level, whether or not you consume drugs or alcohol before sleep and your overall sleep health. Many people have unhealthy relationships with their sleep which impacts their productivity during the day. Do you snore? Are you sure? Maybe no one has ever told you that you snore, but you still wake up feeling tired and like you didn’t get a wink at all.

This can be very dangerous for your health. You can face other problems that can end up costing you a lot of money:

ASM (American Academy of Sleep Medicine) declared that 29.4 million of residents in the country are suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. Sadly, only 20% of them know about it. In effect, the country spends $149.6 billion dollars for the treatment and the long term health consequences that results from it. If sleep apnea is not treated, this will significantly reduce the productivity of the individual. Numbers of vehicular accidents will also rise and workplace injuries.

Sleep apnea results to daytime sleepiness once untreated. This can be very risky, especially to drivers since they will be prone to road accidents 5 times more than those who don’t have any snoring issues. Hence, they will be more vulnerable to crash on the road.

Sleeping with someone who snores can be very irritating. And you can’t just take this for granted since this can be a symptom of a serious medical issue. In U.S., one out of 10 people has this problem which costs the country billions of dollars per year.

‘In sleep apnea, the mouth’s muscles do not work properly. Hence, every short period of time, the person stops breathing’, said Dr. Jennifer Caudle; a family medicine doctor in New Jersey. Sometimes, the person does not even know he has sleep apnea, Caudle said. Not knowing that you have this condition will put you in trouble. Once you stop breathing, you will snore, disrupting your normal sleep pattern. As a result, you will experience sleepiness and fatigue. If left untreated, this results to increased blood pressure, obesity, heart ailment and diabetes.

Via: http://www.newswatchngr.com/snoring-costs-the-country-149-6-billion-dollars-annually-66551

Medical care isn’t cheap and the longer you ignore a problem the worse, and more expensive, it will get. There are simple ways to deal with snoring, if that’s the affliction you suffer from. First and foremost you should meet with a sleep specialist and get yourself tested. You may need a referral from your primary health care provider. Your healthcare provider can also discuss various options with you. A mouthpiece like the ZQuiet (review here) may help alleviate your snoring if that is your issue.

Maybe you suffer from a sleep disorder because you have a lot of stress in your life. Or maybe you’re a bit overweight and need help losing the pounds. Whatever the case may be, speaking to a professional and getting some insight and assistance is the first thing that should be on your list.

Once you’ve identified the problem, you can work on the solution. The faster you catch it the better off you’ll be. This way you can save your hard earned money for something more gratifying, like that deluxe edition convertible or that expensive pair of shoes. Whatever your guilty pleasure is, wouldn’t it be nice to have a bit more cash to spend on it?

The More You Know: Sleep Edition

We all remember that bright star and following rainbow that would dance across our screens, and interrupt our cartoons, when a public service announcement was played on NBC. Even now as adults we probably sing the little jingle in our head when we learn something new. Education is a positive experience, no matter what the moreyou’re learning about. People are starting to be more proactive about their health and are genuinely interested in finding out the reasons why something is happening to them. This leads to increased visits to their medical professionals and a Google search engine that is nearing the point of exhaustion.

You should never be ashamed to want to learn more about your health; especially if you suspect you may suffer from sleep disorders. These conditions are not widely discussed and often people who snore are used to demonstrate a joke or poked for a good laugh.  Your health is a serious matter and you should never be ashamed to learn more about it:

Sleep-disordered breathing is a problem that should not be taken lightly. In addition to leaving you feeling groggy during the day, untreated sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea can lead to several other health problems, including high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and heart disease. Effective treatments such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy and oral appliance therapy are available to treat obstructive sleep apnea.

Sleep Apnea Treatment Options
Obstructive sleep apnea is caused when the tongue and soft palate collapse onto the back of the throat during sleep, blocking the upper airway. The traditional treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is CPAP therapy, which consists of wearing a mask hooked up to a constantly-running machine that provides air to patients while they sleep, helping to keep the airway open. Patients can find the treatment to be uncomfortable and cumbersome, and up to 50 percent of patients do not continue to use CPAP treatment long-term.

An alternative to this treatment is oral appliance therapy. Custom-fit by a dentist knowledgeable in dental sleep medicine, this treatment – which uses a mouth-guard like device to hold the jaw forward and keep the airway open – is easy to use and quieter than CPAP.

Getting in the Head of a Snorer
Researchers are finding that a major obstacle to treating sleep apnea actually lies in the mind – and not the bed – of the patient. In a new study presented in June at the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine's (AADSM) 25th Anniversary Meeting, researchers discovered that a key to helping patients adhere to their sleep apnea treatment plan could lie in convincing the patient of the real and long-term effects of the disease if left untreated.

The study from Columbia University asked 80 people if they adhere to their oral appliance therapy. Fifty-eight patients responded that they are adherent to treatment, and 22 responded that they no longer use their oral appliance. Of these 22 respondents, 10 were not using any treatment at all.

Via: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-a-smith-dds/research-reveals-that-inc_b_11392504.html

It’s about time we stopped laughing at Uncle Jeff who snores so loudly on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner he rattles the windows. He may be suffering from a serious health condition which could lead to even more serious complications. No one wants their loved ones to be ill or to suffer. It’s important to learn about sleep disorders, their causes, and what you can do to combat them. The more people that are educated the more information can be shared and potential risks identified.

Anti-Snoring Solutions Making Big Bucks

When something is unpleasant, there will be someone out there in the world that wants to invent something to make it stop. Snoring has been around for as long as human beings have had mouths, but only in recent years have anti-snoring devices become big players in the market.money

There are dozens of appliances and gimmicks to try and now surgery designed to help reduce or eliminate snoring is on the rise. This is good news for those who invest in stocks and also for those who suffer from snoring. The more industries and companies that are out there trying to design and develop something to combat this issue means you will have a lot of options to choose from. This also means a lot of research is going into developing a new and improved device so you no longer have to settle for your grandmothers nasal strips.

Global anti-snoring devices and snoring surgery market is expected to reach USD 1.84 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The anti-snoring devices and snoring surgery market is anticipated to witness a lucrative growth during the period 2016 to 2024. The factors contributing towards the growth of the market are the growing awareness levels about the ill effects of snoring, rising elderly and obese population, the presence of an unexploited consumer base, and the increasing consumption of alcohol and cigarettes. However, factors such as the cost prohibitive nature of the products, limited efficacy of the presently available treatments, and the presence of an unpropitious reimbursement scenario are likely to hinder the growth of the market.

The market is segmented into anti-snoring devices and snoring surgery segments. The anti-snoring devices segment includes oral appliances, nasal devices, position control devices, chin straps, tongue stabilizing devices, and expiratory positive airway pressure therapy devices. The surgery segment includes uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty, radiofrequency ablation, sclerotherapy, pillar procedure, and others. North America and Europe are the major shareholders of this industry due mainly to the increasing awareness associated with available treatment options and the eventual rise in popularity and adoption of these products. The Asia Pacific region is expected to witness high growth as a consequence of the untapped population base characterized with a snoring condition, higher levels of awareness regarding the effects of snoring, and the presence of well-established players in the sector.

[…]
Further key findings from the study suggest:

  • North America is estimated to lead the industry with the largest market share in 2015.This growth is attributed to the rapidly increasing popularity and the resultant high market penetration of such treatment devices. Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit the highest growth rate owing to the large untreated population and the rising awareness levels with regard to treatment options and the notorious health consequences associated with this condition.
  • In surgery, somnoplasty is estimated to be the fastest growing segment due largely to factors, such as low cost, reduced surgical trauma, less invasive, and chances of fewer complications in comparison to the traditional surgery procedures.

Via: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/anti-snoring-devices-and-snoring-surgery-market-worth-18-billion-by-2024-grand-view-research-inc-588810781.html

If you’ve been suffering from snoring and have tried a lot of what’s out there, you may not have to wait too long before something new comes into your view. If the market increases like the article above says, the chances of a surefire solution to such an annoying problem can’t be far behind.

In the meantime, by far the most effective snoring solution on the market happens to be here. Not only is the GMSS a leader in its class; it is also practically the only widely available TSD mouthpiece out there. You’ll probably want to look at this solution first before you try anything else.

Stop Snoring With This Extremely Cool Device

When a lot of people think about anti-snoring devices they think of putting a mouthpiece in every night and worry about the potential discomfort that will follow. While there are many mouthpieces out there that take making the experience comfortable as a priority it might still be interesting to know there are ideas floating around for other options. Depending on what is causing your snoring, a mouthpiece may be the best option you’ve got. You might even want to consider using two Maniac9devices if one of them is a cool gadget like this:

There are a variety of techniques sufferers employ to deal with a partner's snoring: the nudge, the bounce, the cough, the pillow cave, the kick.

Toronto's Ali and Behrouz Hariri are hoping to add one more option: the Nora.

The father-son entrepreneurs say they've developed the world's first non-invasive 'smart' solution to snoring. A sleek bedside device listens for the lawnmower's warm-up to reach an audible (pre-nudge) volume, at which point it signals to a bedside pump to inflate a pad in your pillow. It also comes with a companion app that delivers the good and bad news to you about your sleep patterns.

The Nora website is chock-full of graphs, videos and testimonials pointing to the product's effectiveness, and nearly 3,500 Kickstarter backers are eager to believe them. In fact, Nora's campaign has been wildly successful, raising eight times their stated goal. To date, they have raised over $1 million US across 40 countries.

This blessing has also, seemingly, been a curse. Some early backers have begun to get agitated, with some even demanding refunds due to delays (which are typical for Kickstarter projects). While prototypes were developed in Toronto and the U.S., the team has just secured a manufacturer overseas.

'It's a very different scale,' Behrouz Hariri explained in a phone interview, taking a break from 15-hour days visiting factories in southern China. 'We are making sure the right pieces are there for a quality outcome. '¦ We want to stay true to the promise.'

Via: http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/05/12/a-toronto-duos-ultimate-fix-for-snoring-.html

One of the coolest things about this device is that it has it’s roots in Canada, along with this, the absolute best snoring mouthpiece. That means another North American mind was set on solving the issue of snoring by using a non-invasive idea.  It’s a pretty cool idea and it may come with a slightly  higher price tag than people are hoping. You need to remember that just because something is inexpensive it doesn’t mean it’s going to be the best option for you. There are many companies out there that praise their anti-snoring devices only for them to be made out of cheap plastic and untested materials.

You should always check reviews before you purchase anything and keep in mind that the lower the price tag the potentially lower quality of the product. This is a health product after all and it should be thought of as such. This means you may need to pay a bit more to get something that is going to work and isn’t going to hurt you or break easily in return.

For many people with odd-shaped mouths or who may suffer with sensitive gums or other issues the idea of an anti-snoring device that doesn’t focus on the mouth might be a welcome idea. In the meantime the mouthpieces on the market are still evolving and adapting to client needs. They are still working hard to help you stop snoring and to keep your comfort in mind. If you can’t wait for the Nora, maybe you should check out what’s currently available. You never know; you might just find the one that you were looking for.

The Best Snoring Solutions Can Improve Your Relationships

Sleep does more for your life than replenish your energy stocks and help support the growth of new cells. Sleeping helps us relax and renew ourselves in more ways than one. But what if your sleep quality is poor, or worse, nonexistent?

bedMany people suffer from debilitating sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea and even snoring. While snoring might not seem that serious an issue, imagine this: you’re minding your own business, sleeping away, when you get a sharp elbow to the ribs from your partner. Unbeknownst to you, you were snoring. You roll over and continue to sleep only to be woken up by the lack of oxygen in your lungs from someone half-smothering you with a pillow. It sounds crazy, but it happens to so many people. Snoring is disruptive not only for the snorer but also for the person who shares the bed. Great snoring solutions can make a huge difference.

This is why sleep is so important for relationships. Do you think the snorer and the sleeper can talk to each other nicely when they’ve been keeping each other up all night in one way or another? Probably not. Many relationships, romantic or otherwise, will fall apart if the sleep disturbances are not addressed.

This article shows us why:

New research discovers that when husbands and wives get more sleep than on an average night, they are more satisfied with their marriages '” at least the following day.

In the study, Florida State University psychology professor Dr. Jim McNulty and graduate student Heather Maranges hypothesize that sleep is linked to self-regulation or self-control, which influences how married couples feel and think about their partner.

'The universality of our findings is important,' Maranges said. 'That is, we know all people need sleep. Regardless of the stage at which a couple is in their relationship or the cultural context in which they're embedded, each member of the couple can be adversely affected by not getting enough sleep.'

The paper appears in the Journal of Family Psychology.

The researchers believe sleep influences self-control. Self-control requires energy that can be replenished when our bodies are in the resting period known as sleep. In other words, sleep offers self-regulatory benefits to relationships.

'Up to one-third of married or cohabiting adults report that sleep problems burden their relationship,' the researchers wrote in the paper.

Other sleep studies have indicated that even partial sleep deprivation can have harmful effects on processes that require self-regulation, like evaluating how you feel about your partner.

However, results in this study revealed that differences between couples' sleep durations was not associated with differences in marital satisfaction. Because one couple gets more sleep than another does not mean that the couple that experienced more sleep viewed their marriage more favorably.

Maranges and McNulty conducted their research with 68 newlywed couples. Over a seven-day period, couples recorded the number of hours they slept and then responded to two sets of questions on a scale of one (not satisfied at all) to seven (extremely satisfied).

Via: http://psychcentral.com/news/2016/08/08/sleep-influences-relationship-satisfaction/108272.html? 

If you suffer from snoring you and your partner, if you have one, are not sleeping well. Have you noticed if you’ve been snappy to each other lately? Has the snoring always been an issue, or has it recently started? There are several causes of snoring and some of them you can address and combat on your own. It all depends on how much effort you’re willing to put into getting a good night’s sleep and a sweet good morning.

Unexpected Sleep Issues: What Snoring Tells Us

sleep_by_hannahboA lot of things in life are expected to occur. You’re expected to grow up, to finish some sort of schooling and to get a job. We expect to blink our eyes constantly throughout the day and no one ever realizes how many times they swallow until they suffer from a sore throat. Among other expected activities like breathing comes sleeping. We expect to sleep. Doctors and parents have been telling us we need to get at least eight hours of sleep a day. As children, we need more sleep because that’s when our bodies grow.

But what if your sleep wasn’t like what you expected? There are many people who can’t sleep even when they want to. There are others who attempt sleep but find their rest interrupted by snoring or tossing and turning. Your sleep is important and you need to ensure that you’re getting the right amount. So what does it mean when your sleep isn’t as typical as you were expecting?

Everybody sleeps. But not everybody sleeps the same way. So long as you're getting enough'”experts recommend 7 to 9 hours a night'”and you feel rested, you don’t need to sweat the occasional off night. However if you're not feeling rested, or your sleep is frequently disrupted, there might be something more important going on. Here's a look at 3 common sleep issues and what might be causing them.

Serious Snoring
Snoring is vibrational noise that happens when your breathing is partially obstructed by relaxed tissues in your throat. About half of adults snore at least occasionally, and for most it's not a big deal (except maybe for the person you're sleeping next to). 'Most people are unaware that they're snoring,' says Christopher Winter, MD, president of Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and medical director at Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center. 'and if you wake up feeling rested, it's not a problem.'

What is a problem is if you're snoring enough to cut off your breathing, and waking yourself up frequently during the night. This is a condition called sleep apnea, and it leaves sufferers chronically sleepy. 'You feel extremely tired during the day and fall asleep almost immediately when you sit down to relax,' says Winter. If this sounds like you, see a doctor. There are medical options like oral appliances or even minimally invasive surgery that can open your airway and allow you to get an uninterrupted night's rest.

Via: http://www.bicycling.com/training/health/what-your-sleep-might-be-trying-to-tell-you

Sleep is precious, almost more so than money. You can’t function without proper sleep and if you can’t function you can’t make that money you need to support your life. Being chronically sleepy leads to mistakes at work and irritability. These can cost you your job and put your life in jeopardy. It doesn’t take a genius to realize this is a potentially serious problem. That doesn’t mean you get to wallow in despair if you find yourself suffering from a sleep-related disorder.

If you’ve tried the mouthpieces, tried the nasal strips and the weird chin straps that are supposed to prevent you from snoring and it’s still happening, make an appointment with your health care professional. It’s possible that you’re suffering from something else and you should get that dealt with sooner rather than later. There are ways to get rid of snoring to help improve your life, but make sure you speak with a health care professional first.

You’ll be surprised at how easy you’ll sleep afterwards.

Insomnia and Snoring: The Worst Best Friends

holding-hands-1149411_960_720Everyone knows the sounds of snoring. We’ve all heard them growing up either from family members or on television. In cartoons snoring is usually over exaggerated and used to let the watcher know the person is supposed to be sleeping. They must be truly sleeping to snore, too, not just faking it. While it’s all well and good to laugh over these funny antics on the television, the fact of the matter is that snoring is not only a telling sign of comic relief.

Did you know that snoring can be a sign of underlying health problems? Snoring can betray sleep apnea and a host of other medical issues. Snoring and every dreamers enemy, insomnia, have been linked to something devastating: strokes.

Sleep-disordered breathing and sleep-wake disturbances represent both a risk factor and a consequence of stroke affecting stroke recovery, outcome and recurrence, a review confirmed.

The meta-analysis of prospective clinical and population-based studies noted that more than 50% of patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) and stroke have sleep-disordered breathing.

Sleep-disordered breathing is an independent stroke predictor (OR 2.24; CI 1.57 to 3.19), and that stroke risk increases with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), Dirk M. Hermann, MD, of University Hospital Essen, Germany, and Claudio L. Bassetti, MD, of University Hospital Bern, Switzerland, reported online in Neurology.

“There is solid evidence linking sleep-related breathing disturbances (e.g., obstructive sleep apnea), insomnia (lack of sleep), and hypersomnia (excessive sleep) with stroke and disturbed stroke recovery,” Hermann told MedPage Today. “Sleep-related breathing disturbances and sleep-wake disturbances should carefully be monitored in stroke patients on stroke units and rehabilitation wards. Here, clinical routines should be implemented for sleep assessment and patient treatment.”

The researchers cautioned that clinicians should proceed with care when using pharmacologic approaches to sleep-wake disturbances in the management of stroke and TIA.
Similarly, while sleep-wake disturbances can be detected with careful patient histories, questionnaires, and actigraphy, treatment is relevant for stroke recovery and outcome and “should be used thoughtfully considering potential side effects,” they said.

“Treatment of sleep-wake disturbances with hypnotics and sedative antidepressants (insomnia), activating antidepressants or stimulants (hypersomnia), dopaminergic drugs (restless leg syndrome), and clonazepam [Klonopin] (parasomnias) are based on single case observations and should be used with caution.”

Via: http://www.medpagetoday.com/cardiology/strokes/59501 

As if the annoyance of snoring wasn’t bad enough. Those who suffer from insomnia will tell you it’s no walk in the park. Not being able to rest when you truly need it can be devastating. Not being able to sleep without your snoring either waking you up or causing your partner to wake you up is also undesirable. If you or someone you know suffers from snoring or insomnia it would be in their best interests to speak with a health care professional.

Yes, there are devices and medication that can assist with snoring and sleeplessness, respectively, but if you’re concerned about your risk of stroke you need to speak with a medical professional. Once you’ve been seen and assessed you can work with your doctor on determining what mouthpiece might work best for you or if there is something else you need to consider.

Your health is no joke and it’s important that you are aware and understand everything that happens. If you have a history of heart disease in your family that’s all the more reason to get yourself checked out. Don’t let snoring and insomnia pull a fast one on you.