Humans have peculiarities that may seem funny at first but are actually threatening to one’s health. A fine example is snoring. People often snicker at the sound of another person’s snoring because they have associated it as an embarrassing and annoying sleeping habit some old people have when in reality, it actually is a dangerous health condition that can even put your life in grave danger in your slumber.
Snoring isn’t just a habit but is actually the sound people make when air can’t freely pass a constricted airway and cause this hallmark symptom. In layman’s term, a person who snores (and often is diagnosed with sleep apnea) suffers from periodical breathing gaps all throughout their sleep. It is an involuntary response that is often triggered by a physical anomaly in body parts involved in the essential act of breathing.
So, every time a person snores, he/she is actually having a hard time breathing and the brain has to make the risky choice between breathing and sleeping. Imagine being in this delicate state every day, like every time you sleep there is always the risk of not being able to wake up.
The Sleep Lab has four fully equipped hotel-grade rooms for overnight sleep studies. Pulmonary or sleep medicine fellows study real-time data in a separate room under the supervision of a consultant sleep specialist.
Snoring and OSA can lead to serious health risks such as heart failure, heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, neurocognitive impairment and accidents due to sleepiness. OSA causes breathing to repeatedly stop and start during sleep.
Be worried when the snoring is punctuated by periods of silence, followed by a snort, a loud gasp or a body jerk.
(Via: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/295043/worried-snoring-punctuated-silence-body-jerk/)
If you are a habitual snorer, don’t put off any longer a trip to see the sleep specialist. While not all snorers have sleep apnea, snoring remains to be a major symptom of patients diagnosed with sleep apnea. There is always the possibility of you actually suffering from some type of sleep apnea. So, better get yourself checked and interventions can be initiated.
They may recommend a sleep test, wherein you’ll be required to stay for the night to be observed in your slumber. You’ll be strapped to devices that will give the doctor a better idea how your body works when you are asleep.
If a person does have sleep apnea, a more aggressive treatment may be necessary.
For some people, a dental oral appliance — a device that looks like a mouthguard — can propel the lower jaw forward and open up the airway sufficiently. But some patients experience jaw or bite alignment issues with these devices, according to Lee.
The primary treatment for severe cases relies on a continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP machine: a device that forces air pressure through a mask into a person’s airway. It provides enough air pressure to keep the airway open throughout the night.
Not every patient needs a device like the CPAP at the start, according to Lee. But she cautions that sleep apnea is a progressive disease that tends to get more serious as people get older. As we age, “everything tends to sag a bit more,” she explained, and that’s true inside your airway, too. A patient who can use milder treatments for a while might still eventually need a CPAP.
(Via: http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-to-stop-snoring-2018-5)
As soon as a diagnosis is made, you can explore various options on how to address this condition. There are conventional management methods like CPAP and surgery but both have their risks. However, CPAP remains to be the best intervention for sleep apnea even if its compliance rate is low. It is because CPAP isn’t exactly comfy and surgery is obviously invasive. Most people right now prefer the use of anti-snoring gadgets because it is more affordable and convenient to use and also effective in reducing snoring without all the discomforts associated with CPAP use.
At a time and age when modern science almost has an answer to everything, there is no reason for you to continue suffering in silence or being deprived of sleep. Most anti-snoring gadgets offer a free trial like ZQuiet while SnoreRx offers a 30-day money back guarantee, so give it a try while you are still exploring your other options.
