There is nothing more annoying at night than to hear someone snoring. Like how would you be able to sleep when the loud snoring of your partner keeps you from drifting off to dreamland? As annoying as it may be, snoring is actually a medical problem that needs to be addressed by seeing a sleep doctor or a snoring specialist.
If you are clueless as to what happens when you are snoring in your slumber, you essentially cease from breathing from time to time when you snore. Your brain processes this medical dilemma and has to choose whether to breathe or keep you alive, that’s how risky your life is in your sleep every single night.
Snoring used to be the butt of jokes but increased awareness on how serious of a matter it is and teaches us to take this condition seriously. It is no longer a laughing matter and one should take the time to see a sleep doctor to get examined and treated right away. While there is no real cure for snoring, there are ways to reduce its risks and improve your sleep.
Snoring occurs when the upper airway muscles relax, obstructing a patient’s airflow, which causes noisy tissue vibrations during inhalation. In their research paper, “Smartphone-based delivery of oropharyngeal exercises for treatment of snoring,” Brian Krohn, PhD., Adam Black, PhD., and Dr. Umesh Goswami, MD, prove that these noisy vibrations can be reduced by performing an oral therapy designed to strengthen and tone specific muscles within the upper airway.
Snoring continues to be the most common complaint in sleep medicine clinics, affecting 35 percent of all adults. In addition to negatively impacting sleep partners, snoring may be a predictor of obstructive sleep apnea, which can lead to high blood pressure, inflammation, and numerous other health risks.
The gold standard of treatment for snoring is CPAP, which stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. It involves the use of the bulky CPAP equipment in your sleep. It is the least comfortable but it ensures you get that oxygen you need that is vital to life even in your slumber. The problem with CPAP use is its low compliance rate because users complain of severe discomforts when using the device they’d rather risk facing the dangers of snoring rather than wearing the device in their sleep. It is not yet the end of the world, though, since there are still plenty of other devices a snorer can use that can help curb their snoring such as anti-snoring mouthpieces and oral devices that aren’t as effective as CPAP but is still helpful in reducing the risks of sleep apnea.
Frequent, loud snoring could be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea — where your airway becomes blocked, causing you to briefly stop breathing in your sleep — sometimes as many as a hundred times a night.
“Weight gain puts people more at risk for sleep apnea,” explained Li, who added sleep apnea has been associated with increased cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, strokes.
Li recommends sleeping on your side rather than on your back and elevating your head slightly to reduce snoring. Losing weight, addressing nasal congestion and avoiding alcohol, tobacco and sleeping pills are other tips to achieve a snore-free sleep. For those with sleep apnea, a CPAP machine helps reduce snoring.
(Via: https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/a-nora-a-day-keeps-the-snoring-away)
Aside from the use of anti-snoring devices, simple lifestyle modifications can greatly help snorers overcome snoring. Snoring gadgets only help its users when they use it in their sleep and fails to get to the bottom of the problem. Not merely just sleeping on your side but losing weight is also a big plus to addressing snoring. The most important thing is to get yourself checked because snoring isn’t just a bad habit but can be indicative of sleep apnea, a deadly sleeping disorder. You may need to undergo certain tests and sleep for the night at a sleep facility in order to get all your baseline data.
It is a tedious process and there is still no assurance that science can finally find a cure for sleep apnea. While we are waiting for the next medical breakthrough, benefit from devices like https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/zquiet and https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx that have their pros and cons but at least offer relief from snoring when used properly and regularly.
