Snoring Is Not A Laughing Matter!

Snoring has often been depicted in a humorous manner. However, it can be a sign of a serious and dangerous health issue. Many times  patients that snore may have other sleep breathing disorders such as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is characterized as abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep. Each pause in breathing can last from a few seconds to minutes, and may occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. This can affect the patient’s health by increasing blood pressure, as well as raising the risk of heart attack and stroke. With this being said, the patient that snores is not the only one affected. The bed partner of the snorer also suffers. The European Heart Journal recently published data that showed that the non-snoring bed partner is susceptible  to increases in blood pressure that raise the risk of hypertension .

Thus,  the secondary target of the snorer has their sleep adversely affected. They too are constantly awoken during the night, fragmenting their sleep as well. Unlike the apnea sufferer who drifts in an out of restless sleep, the bed partner of secondary snoring  isn’t easily able to return to sleep. All stages of their sleep are adversely impacted. They are unable to achieve the appropriate  level of restful sleep due to the unpredictable disturbances created by their noisy bed partner.  It is estimated that snoring and the resultant sleep deprivation cost the United States approximately 100 million dollars in productivity.

What can be done to protect the “snoree”? Earplugs?  The average snore is between 60 & 90 decibels, even the best ear plugs only provide about 30 decibels of protection.  Obviously the best course of action is to screen our patients for signs of a sleep breathing disorders. Remember that denial is a characteristic of human nature, particularly with something that is perceived as embarrassing such as snoring. Screening for conditions as dangerous as Sleep Apnea shouldn’t stop with the obvious targets but also with the less apparent objects of their harmful effects.