The pharyngeal vibrations shake the bed and rattle the bedroom windows, then blissfully a moment of respite, the snoring has stopped. But your bed-mate has stopped breathing too – then with a roar like Concorde smashing the sound barrier the nighttime cacophony starts once more.
Even though snoring is the subject of many jokes, it is a potential killer, and not just from exasperated partners taking matters into their own hands. So beware: snoring can kill.
In the UK, it is estimated that more than 3.5 million people snore; up to four out of ten men and three out of ten women snore. And millions of partners and even their neighbours suffer sleep-disturbed nights as a result.
The noise of snoring is caused by soft parts of the nose and throat - in particular, the soft palate - vibrating as you breathe in and out. At night, the muscles that help keep your airways open become relaxed and floppy. This causes the airways to narrow and vibrate more, making snoring more likely.
What Makes Snoring Worse
There are a few factors that can make snoring worse, including the following:
- alcohol or sleeping tablets, which relax the muscles even further
- being overweight, which puts pressure on the airways
- colds, allergies, nasal polyps, a damaged or crooked nose, all of which block the nose, causing you to breathe through your mouth
- smoking. Smokers are twice as likely as non-smokers to snore because their airways get inflamed and blocked.
- sleeping on your back
Although many treat snoring as a topic for jokes and humour and do not take it seriously, it does have some serious, even life-threatening consequences.
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA)
In this condition, the relaxed throat muscles block the airway briefly hundreds of times each night, stopping breathing and depriving the body of oxygen. In the short-term, this causes tiredness during the day, irritability and restlessness, and increases the risk of accidents when driving or operating machinery. In the long-term, it can cause high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.
Treatment for OSA involves wearing a dental splint and using a continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) machine while you sleep to keep the airways properly ventilated. Obstructive sleep apnoea is confirmed by a sleep test done in a specially equipped sleep laboratory. As this problem is becoming widely recognised as being bad for general health and well being, sleep labs are being established in many hospitals and clinics.
Some precautions can be taken against sleep apnea, including the following:
- Avoid drinking alcohol late at night.
- Maintain an ideal weight.
- Raise the head of the bed.
- Sleep on your side. To prevent rolling on to the back wedge a pillow under the back.
- Keep nasal passages clear by using a humidifier, inhaling steam or rubbing a few drops of eucalyptus or olbas oil on the pillowcase
- Antihistamine tablets and/or anti-inflammatory nasal sprays may help. Always check with the pharmacist that they're suitable for you, especially if you're taking other medicines.
Other "cures" include nasal strips: these devices re-position the jaw and homeopathic nasal drops and sprays. Try a few to see what works for you
Surgery may be the last resort it is used to remove nasal polyps, straighten crooked noses and cut out floppy soft palate tissue to stop it vibrating. Laser surgery stiffens the palate to reduce vibration. Somnoplasty uses radio frequency energy to shrink the floppy soft palate tissue rather than cutting it out.
Snoring then is no laughing matter and can mean life or death for some or at least an increase exposure to life threatening conditions. Snorers and their partners should seek help to diagnose the cause and cure the problem.
John Howe - John Howe is a qualified nurse, lecturer and journalist, he has written extensively on health, travel and lifestyle in Asia and Europe.
