Loud snoring may sound fun to your sleeping partner, but the condition is no joke.
Snoring
is often the sign of a condition called obstructive sleep apnea, which increases the risk of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, and other cardiovascular problems. Loud snoring can be a serious sleep disorder. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a block that stops breathing and disturbs sleep.This is one of the most serious dangers of sleep deprivation caused by snoring or sleep apnea. Daytime sleepiness can be so intense that it puts you and the people around you at risk, Doghramji says. If snoring or sleep apnea leaves you exhausted, you risk falling asleep, perhaps while driving. An analysis of health information and driving data from 618 adults over the age of 10 showed that the sleepier people felt during the day, the greater their risk of a car accident.
The risk was also higher if people were driving alone. Do you often wake up with a headache? It's not just because your spouse complains about your snoring. According to a recently published study of 268 people who snored routinely, researchers found a connection between frequent morning headaches and sleep disorders, including insomnia and sleep apnea. Not surprisingly, snorers with frequent headaches report a lower quality of life than those who do not have a headache.
Getting up to go to the bathroom two or more times a night is a condition called nocturia. For some people, this includes loss of bladder control. It is also related to snoring in both men and women. Research suggests that men older than 55 who frequently wake up to urinate may have both benign prostate enlargement and obstructive sleep apnea.
Another study showed a strong link between the two conditions. If you know you have sleep apnea or snoring, here are 11 conditions related to snoring and sleep apnea that you should be aware of. A study of 827 older men found that the more they snored and the louder they snored, the more likely they were to report lower levels of sexual satisfaction, even though a clinical analysis of their health showed no physiological signs of reduced sexual response. But if you snore for a long time, you not only alter the sleep patterns of people close to you, but also impair your own quality of sleep.
People who snore can go around and around at night, have a dry and sore throat when they wake up, and feel tired during the day. About 1 in 3 men and 1 in 4 women snore every night or almost every night, according to statistics from the National Sleep Foundation. A recent study of 74 snorers showed that the more daytime sleepiness people report, the greater their chances of also having mild symptoms of depression or anxiety. Unless someone else tells you, most people who snore don't know it, and this is part of the reason sleep apnea is underdiagnosed.
Talk to your doctor if you are too sleepy during the day, if you snore often or too loudly, or if your partner notices that sometimes he or she stops breathing completely. Your provider will ask you (and perhaps your partner) several questions, including how often you snore, what you sound like, and how your diet and lifestyle affect your sleep. One of the biggest impacts of snoring is on another person sharing a bed or bedroom with the snoring person.
