What is snoring?
So many questions and all will be an answer in today's post!
Snoring is one of the noisy things around the world. Especially when our wife or husband have super loud snore. Nobody like snoring, even the person who snores at sleep also don't like it. Can we help them reducing or stop snoring? YES
Snoring is making a snorting or grunting sound during breathing while asleep. When some of the respiratory tracts over a person is clogged. It occurs when there is a restriction on airflow in the respiratory tract at the back of the mouth and nose of a person
The sound is removed when the tissue at the top of the respiratory tract is swirling and vibrating to each other. Snoring increases frequently by age and is usually not harmful.
Why do people snore while sleeping?
The 4 reasons behind snoring
1. Weak muscles on the tongue, soft palate, and throat.
When the muscles are not tense due to alcohol or medication that causes weak muscles, the tongue will be pushed backward, covering the airflow or throat muscles attracted into the throat and blocking the upper respiratory tract. Also occurs during good sleep times.
2. A thick throat tissue
Children with tonsils and adenoid tissue that swell are often snoring. People who are overweight and have a short and large neck
3. The soft palate and long uvula (Children throat)
The long Uvula will shrink the opening cavity from the nose to the throat. Excessive vibration of these tissues will result in snoring.
4. The respiratory tract is blocked
Nasal and breathing noses cause individuals to more often inhale air to breathe. This results in excessive vacuum space in the throat, resulting in soft throat tissue attracted into and resulting in snoring. Among other causes are bent nose stems, polyps, and sinus infections.
Why do I snore sometime?
If you're not a snore-person, what causes you're snoring is that you're tired, lack of sleep and your position of you sleeping. Even you're just a bit tired, it can make you have a little snoring at night.
Snoring Complications
Snoring can also cause serious sleep problems called sleep apnea when one stops breathing for more than 10 seconds for a while. Sleep apnea can be dangerous and requires further treatment.
Read until the end, to know how dangerous is Sleep Apnea
Snoring Treatment
Can excessive snoring be cured?
Severe snoring is those who snore at any position or disturb others, should seek medical advice to ensure that the condition is not a sleep apnea problem.
Ear, nose and throat specialist will examine the nose, mouth, throat, palate and snoring neck.
What is the treatment for snoring?
The treatment is dependent on the diagnosis made. The examination will indicate snoring is caused by nasal allergies, infections, disabilities or tonsils problems and adenoid. Treatment is given according to the identified causes.
Prevention
How to stop snoring
- Tips for reducing snoring
- Lose weight if you are overweight
- Reduce the consumption of alcohol or drugs that have a drowsy effect on sleep
- Avoid taking sleeping pills before bedtime
- Avoid consuming alcohol for at least 4 hours before bedtime
- Do not eat too much food before bedtime. A simple healthy snack before bedtime is good already
- Try sleeping at your regular times every day
- Prioritize the sleeping position from the supine position
- Use 2 - 3 pillow, at least 4 inches upwards so that the head position is higher and the tongue is not pushed backward.
- Use Oil diffuser to humidify the air. Add in a drop of Essential oil like Essential oil Lemon, Thyme, Lavender and peppermint.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Can Sleep Apnea cause death?
''Sleep Apnea'' is a condition when someone stops breathing while sleeping. Every breathing will be halted for 10 seconds or more. It can be categorized as mild, moderate or severe based on the amount of apnea and low respiratory rate(hypopnea) in every hour. The number of ''apnea'' can occur between 5 - 10 times.
There are 3 types of ''Sleep Apnea''
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- Central Sleep Apnea
- Mixed Sleep Apnea
But in today's blog post, I will focus on ''Obstructive Sleep Apnea''(OSA).
This disease is three times more occurs to men than women at the age of 30 and above.
Disease Severity Level
Sleep Apnea depends on the frequency of respiratory disorders. The estimates below can be used as a guide.
Normal: Less than 5 in every hour
Mild: 5 to 14 times
Moderate: 15 to 30
Worse: 30 times every hour
This ''Sleep Study''(Polysomnography) test can be done at your government or private hospital.
The causes of ''Obstructive Sleep Apnea'' (OSA)
The causes of OSA is almost the same causes why we are snoring.
- Obesity(most often, short and large neck, small chin
- Blockage in the nose, mouth, throat, for example, tonsilitis or a large tongue
Other factors
- Thyroid hormones and thyroid gland
- Sleeping pills and medicine
How did sleep apnea happen?
The half-clogged or narrower airflow does not cause problems during the day while a person is awake, but during sleep, the neck will give pressure to the respiratory tract cause the respiratory tract increase narrowly causing OSA. This condition is compounded by alcohol and medication that causes the muscle in the throat to become saggy during sleep.
At the time the respiratory tract is severely clogged, breathing stops for a while so the brain detects low oxygen levels. The brain will send a signal of oxygen deficiency. At the moment someone will be half aware of snoring and try to breathe as hard as possible to get oxygen. In most cases, someone suffering from this problem is not aware that he is actually half aware of getting oxygen This sleep pattern repeats hundreds of times each night causing disrupted sleep as well as drowsiness and fatigue problems when waking up.
This really makes me sad and scared me actually. My friends suffered from Sleep Apnea, this occurs to her like 5 - 10 times. I see her stopped breathing during sleep, and she wakes up all of a sudden. Every time I heard her snoring, I will wake her up, at least her snoring stop for a while.
Signs and Symptoms of sleep apnea
The main symptoms of ''Sleep Apnea'' is snoring strongly and drowning in the daytime. However, not everyone whose snoring has the sleep apnea.
Sleep Apnea Complications
Patients with sleep apnea problems have a high risk of
What is the treatment for sleep apnea?
- Severe OSA needs a breathing aid
- It can prevent the respiratory tract from being closed during sleep. If this device does not work, surgery may be necessary to relieve respiratory tract infections.
- Mouthguard (a tool for preventing the tongue from blocking the respiratory tract)
- This treatment is provided by the Orthodontist. Surgery can be don't to overcome the problem of obstruction on the nose or throat
''Obstructive Sleep Apnea''
raises the risk of Sudden Cardiac Death
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, about 19% of participants with severe Sleep Apnea dies(12 deaths), compared with about 4% of participants with no sleep apnea(46 deaths). Although participants with mild Sleep Apnea or moderate Sleep Apnea had a mortality risk that was 50% greater than those with no Sleep Apnea, the results did not achieve statistical significance.
Prevention / What you should do if you have sleep apnea
- "Obstructive Sleep Apnea"(OSA) and snoring problems can be overcome by:
- Avoid alcohol consumption, and sleeping pill or any sedative remedy that can slow the respiratory rate
- A healthy diet and exercise to get a normal body mass index(BMI)
- Sleep on your side (left/right)
and more(refer to the snoring remedies)
