Sound Sleep Guide

Archive for December, 2006

It can be hard to sleep. We live in a modern fast paced world where stress levels are high. The busy-ness of the long working days can make it difficult to relax at night and enjoy sufficient, good quality sleep to prepare for more of the same the next day.
Sleep can be even more elusive if there is a snorer in the house.
It would be interesting to research and quantify just how much productive time is lost each day because the previous night’s sleep was interrupted by snoring. I suspect it could be a large figure.
Even worse are the dangerous effects of sleep deprivation caused by night after night of sleep prevented or broken by persistent snoring. It can make doing the most routine of tasks a potentially hazardous event.
The sleep deprivation does not just affect the snorer – in fact they are often blissfully unaware of their problem. Snoring causes disruption and disturbance for everyone living in the household.
Whilst it may be possible to make light of living with a snorer, or of being a snorer, it is important to recognise that snoring is usually an auditory sign of another underlying health condition. Such a condition may be minor or it could be potentially life threatening and for this reason it is important to have a medical check.
Snoring can be a symptom of sleep apnoea a condition that causes the sufferer to actually stop breathing. Those who suffer from sleep apnoea often have the loudest of snores as their bodies trigger a panic mechanism, when the normal breathing mechanism stops, and a long, noisy breathe is drawn in and exhaled. If sleep apnoea is diagnosed and the condition cannot be improved by means of losing weight, it may be necessary for the snorer to sleep under positive air pressure every night – which basically means they must wear a face mask each night through which is delivered air under a constant pressure to ensure the breathing is not allowed to stop.
There are many snoring remedies on the market and it will depend on the cause of the snoring which of this is most suitable for any one individual. There are mechanical devices on offer which work to keep airways open, such as nasal strips; watches that emit electric shocks if they detect that the wearer is snoring as a way of conditioning a new response; pillows that encourage optimum posture in bed; in fact the list goes on. It can be an expensive task trying out the different devices to see which, if any, work.
A number of pills and potions are also offered as snoring remedies and many claim that hypnotherapy, acupuncture and aromatherapy have all effected a cure.
The final option to banish this enemy within the home is surgery. Surgery is always a drastic option and is almost certainly only to be considered when all else has failed and snoring is having a significant impact on health and relationships. Surgery is expensive, painful and does not have a 100% success rate. For these reasons, it needs careful consideration.
One of the biggest contributing factors to snoring is excess weight and it is the obvious place to start when seeking a cure for a snoring problem.
Other possible causes are allergies and food intolerance, respiratory conditions and sleeping position.
There is no need to tolerate snoring as a fact of life. There is much that can be done on a self-help basis to cure snoring and give everyone a good night’s sleep.

Do you want to stop snoring? In addition to being an annoyance, snoring can actually lead to some very serious problems. Snoring conditions can degenerate into sleep apnea, which can cause high blood pressure, heart problems, sleeplessness and a general feeling of irritability. To keep yourself snore-free, there are many parts of your health that need to be addressed.
First, weight management is important to stopping snoring. Obese people may have fatty tissues stored in their neck and throat that put pressure on their airways, causing a restricted passage for which air can flow through. This can be a major contributing factor to a snoring problem. Thus, keeping in shape is a great first step.
Second, you need to make sure that you are not abusing your body. It is a well known fact that smoking cigarettes can lead to a snoring condition. In addition, one major reason that people snore is consumption of alcohol. Since alcohol is a depressant, it relaxes the muscles in your body more than normal when you are asleep. The muscles in your throat tend to be more relaxed after a night of drinking, and that can lead to some serious snoring. Sleeping pills are also known to cause the same effects, with the muscle relaxant property once again being responsible for the snoring issue. Anti-histamines that involve sedatives can also cause problems, except for those with the compound loratadine as its active ingredient. These snore-proof allergy treatments include Claritin and Alavert.
Third, make sure that the problem with your snoring doesn’t only strike when you are sleeping on your back. Many snorers find that sleeping on their side is a reliable way to stop their snoring. You can make an easy aid to this problem by placing a tennis ball in a sock and pinning it to the back of your pajama pants. The ball will force you to stay sleeping in a sideways position, due to how uncomfortable sleeping on your back on top of a tennis ball can be.
Fourth, if you have allergies, treat them with a decongestant as opposed to an anti-histamine. While anti-histamines are established as a bad buy when you are trying to stop snoring, leaving allergies untouched can often cause nasal congestion which can be just as bad when it comes to snoring. For that reason, it is recommended to take nasal decongestants to treat your allergies before bed.
Lastly, is your room at a good level of humidity? Dry rooms can often lead to a dry throat, which can aid the vibrating that causes snoring. A humidifier is a good method of fixing this problem if you often wake up with a sore throat and dry mouth.
These are just some common solutions to help remedy a person’s snoring problem. If, however, these solutions do not suffice to solve your problem, further action may be required. Some people go so far as to have surgery to remove their snoring problem. Check with your family doctor or another health care professional to see what the right solution is for you if all of the above fail.

Snoring is a pretty common problem. As much as 40% of the adult American populations experience some snoring. However, few know that snoring can be an impending sign of a sleep disorder. There are differences between normal snoring and other disorders, and the effect sleep disorders can have on your health are huge.
Sleep apnoea is a problem that is like an advanced form of snoring that can be very damaging to your health. A person afflicted with this sleep disorder has obstructions of breathing lasting 10 seconds or longer while asleep, causing them to wake up repeatedly and damage brain cells due to lack of breath. Sleep apnoea symptoms include loud snoring, waking up with headaches, waking up during the night with a feeling that you are choking, insomnia, issues with staying asleep, being overweight, waking up gasping for air, waking up sweating, waking up with a feeling of not being refreshed, and having trouble staying awake during the day.
Known medically as Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome, it is characterized by intense upper airway obstructions that occur whilst asleep. The airway may be obstructed by a number of different things, such as large tonsils, a large tongue, excess tissue in the airway, obstruction of the nasal passages, or an abnormal jaw structure. This syndrome can lead to depression, headaches, high blood pressure, rapid weight gain, frequent trips to the bathroom during the night, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty concentrating. In addition, people with untreated obstructive sleep apnoea run a higher risk of heart failure and stroke. A potentially life threatening condition, sleep apnoea should not be treated lightly. If you suspect you or someone you love is afflicted, it is important to do a sleep test, known as polysomnography. This is the process used to diagnose sleep apnea. These tests are painless, and are often covered by insurance carriers.
Sleep apnea may be treated in several ways, depending on the severity of the condition. Mild sleep apnea victims are often told to take such steps as losing weight or sleeping on their side. It is important to follow steps for treating apnea, as it is a debilitating condition that gets worse over time. For more severe cases of apnea, a process known as a CPAP is performed. Standing for continuous positive airway pressure, a machine blows air into your nose with a nose mask, keeping the airway open and free of obstructions. If the CPAP process does not successfully cure the apnea, a Bi-PAP machine is used to deliver air through the nose at two different pressures, with variations for inhaling and exhaling.
If none of the above treatments work to heal this harmful disorder, sometimes surgery is necessary. There are several surgical procedures that can be performed, many of which are done to help increase the size of the upper airway. These include clearing excess tissues or altering the jaw structure to better necessitate proper breathing. This is usually performed if the positive airway pressure treatments are unsuccessful. Hopefully, you now know exactly what you need to know about sleep apnea, one of the most serious sleep disorders related to snoring.