How Do I Know if I’m Snoring When I Sleep Alone?

For all these reasons and more, people who specialize in sleep disorders and snoring often wind up sounding more like marriage counselors than physicians. "the first thing i tell my patients is: it's a two-way street — you both have to be willing to give a little ground," says dr. Omar ahmed, a sleep medicine specialist with houston methodist. "sleep deprivation is not conducive to relationship building — ask anyone who's ever had a newborn in the house. "however, sleeping in separate bedrooms every night also may not be healthy for the relationship. Not to mention, it may not even be feasible for people who don't happen to have an empty guest bedroom.

Nearly half of all people snore at one time or another. Not all snoring is a sign of sleep apnea , but all snoring can interfere with a good night’s sleep. Snoring occurs when your air passage is partially blocked, either because the structure of your throat is enlarged or muscles are too relaxed. As you try to breathe around this blockage, your throat vibrates and makes the snoring sound. Whether a high-pitched whistle or a low-pitched rumble, snoring can be disruptive to good sleep habits, both for the snorer and anyone within hearing distance. If you’re losing sleep over your own or your partner’s snoring, rest assured that there are steps you can take to prevent it.

When you sleep, the muscles in your throat relax and your tongue slips back in your mouth. Snoring occurs when something blocks air from flowing freely through your mouth and nose. When you breathe, the walls of your throat vibrate, causing the sound of snoring. There are several factors that can lead to snoring, including: being overweight. The extra tissue in your neck puts pressure on your airways. Tissue swelling during the last month of pregnancy. Crooked or bent nasal septum, which is the wall of bone and cartilage between your nostrils. Growths in your nasal passages ( nasal polyps ).

Snoring is a common condition that can affect anyone but occurs more frequently in men and people who are overweight. Snoring tends to worsen with age. Occasional snoring is usually not serious. However, if you are a habitual snorer, you not only disrupt the sleep patterns of those close to you, but you also impair your sleep quality. Medical assistance is often needed for habitual snorers to get a good night's sleep. Snoring occurs when the flow of air through the mouth and nose is physically obstructed. Airflow can be obstructed by a combination of factors including: obstructed nasal airways: some people snore only during allergy seasons or when they have a sinus infection.

Learn more about Snoring and Sleep

Stress low levels of high-density lipoprotein, or “good” cholesterol these factors all increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, experts do not know what exact role snoring plays in these conditions or whether they are a cause or an effect. Learn here about sleeping positions for good health.

False. Sleep apnea treatment combined with weight loss is often effective, dr. Pervez says. “they had this overwhelming sense of tiredness and fatigue and a mental fog, and when that lifts, it can be a night-and-day difference,” he says. We can help you determine if it’s just snoring or sleep apnea. Find a doctor near you or learn more about our sleep disorder services in orange county and wake county.

What’s the Difference Between Snoring and Sleep Apnea?

As you will notice from the results you receive from the sleep assessment, there are many reasons as to why people snore as well as a wide range of effective treatments. This is why so it’s important to understand the specific causes of your situation. Once you understand the reasons behind it, you can find the best solutions specific to your case and get a better night’s sleep- for both you and everyone around you! as mentioned above, snoring may not just be a problem due to the noise and the disruption- it can often also be a sign of sleep apnea.

Dr. Mellas screens even her youngest patients for traits that can be causing sleep apnea or may lead to sleep apnea and snoring in adulthood. Narrow jaws and recessive chins can be corrected at a young age while a child is still growing. To give our young patients greater airway space. Since growth is complete on an adult, treatment is more postural for the jaws to help with giving them more airway space. Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that needs to be treated. A board certified sleep physician may recommend a sleep study for you. Your treatment plan may include any combination of these treatments:.

Call your doctor if you snore and you have other symptoms of sleep apnea. Talk to your doctor if you have regular snoring that is bothering you or your partner.

While snoring alone does not necessarily have any major impact on our health, there is a relationship between snoring and sleep apnea, which is a respiratory disorder which causes the patient to stop breathing or have shallow breathing for short periods at various intervals throughout the night. It can lead to poor sleep quality, which can result in a range of physical, mental, and emotional health problems, such as fatigue, concentration and memory issues, mood swings, and metabolic derangement (which can cause diabetes and obesity). Additionally, snoring and sleep apnea can eventually lead to issues such as high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and cerebrovascular disease, and is a well-known risk factor for heart attack and stroke, as well as cause a reduction in testosterone in men, which often leads to sexual dysfunction.

Positive Airway Pressure Devices

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (uppp) tightens flabby tissues in the throat and palate, and expands air passages. Thermal ablation palatoplasty (tap) refers to procedures and techniques that treat snoring and some of them also are used to treat various severities of obstructive sleep apnea. Different types of tap include bipolar cautery, laser, and radiofrequency. Genioglossus and hyod advancement is a surgical procedure for the treatment of sleep apnea. It prevents collapse of the lower throat and pulls the tongue muscles forward, thereby opening the obstructed airway. If surgery is too risky or unwanted, the patient may sleep every night with a nasal mask that delivers air pressure into the throat; this is called continuous positive airway pressure or “cpap”.

Treatment depends on the diagnosis and level(s) of upper airway narrowing. In some cases, more than one area may be involved. Snoring or osa may respond to various treatments offered by many otolaryngologist—head and neck surgeons: obstructive sleep apnea is most often treated with a device that opens the airway with a small amount of positive pressure. This pressure is delivered via a nasal mask worn during sleep. This treatment is called cpap; it is currently the initial treatment of choice for patients with osa. Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (uppp) is surgery for treating snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. It removes excess soft palate tissue and opens the airway.

Common Causes of Snoring

Snoring from time to time is very common among adults. Sleep education estimates the prevalence of chronic snoring as 24 percent of women, 40 percent of men, and 10 percent of children. Children may snore because missing teeth can change the shape of tissues in the mouth, contributing to a blocked airway. If this is a new issue, you may be asking, 'why am i snoring?' according to mayo clinic , causes of snoring include the following: some people simply are born with a narrow airway due to a low, thick, soft palate, elongated uvula, or large tonsils. The position of your airway may change when sleeping on your back with a flat pillow.

The noise made when you snore is the result of breathing being partially obstructed in some way. While snoring can be at the center of jokes around the house and with friends, it can also be a sign of something more serious. Ent physicians are uniquely qualified to help you figure out why you’re snoring and how to best treat this problem. Common causes snoring happens for a variety of reasons, but it’s most commonly due to your throat muscles relaxing, making your airway narrow during sleep. This obstructed or narrowed pathway causes the tissues in your throat to vibrate when breathing during sleep, producing that all too familiar noise.

Snoring is a very common problem that affects as many as 40% of men and 20% of woman older than age 50. This is most commonly caused by vibrations of the soft palate in the throat though other structures can contribute as well. During sleep when the muscles of the throat relax, these tissues can become floppy and collapse to cause intermittent obstruction. When the obstruction becomes severe enough, this can result in either partial reductions in airflow (hypopneas) or complete cessation of breathing (apneas). These disruptions in breathing can result in drops in blood oxygen levels, stress to the heart and lungs, and frequent micro-arousals in order to re-establish normal breathing.