Snoring and Sleep Apnea
It is common among individuals that suffer from sleep apnea to also suffer from snoring. Usually, the person with sleep apnea has no idea they also have an issue with snoring, until they either wake themselves up or their other half informs them of the problem.
A good signal for you to know if you snore or not is during playful joking about snoring. If you begin to notice you are the butt of several snoring jokes among your friends and family members, more than likely they have heard you cutting wood when you are snoozing. In most cases, the people are not trying to hurt the feelings of the snorer, but often times they make the problem a little worse than it needs to be.
The more frequently an individual hears about their snoring, the less humor they find in the jokes. It is even possible for the person to begin suffering from insomnia because they do not want to sleep and offend anyone. Or give reason to be the person everyone else laughs at. If insomnia becomes an issue, soon everyone will notice a change in the persons attitude, he or she might become moodier and a less than pleasant person to be accompanying.
Sleep apnea is a serious problem. This is when a person can no longer sleep through the night because the snoring wakes them up. If it is not the snoring itself, it can also be the person begins to choke and gasping for breath. It is also very common for an individual suffering from sleep apnea to also have periods where they snore extremely loud. On average a person can stop breathing for ten seconds at a time. Generally the number of times a person stops breathing can also vary, anywhere between 30 to 300 times within one night. Due to the stopping of oxygen flow, the heart then reacts by working harder than its norm.
Another sign that a person is dealing with sleep apnea is after a lengthy nights sleep, he or she still feels as if they did not receive enough sleep to function properly for the day. There can be serious health related consequences if a person continues to not receive ample amounts of rest over a period of time. They can range from headaches to hypertension, heart failure and even an irregular heartbeat. These are all very serious, making it vital that a doctor is notified if you suspect you or a loved on is suffering from sleep apnea.
It is more common that individuals over the age of forty, severely overweight individuals and men are diagnosed with sleep apnea. However, pregnant women, women and children can also find they are suffering from sleep apnea. So, nobody is actually immune from sleep apnea.
In many situations sleep apnea and snoring can be controlled through lifestyle modification. Some changes that can be made are, eliminating milk and dairy product prior to bed time, increase exercise, eating a healthy balanced diet, and even a change in the position you normally would lay in to go to sleep at night.