Snoring Can Kill You !

Doctors warn that not all snoring is just benign clatter. One type not only raises the roof but signals a potentially life-threatening condition.

Reasons for the Racket

About 45 per cent of all adults snore occasionally, 25 percent are habitual snorers. And the vast majority of snorers are men. What cause all the noise? An obstruction in the airway, usually the tongue, say doctors. Most often when a snorer relaxes during sleep, his tongue falls backward against the soft plate and other floppy tissues at the back of his throat. When a man breathes, the stream of air that enters his throat causes the tongue and the tissue to vibrate against one another. And the farther his tongue drops back, the more vibrating, or snoring, occurs.

For about 30 percent of heavy snorers, the tongue drops back so far that it winds up getting sucked into the airway. Those floppy throat muscles collapse around the tongue, the snorer’s airway is completely blocked and he actually stops breathing for 10, 20, 30 seconds or more. These frightening silences happen at regular intervals, often after long sequences of raucous snoring.

After breathing ceases, his survival instincts usually come to the rescue, and he awakens enough to pull his tongue out of the airway so he can breathe again. As soon as he falls into another deep slumber, however, the process repeats itself.

This malady is called sleep apnea. Doctors take the disorder very seriously. For one, every year doctors suspect that a few thousand people die in their sleep because of sleep apnea. The deaths are believed to be caused by suffocation. Also when the man stops breathing his blood becomes depleted of oxygen. Therefore his heart has to labour more vigorously to circulate blood faster. This makes snorers more vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes. People with sleep apnea are also much more likely to suffer from high blood pressure.

Doctors suggest a number of ways to overcome fatalities of snoring.

If stuffy nasal airways is the problem, get them fixed. Sometimes a snoring cure can be as simple as getting a chronically stuffy or blocked-up nose cleared, they point out.

Stop drinking alcohol. Giving up drinking at least three hours before bedtime is a good idea, think doctors since alcohol also affects the central-nervous system.

Avoid tranquillizers, sleeping pills and anti-histamines before bedtime. These can cause the muscles in a snorer’s throat to become relaxed and floppy, warn doctors.

Loose more weight. Fat people are correctly believed to be snorers. The added bulkiness in the throat can block airways.

Elevate your head. Doctors view that this strategy helps keep the airways open.