What causes snoring?
First things first snoring is that annoying sound people make when they are asleep, it occurs when air flows past relaxed tissues in your throat, causing the tissues to vibrate as you breathe. I have snored at some point and you probably do or might have or you have a partner that snores. Snoring according to Worapong Vejvechaneyom, M.D. is caused by a partially closed upper airway (nose and throat) which can disturb your sleep.
Snoring disturbs sleeping pattern of an individual and most often the partner too. It has unfortunately been linked to serious health issues such as hypertension, stroke, arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy (enlargement of the muscle tissue of the heart), congestive heart failure, diabetes and heart attacks.
Types of snoring
Now let’s talk about the type of snoring and you could recognise your or loved one snoring pattern, first one is Primary snoring which is a loud upper airway breathing sounds when one sleeps without episodes of apnea (cessation of breathing). This is not harmful however, it disturbs sleep for you and those around you.
Second one is Upper airway resistance and obstructive sleep apnea caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses during sleep.
Symptoms
If you are experiencing these symptoms maybe it’s time to see the doctor or if you want my advice change your mattress, okay! Here we go; paused breathing during sleep, you can’t keep your eyes open in the day time, difficulty concentrating, morning headaches, sore throat when you wake up, restless sleep, Gasping or choking at night and High blood pressure.
Matthew Carter, PhD, a sleep specialist at Williams College believes there is a sleep crisis and it is caused by the need to prolong the day and put more hours of work. The side effects of this is people deprived of sleep enjoy the day less and they are not focused enough to be productive which defeats the objective. It will be important for future that researchers continue to explore the associations between job-related stressors, sleep quality, and workers’ health status. Dr Carter is adamant that “You’re able to get more done on a good night’s sleep, not less.”
What can you do?
One thing you should do if you feel that snoring could threaten your health is to see a doctor, however, there are remedies that could work. Sleeping on a good mattress for one can help. Your mattress shophere can ultimately determine the position that you sleep in. As a result, it can cause or prevent snoring. We recommend an appropriately firm mattress such as King Koil Chiro Gold which has been certified by the International Chiropractors Association.
by Sbongile Mdhletshe
