Snoring As A Symptom Of Sleep Apnea

Complaints about snoring are a pretty common complaint from friends and family. Even though snoring is an annoyance, it can also lead to serious health issues. You may be concerned about how the snoring is disturbing your sleep, but you should be aware that the snoring may be a symptom of another problem, called sleep apnea.

If you've tried to stop your snoring, and consistently failed, it's time to figure out if there is a medically related reason for your snoring. First, it is recommended to have yourself observed by your roommate, spouse, or anyone close to you - who can watch you while you sleep, and while you snore.

Snoring could be a symptom of sleep apnea since its most common type (obstructive sleep apnea) produces loud snoring. Other types of sleep apnea are central sleep apnea (CSA) and mixed sleep apnea (a combination of centra and obstructive sleep apnea).

The air passages become blocked or cave when you have obstructive sleep apnea.. This obstruction leads to pauses or shallow breathing. When the one affected with this tries to breathe, the air that is compressed through the air passages produce a loud snoring sound.

Medically speaking, in obstructive sleep apnea the respiratory muscles try to breathe but fails (for a few seconds) even if the brain has sent a "message" that they should breathe. On the other hand, in central sleep apnea the respiratory muscles do not make an effort to breathe since the brain has failed to send a message for them to do so. The patient with mixed type of sleep apnea suffers from both obstructive and central sleep apnea.

But whatever the case may be, the person stricken with sleep apnea usually is not aware of it since it only happens while they are sleeping. If you can ask someone to observe you while you sleep, they can look for the symptoms of sleep apnea. Long term consequences of sleep apnea are being easily tired during the day, vision problems, impaired judgment, short term memory, behavioral changes such as increased aggressiveness, and weakened cognition. These side effects can affect personal relationships and your job performance. Continual snoring and sleep apnea cannot be ignored. You may have sleep apnea.

If sleep apnea is overlooked and goes untreated, it could result in medical conditions such as high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and even diabetes. Sleep apnea is far more serious than just a loud snorer keeping you up at night. Visit your trusted Idaho Falls dentist or physician to see if your snoring is the result of sleep apnea so you can get help. Not all those who snore are suffering from sleep apnea, but it's important to know if you are one of those affected by sleep apnea.