Ignoring Snoring: A Dangerous Truce
© Kerrin Leon White
Most complain to the snorer--not that it does much good, except to cause hurt feelings and irritation in the partner. The snorer rarely perceives, let alone controls, this unpleasant noise, even when it is loud enough to keep the whole house awake.
Others try rolling the snorer from a back to a side position. This may help, especially in milder cases; but the snorer, failing to appreciate the advantage, may soon roll right back into the familiar position.
A few find more lasting motivation to keep the snorer out of a supine position. One tactic with some success has been to sew a fair-sized object, like a tennis ball, into the back of the pajamas. The principle is to make it uncomfortable enough to sleep on the back that the snorer will stay in a side position.
Often, change of position doesn't solve the problem. The partner may resort to earplugs but discover they don't provide enough soundproofing. The unfortunate outcome may have the two "partners" occupying separate bedrooms.
But it is dangerous to ignore this possible warning sign of a far more serious condition: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), the interruption of regular breathing during sleep.
Not all snorers have OSA, but most people with OSA do snore, often to a disturbing degree. By itself, the occurrence of snoring represents some obstruction to airflow. The important questions are these:
Does the extent of obstruction underlying most snoring go to the extent of interrupting breathing? Does this actually lower blood oxygen to dangerous levels?
Or even diminishing breathing for ten seconds or more? Or just making it more difficult for the sleeper to breathe normally?
Even such mild disturbance of breathing may have severe adverse consequences to the sufferer's sleep. These respiratory "events" can result in "arousals," not usually awakenings but lightening of sleep, as the body attempts to regain control of breathing.
The importance of these events and arousals is two-fold. First, the obstructive event results in blood pressure swings that may predispose to more sustained hypertension, a common complication of sleep apnea. Second, and perhaps most important in causing symptoms, is the disruption of deep, restful, "slow-wave" sleep, and the substitution of lighter sleep stages.
It has been estimated that at least twenty minutes of continuous, deep sleep are necessary for its restorative effects.
A person with sleep apnea, diagnosable in its mildest form at a frequency of 5 respiratory event-related arousals per hour of sleep, may have difficulty putting that much deep sleep together at one time. Imagine how impossible this becomes when, as in the most severe cases, these interruptions occur 100 times an hour!
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