Don't Let Snoring be an Irritant

It is important to address underlying health issues

Listening to your partner snoring is irritating. This condition can  have an adverse effect on health.George A D’Souza, Dean, St.John’s Research Institute says, “Chronic snoring also increases risk of heart disease and stroke. It can also adversely affect a diabetic and hypertensive condition.”

Bad lifestyle like long working hours, unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise are also contributory factors.  Dr Ravi Keerthi, consultant, Internal Medicine, BGS Global Hospitals, says,"Snoring can cause lack of concentration, irregular breathing, heart diseases and memory disturbances, These problems also occur because of obesity /overweight, lack of muscular tone in the pharyngeal muscles (throat) and can be indicative of hypo thyrodisim etc.”

Causes

• Stress or circulatory problems
• Sinus or other nasal  problems
• Obesity
• Smoking
•  Alcohol consumption close to your bed-time
• Poor or imbalanced diet
• Family history of snoring
• Certain types of medicines
• Allergies.
•  Enlarged tongue tonsils, or problems such as nasal polyps, deviated septum
•  Advancing age (muscle loss and loosening of tissue and weight-gain).

How to deal with it?

Patients need to consult a specialist for the evaluation of the underlying diseases and need to undergo sleep analyses and related investigations.Patients need to make lifestyle modifications, like weight reduction, regular exercise and more.

Negative offshoots of snoring Prolonged obstructive sleep apnea often results in higher blood pressure and may cause enlargement of the heart, with higher risks of heart attack and stroke.Waking up many times at night interferes with the normal pattern of sleep causing more time to be spent in light sleep than in more restorative, deeper sleep. This leads to drowsiness during the day and can interfere with your quality of life and increase risk of car accidents.Interruptions in breathing (lasting from a few seconds to minutes) during sleep caused by partial or total obstruction or blockage of the airway, are unhealthy.

Doctors also pitch for Yoga  as it  helps increase blood circulation and lung capacity and ensures that your air passages remain completely open. They also help to strengthen the muscles in your throat and face. All of these effects go a long way towards decreasing or even completely eliminating snoring problems.

Yoga can help in reducing or controlling snoring, and can also be safely practised with any treatment you may be undergoing with the supervision of a specialist.

Pranayama helps by strengthening the muscles of the throat and face.