Is snoring healthy?

We all have this myth in our mind that every person who snores while sleeping is sleeping peacefully. However, how many us of have really thought that it is not a healthy sign? Snoring can be a result of a sleeping disorder called Sleep Apnea. In a conversation with Aprameya Rajput, Morpheus- Centre for sleep disorder, One World News had the opportunity to know much more about sleep apnea.

Apnea,which means absence of air or cessation of breathing at night is a phenomenon where your upper airways gets narrower when you fall asleep. A healthy person relaxes their muscles when they sleep but if someone is overweight or obese then instead of using less energy and relaxing their muscles they will struggle to keep up the oxygen content in their blood and their brain would always be awake making them lethargic the next morning.

If yours bed partner is snoring, he can be having sleep apnea

If you know someone who falls asleep anywhere and everywhere or you notice yourself waking up at night breathing heavily, then you know what you are going through. One has to take care of the fact that it is not necessary that a normal person cannot have a disrupted breathing pattern because our neck is designed in a way that while sleeping the fatty tissues around our neck chokes the upper airway creating disruption in breathing but it gets worse with people who are obese.

Sleep apnea is genetic as well. People who have small inward-jaws, short neck, thick tongue or big tonsils would have the tendency to obstruct their air passage due to which the moment they go in deeper sleep, they start snoring. The snoring can come in intervals and the range of the voice can be higher as well as lower. The reason behind it is that when one puts more energy to exhale and inhale the wind-pipe gets narrower and vice-versa.

In Sleep Apnea, a person has the tendency to fall asleep anywhere

In serious cases of sleep apnea, there comes a moment during sleep when the upper airways gets so narrowed that the oxygen levels drops down to less than 40-60 percent. A person can even stop breathing, with no oxygen going to the lungs from 10 sec to some couple of minutes. Strangely, it is also one of the reasons why people die in their sleep.

The person who suffers from sleep-apnea slowly starts to show signs of hypertension, memory problem, diabetes and other medical problems because of just one thing going wrong during the night i.e. no oxygen. Like a car needs petrol to run, a body needs oxygen to function.

Obesity can be a major reason behind sleep apnea

Often bed partners notice that the chest isn’t moving after intervals of snoring and the person wakes up choking themselves because the brain gets exhausted through the night. But how to treat this problem? Well, a polysomnography can be a good method because in this process the doctors are monitoring your brain throughout the night which informs them every time your brain wakes up.

After the test, the solution is very simple, one of the ways to treat apnea is to increase the air pressure for which a device is there called CPAP Machine, which gives positive air pressure and keeps the airway open throughout the night and removes the root problem giving the brain a chance to sleep and relax. Your lifestyle changes and improves the moment you get used to this machine.

In sleep apnea, people feel tired and sleepy all the time

However, the best way to treat sleep apnea is to take care of your lifestyle. There are remedies for sleep apnea available in the market but then that’s only for people who are at the initial stages. The percentage of people suffering from sleep apnea has gone up in last few years because of the lifestyle. Earlier people would suffer through this in late 40’s but now we see people at younger ages facing this problem.

So, ask yourself:
Do you snore?
Are you overweight?
Do you feel sleepy all day?

Sleep apnea is not harmful but if not treated then can become life-threatening

If you say yes to all these questions get a screening test done in which a small device would be used to detect you for sleep apnea. One can even opt for surgery but then that doesn’t guarantee a permanent relief. So, if you find yourself or any other person around you suffering from sleep apnea then do not worry because at Morpheus- a sleep disorder centre, one can address their sleep disorders and get solution for each problem. For any further information you can contact Aprameya Rajput (Founder of Morpheus) at 09990179191.