People who snore at night don t enjoy a restful, peaceful sleep. Instead, their sleep is fragmented, light and doesn t do much make them feel rejuvenated and refreshed in the morning. They usually wake up disgruntled, fatigued and sleepy even after having slept for six to eight hours at night. This is because snoring cuts off the oxygen supply to the body briefly which makes one weary and drained in sleep and of course, sleep itself isn t a pleasant experience for them. Here are five facts about snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea that you need to know.
Apart from making one prone to various kinds of health risk like high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, diabetes, heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and psychosocially making one prone to unexplained irritability, poor concentration and create disturbances in intrapersonal relationships snoring can also make one less productive at work. Since one is not enjoying an uninterrupted peaceful sleep at night it affects one s ability to judge, take decisions or even drive. This is why one needs to pay attention to the problem of snoring. While the condition can be treated both medically and surgically, few lifestyle changes can also help. Here are seven reasons why you need to take snoring seriously.
Here Dr Dillon Dsouza, a Mumbai based Consultant ENT and Head and Neck surgeon Snoring and Sleep Apnoea attached to Jaslok Hospital and Desa hospital gives some tips to deal with snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea
Lose weight most of the time people who are overweight or obese suffer from prolonged snoring at night.
Indulge in regular exercise or brisk walking, this helps to calm the body at night and induce a restful sleep.
Use mouthpieces or breathing devices to counter this problem if you find it difficult to feel energetic in the morning due to snoring.
Identification of other conditions causing obstruction like allergies can also help. Take care to avoid anything that causes allergies or blocked nose, like a cold or a cough as this makes it difficult to breathe at night.
Quit drinking and smoking these vices are known to increase one s risk of snoring or obstructive sleep apnoea.
Avoid taking sleeping pills or sedatives of any kind, they don t help to counter snoring and might make you feel worse in the morning.
Avoid caffeine and heavy meals two hours before sleeping.
Try yoga to strengthen the muscles of the throat as it helps to reduce chances of suffering from this condition.
Maintain regular sleeping hours.
Try sleeping on the side (or ask bed partner to roll you over if you snore) as this helps to reduce incidences of snoring. Use a wedge pillow stuffed with a tennis ball behind the back to prevent rolling onto the back. Elevate the head of the bed by 4 to 6 inches.
If the cause of sleep apnoea is a heart or nerve problems or any kind of brain damage or diabetes, get it treated by a specialist.
Learning to play blowing instruments and singing as these can also strengthen throat muscles and reduce sleep apnoea, of course only if you can spare some time for these activities.
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