Stop Snoring Information

Snoring Caused By Sleep Apnea

January 15th, 2008

Whole snoring can be obnoxious to both the snorer and who they share a bed with, their may be a more serious underlying cause.

There are 3 different recognized forms of sleep apnea. Central sleep apnea (CSA), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and lastly the newly discovered, complex sleep apnea which is a mixture of the 2 other forms.

While sleeping your brain tells the muscles in your throat and tongue to rest and repair, just like any other muscle in the body. However, sometimes when your brain fails to send the signal to the throat to open, the muscles in your throat will obviously make no effort to do so because they’re controlled by the brain. This is how central sleep apnea is caused. This is a common ailment among adults, children, and even infants that suffer from heart disease, congenital diseases, and cerebrovascular disease. Those that suffer from central sleep apnea will find that high altitudes and some medications may increase the effects of their condition.

Those that suffer from central sleep apnea will temporarily lower your blood oxygen levels, change heart rate patterns, and will sometimes result in hypotonia which is a condition that causes most of your muscles to over-relax. Central sleep apnea among children is commonly confused with sudden infant death syndrome. This is not the case. Central sleep apnea among infants will generally last for only about 20 seconds.

Obstructive sleep apnea tends to be a more serious case of the condition. Those suffering from obstructive sleep apnea have more narrow airways than the average person, particularly at the base of the tongue. This causes the palate to sit above the airways while laying on your back. When the muscles relax the palate moves back and in turn block your air passages. Although most patients don’t wake up while resting it can cause a series of medical problems.

Obstructive sleep apnea can cause heart problems including higher blood pressure levels. Weight gain is a common side effect due to a inhibited metabolism. The movement of muscles in the throat and mouth often results in sore throat and dry mouth. These effect are all trivial compared to the fact that this form of sleep apnea can cause diabetes, anxiety and depression.

Sleep apnea is a very serious condition and its essential that you see a doctor or sleep clinic to get it resolved.

Posted in Causes of snoring | No Comments »

Snoring in Children

January 3rd, 2008

Snoring doesn’t only effect adults. It is also fairly common in children. Up to 12 per cent of children between the ages of 1 and 9 are effected by snoring. When present in children, it often times means that they suffer from sleep apnea, or they will once their bodies mature.

Sleep apnea is a stronger more obtrusive form of snoring that often interupts sleeping because one can stop breathing completely. If your child suffers from snoring at a young age be sure to take them to see their doctor about it before the condition worsens. Sleap apnea is fairly easy to spot luckily. Some symptoms include:

Speech impediments

Below average growth rate - this is caused by lack of sleep at night. Those suffering from sleep apnea don’t get a full night of sleep because their rest is constantly be interupted.

Hyperactivity - This is common among children and adults.

If you find that any of these symptoms are effecting your child be sure to take them to see their pediatrician immediately to be checked out. Often times it is neccessary to take your child to a sleep clinic so their sleeping patterns can be analyzed. A sleep clinic is almost always able to diagnose this condition with a fair amount of ease.

However snoring in children isn’t always caused by sleep apnea. The cause could be something as simple as allergies, asthma, tonsillitis, or obesity which is increasingly common, especially in the United States. These are often the same causes of snoring amongst adults as well. Twenty to Fourty per cent of children suffering from obesity also suffer severe snoring while 40 per cent of young asthma sufferers also suffer from snoring.

Posted in General Snoring info | No Comments »

7 Easy Ways To Stop Snoring

December 24th, 2007

More than 40 percent of men and over 25 percent of women suffer from snoring. As you age snoring only gets worse. Snoring should be prevented at all costs so it doesn’t lead to worse illnesses. The 7 simple tips will help you to stop snoring.

1. Don’t sleep on your back. Sleeping on your back makes it easier for your airways to narrow causing snoring. Those suffering from severe snoring may not get as much of a benefit from this.

2. Get in shape. Those that are overweight are far more likely to be snorers. Losing weight around the neck and torso will work wonders.

3. No smoking. Smokers are more likely to snore simply because it irritates the respiratory system and will inflame the throat.

4. Avoid Alcohol and Muscle Relaxers. This is especially true the hours before falling asleep. Alcohol and some meds will cause the throat and pallet to over-relax causing one to snore more often and more loudly.

5. Keep your head elevated. Sleeping with your head slightly inclined prevent the air passages from getting blocked. Put something under one end of the bed to get an incline or use a special pillow just for this reason.

6. Treat your Allergies. Most respiratory allergies will inhibit the flow of air. See your doctor about getting an anti-allergen.

7. Use a mouth guard. Mouth guards are the least obtrusive form of anti-snoring devices. A mouth guard will push your lower jaw just slightly forward and will help your snoring in a big way.

Follow all or just some of these simple tips and you’ll be well on your way to a better night of sleep for both you and your partner.

Posted in How to stop snoring | 1 Comment »

Snoring Caused by Genetics?

December 4th, 2007

As strange as it may sound, an individual may be more likely to snore if their parents are also snorers. Children that snore are about 3 times more likely to have snoring parent, than kids without snoring parents.

Snoring may have more of an effect on your child than you expected. Snoring will result in lower quality sleeping patterns that can leave your child tired or unalert while at school which in turn can cause lower performance at school.

The Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study shows that of the more than 650 children tested, more than 1/5 of children snored at least 3 nights a week. It was also discovered that children with allergies are more than twice as likely to snore. In addition African-American children are more than 3 times as likely to suffer from snoring.

If your child suffers from snoring its important that you take them to a sleep specialist to get check out for sleep apnea, tonsillitis, and other related conditions that may lead to more serious health problems.

Posted in Causes of snoring | No Comments »

4 Surgical Procedures That Stop Snoring

November 28th, 2007

Sometimes the natural methods just don’t work and the mouth guards and other devices just won’t do the job when it comes to stopping snoring. Because of this people are turning to surgery more than ever.

Before surgery a surgeon requires the patient to perform a sleep nasendoscopy to inspect the patient’s upper air passage so they can tell just how bad the air passage blockage is. Unfortunately this process is rather costly so many patients opt to skip this step.

There are 4 primary surgical procedures used in the treatment of snoring:

• Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty or UPPP

• Laser-assisted Uvuloplatoplasty or LAUP

• Palatal Stiffening Operations or CAPSO

• Radio-frequency Ablation or Somnoplasty

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty or UPPP involves removing the uvula or more commonly called the palate and sometimes the tonsils. The snorer is put under general anesthetic. The main thing that turns people off from this procedure is that large amount of pain involved post-op. Other side effects include dry mouth, loss of taste and change of voice.

Laser-assisted Uvuloplatoplasty or LAUP is not only cheaper than UPPP but is also considered to be more safe. This procedure is less painfull than UPPP, but it requires multiple sessions. Other than pain there are no other unwanted side effects associated with this surgery.

Palatal Stiffening Operations or CAPSO causes the least amount of complications compared to the other three possible surgical procedures. This procedure involves sends a electrical cautery into the soft palate causing it to stiffen up. This treatment is fairly painful however. Palatal Stiffening Operations are performed under local anesthesia in almost all cases. And best of all it only requires a one time outpatient trip to the hospital.

Radio-frequency Ablation or Somnoplasty is used to shrink the soft palate tissue of the snorer. The surgical procedure is by far the least invasive of the 4 procedures. The surgeon will heat the inner tissue of the soft palate, which causes scars to form underneath the skin of the soft palate. This procedure takes less than a half hour to complete. However, it does require you to return for multiple sessions.

So how do you decide which surgical procedure is the right one for you? Thats simple. Ask your doctor!

Posted in How to stop snoring | No Comments »