What is the danger of snoring and what are the consequences of its untimely treatment?

The night snoring of one of the family members causes a lot of problems for his loved ones.

Loud rumbles or flooding sounds most often cause trouble for the whole family, disrupting night's rest, preventing anyone in the house from getting a good night's sleep.

For the person who regularly snores in his sleep, this peculiarity is simply an annoying nuisance. We have to listen to the complaints of household members. At the same time, the sleeping person himself does not hear his own snoring; it does not seem to bother him.

Snoring during sleep occurs in people of both sexes. Young people, babies, and old people can snore, but most often it happens to middle-aged and elderly men.

The concept of snoring from a medical point of view

From a medical point of view, regular snoring during sleep is a disease. Its scientific name is “ronchopathy”. If night snoring has become chronic, a person needs to be examined by a doctor.

There are various methods of treating rhonchopathy: medications, orthopedic. In the most severe cases, surgery is even performed. All these methods give good results.

Night snoring: causes

There are many reasons for night snoring - from chronic rhinitis to brain diseases. Anatomically, the mechanism of this phenomenon looks like this. When a person falls asleep, all the muscles of his body relax, including the muscles of the pharynx, tongue and soft palate.

In some cases, excessive relaxation of the muscles in the airways occurs. When the soft tissues of the palate and nasopharynx sink and sag, the lumen of the windpipe narrows. When you inhale, the air passes through with a whistling, wheezing or hissing sound.

Sometimes snoring also occurs during exhalation, although less frequently than during inhalation.

The main factors causing snoring:

• Excess weight, obesity;
• injuries to the nose or throat;
• congenital anatomical features or pathologies of the nose, throat, pharynx (deviated nasal septum, narrowed airway);
• polyps in the nasal cavity;
• adenoids in the nasopharynx;
• taking medications that cause swelling of the nasopharynx and throat;
• colds and viral diseases;
• chronic respiratory diseases;
• allergies to dust, animal hair, pollen and other irritants;
• hormonal imbalance in the body;
• diseases of some parts of the brain, including tumor processes in them;
• severe fatigue.

Sometimes a person snores for completely trivial reasons: due to an uncomfortable position during sleep, an inappropriate shape or height of the pillow. It has been observed that people who prefer to sleep on their sides snore much less often during their sleep than those who like to sleep on their backs.

Bad habits, contrary to popular belief, also contribute to the development of chronic snoring. First of all, we are talking about smoking, which affects the condition of the respiratory tract. Regular intake of alcoholic beverages also has a negative effect on breathing during sleep.

When snoring becomes dangerous

The greatest dangers from chronic snoring are:

• possible respiratory arrest;
• cardiac arrhythmia.

In medicine, there is a separate term for stopping breathing during sleep - sleep apnea. When snoring, periodic breath holding occurs, which leads to a disruption in the respiratory rhythm.

The body has a reflex mechanism for restoring the tone of the muscles of the larynx: from the phase of “slow”, deep sleep, the brain moves into the phase of more superficial sleep – “fast”. For proper rest, the phases of sleep throughout the night must replace one another in a certain way.

But in a snoring person, the patency of the airways is periodically disrupted. This leads to the fact that the alternation of sleep phases changes significantly.

Breathing stops immediately during pauses between bouts of loud snoring. There are cases when the reflex protective mechanism did not work, and apnea ended in death.

In addition to respiratory arrest, a person suffering from night snoring faces the danger of arrhythmia. Heart rhythm disturbances are more typical for older patients—elderly people.

Usually this is a complex problem: arrhythmia occurs in those who are already experiencing interruptions in the respiratory rhythm and respiratory arrests. As a result of snoring, such patients may develop a number of diseases: hypertension, bradycardia, sinus arrhythmia.

They often lead to more severe conditions - strokes or heart attacks. Against the background of these pathological conditions, sudden cardiac arrest may occur during sleep.

Consequences of snoring

Even if it doesn’t turn out to be life-threatening, night snoring cannot be called a harmless phenomenon. Even a couple of nights next to a snoring person deprives his entire family of normal, proper rest. For the patient himself, the consequences are also immediate:

• disturbance of the alternation of sleep phases (with a predominance of shallow sleep and an almost complete absence of deep sleep);
• constant lack of sleep;
• daytime sleepiness;
• deterioration of concentration, memory;
• irritability;
• increased appetite;
• decreased performance, constant errors in work;
• danger of injury;
• apathy, depressive states;
• atherosclerosis, vasoconstriction, lack of oxygen in tissues (hypoxia);
• sexual dysfunctions.

As the symptoms of sleep deprivation accumulate, weight gain occurs, problems with the gastrointestinal tract, memory, erection and libido begin, general weakness increases, and nausea and vomiting are possible. Severe headaches are also common.

Against the background of decreased sexual activity, insufficient rest, and irritability, problems begin in relationships with others and in family life. So a seemingly harmless, seemingly banal physiological disturbance in sleep quietly leads to a deterioration in the quality of life.

Treatment methods

Therapist, somnologist, otolaryngologist - all doctors of these specialties will help you understand the causes of rhonchopathy. If a person snores at night, he needs to see a primary care physician. If necessary, he will refer the patient to other specialists. You may need to consult an endocrinologist or cardiologist. For diagnostic purposes, hardware tests are carried out

Means and methods of treating the disease are selected strictly individually. They depend on the causes of snoring, the characteristics of the body, and the age of the patient.

If you lose weight and get rid of bad habits, night snoring may disappear without drug treatment.

There are medications that reduce the likelihood of snoring. Usually this is a special spray, a nasal patch.

Nutritional supplements and homeopathic remedies in tablet form (for example, Snorstop) help.

Orthopedic methods are also used in treatment. These include clips that are placed on the nasal septum at night, mouthguards for fixing the lower jaw, orthopedic pillows that give the head and neck a certain, physiologically correct position.

Special bracelets have been developed that deliver electrical impulses when snoring sounds occur. Another type of hardware treatment is a device in the form of a mask connected to a compressor, through which air is supplied to the respiratory tract.

If all these methods are ineffective and the cause of snoring is the anatomical structure of the nasopharynx, a surgical treatment method is chosen. The uvula of the soft palate may be shortened, adenoids may be removed in a child, etc.

Some operations are minimally invasive and painless because they are performed using a laser. However, there are a number of contraindications for surgical intervention.

The decision to perform an operation is made after a comprehensive examination by medical specialists.

Traditional medicine advises putting a drop of sea buckthorn oil into each nostril before going to bed, and also gargling with it.

Gastronomic folk methods against snoring include eating baked carrots or fresh cabbage salad with honey.

It is ideal if a person eats one of these dishes half an hour or an hour before going to bed, but nothing bad will happen if before bed.

Ways to Prevent Snoring

The best measures to prevent night snoring are a healthy lifestyle, a proper balanced diet, and adherence to a daily routine. The correct sleeping position will also help: it is best to sleep on your side, with your head slightly raised with a pillow.

If you are prone to allergic reactions, it is necessary to take measures to combat allergens.

Timely wet cleaning in housing and other areas of the house will promote ease of breathing and maintain the health of the respiratory tract. There are exercises for the tongue and larynx that help improve muscle tone in this area. One such movement is to stick your tongue out as far as possible and hold it for 2 seconds. Repeat at least 30 times a day.

To prevent snoring, you need to undergo regular medical examinations (at least once a year), in particular, consultation and examination by an ENT doctor or endocrinologist. If diseases that cause snoring are identified in time and treated, rhonchopathy may never be a consequence of them.

Source: https://onevrologii.ru/narushenie-sna/chem-opasen-hrap

Why snoring is dangerous and how to get rid of it

Snoring affects almost 65% of the world's population. The characteristic whistling sound of varying degrees of volume and complexity that our sleeping relaxed body makes not only brings discomfort to others, but also poses a real danger to the health of the sleeper himself. Why it is dangerous and how to find the cause, how to get rid of snoring and always wake up cheerful, we will tell you in this article.

Why does a person snore

This happens for several reasons. But mechanically, snoring is a difficult passage of air that passes through the back of the nasopharynx and oropharynx. This is the area in which the airways, tongue, palate and uvula are located.

When they close, the air passes through with difficulty and a sound is born - wheezing or deep snoring, which becomes the subject of jokes, irritation and... stopping breathing during sleep. In medical language, this phenomenon is called apnea.

Snoring is not only a discomfort for others, which leads to insomnia in loved ones, but also a serious problem for the sleeper himself.

What causes snoring

• The structure of the oral cavity and respiratory tract is a popular cause of apnea and snoring. A curved nasal septum, soft palate, elongated uvula, enlarged tonsils, narrow nasal passages are defects from birth or defects formed after injuries and illnesses. These causes can only be eliminated surgically.
• Age also plays a role. The older we get, the more intensely the muscles in our body lose tone. This also happens with the muscles of the larynx and nasopharynx. In mature women, snoring often appears due to hormonal changes and menopause.
• Snoring during diseases of the ENT organs is also a common occurrence. Swelling of the nasopharynx caused by colds, rhinitis, and sinusitis makes breathing difficult. Cold snoring is a concomitant phenomenon, temporary and passing along with the disease. But there are also ENT pathologies that lead to chronic snoring in an adult: adenoids, polyps and cysts in the larynx and nasopharynx, chronic swelling of the mucous membrane due to prolonged allergies, accumulation of thick and viscous mucus in smokers, tumors. All these reasons can manifest themselves as unpleasant sensations of a foreign body with the inability to swallow, cough up or somehow get rid of it.
• Sleeping position. And this is the simplest and most harmless cause of snoring, which occurs due to the fact that the tongue sinks, blocking the larynx. Snoring in this case can be easily eliminated by simply changing your position.
• Bad habits - alcohol, smoking, use of psychotropic substances - also quickly lead to snoring. Under the influence of chemicals from tobacco smoke, constant swelling and inflammation of the nasopharyngeal mucosa occurs. This leads to a narrowing of the airway and contact of the soft palate with the pharynx. Over time, a smoker's risk of snoring increases. Alcohol and drugs also affect the degree of muscle tension. they are known for their relaxing effect and, when used systematically, affect the muscles of the nasopharynx in the same way as tobacco smoke.
• Excess weight. Have you noticed that obese people with massive deposits of fat in the neck, chest and abdomen often begin to choke even from minimal physical exertion? If you are overweight, fat deposits on the abdomen, chest and neck prevent the chest from making normal movements and fully inhaling and exhaling. This makes it difficult to supply a normal volume of air to an obese person and becomes impossible. Accumulation of fat in the neck leads to a narrowing of the throat, making it difficult to breathe, especially during sleep.
• Disturbances in the endocrine system also relate to the previous point about obesity. After all, sometimes extra pounds are a consequence of a hormonal imbalance in the body, for which the thyroid gland is responsible. Sometimes snoring is caused by a gland that becomes overgrown with nodules, cysts and tumors. This becomes noticeable to the naked eye, and a person develops a goiter.
• Stopping breathing during sleep (apnea) causes not only snoring, but also more serious health problems. Apnea is actually a companion to any snoring, when air cannot circulate freely in the nasopharynx.

Consequences of snoring

Snoring does not outwardly bother its owner, but it brings a lot of irritation to others, provoking insomnia and negative emotions towards the sleeping snorer. In fact, snoring becomes a truly dangerous phenomenon for the sleeper.

Effects of snoring on the brain

They do not emerge instantly, but develop over months and even years.

The reason for the violations is that during snoring a person may experience frequent pauses in breathing, lasting a few seconds, which is quite enough to cause stress in the body, the release of cortisol, and a lack of blood supply.

In combination with osteochondrosis, which is often the cause of snoring, a regular interruption in the supply of oxygen can lead to headaches, a feeling of weakness in the morning, impaired concentration, decreased performance, and vascular diseases.

Heart attack and stroke are dangerous consequences.

They do not happen instantly and can be avoided if you pay attention to the snoring of a loved one or your own in time. Some people wake up from their snoring.

Snoring is dangerous for the nervous system

Oxygen starvation and frequent night awakenings due to snoring are a direct path to insomnia or light sleep. The brain responds to every stoppage or failure of breathing with a signal to wake up. And since sleep has successive phases, if they are constantly disrupted, neither the brain nor the nervous system simply has time to recover.

The brain does not reach the deep phase of sleep, which means that proper rest, rebooting and muscle relaxation, lowering blood pressure and slowing the heartbeat do not occur. This is a direct path to neuroses and the development of psychological problems. In addition, few people will like constant reproaches from loved ones that a person snores.

Over time, depression, psychological discomfort and stress become companions to snoring.

Night awakenings and restless sleep activate the sympathetic nervous system. As a result, apnea begins, blood pressure rises, the pulse quickens, sometimes heart rhythm disturbances occur, and arrhythmia develops.

Heart rhythm disturbances and arrhythmia are dangerous because they lead to the formation of clots in the blood, which turn into blood clots

Impaired breathing leads to a sharp decrease in pressure inside the chest. The airways are blocked, and the chest continues to make breathing movements in vain, sucking in air that is actually not there. A “vacuum trap” is created into which the blood enters.

The limbs and internal organs suffer from a short-term lack of blood, while the heart is overloaded with fluid. Thus, snoring becomes a cause of heart disease, or, on the contrary, develops in those who already have diseases.

Therefore, you should be more than wary of your snoring or the snoring of your loved ones.

How to get rid of snoring

1. Endless pushing of a sleeping snorer is not able to bring relief and cure snoring, nervous tics and showdowns - too. First of all, it is important to realize the seriousness of the problem and take action.
2. Pay attention to the condition of the ENT organs and provide them with assistance if the cause of snoring is located in them.

   You can relieve swelling of the mucous membranes with antihistamine drops: Momat Rino, Desrinitis, Nasonex, Avamis. Experts recommend doing periodic inhalations with essential oils and moisturizing the mucous membrane.

3. Avoid dryness in the bedroom. Dry air often causes sleep disturbances and snoring.

   Regular ventilation, maintaining normal humidity in the room.

4. If you are objectively overweight, then you should take charge of your health and start getting rid of it. To do this, you don’t need to lean heavily on physical training, but it’s enough to adjust your diet at the first stage. Excess weight and active physical activity can be harmful.

   It is best to engage in sports after the weight has noticeably decreased.

5. Avoid alcohol and nicotine at least 2-4 hours before bedtime.
6. Review your bedding: choose an orthopedic mattress and pillow, choose bedding from suitable fabrics.

   Natural ones are best suited, as they allow air to pass through easily, providing ventilation to the body during sleep.

7. In order to strengthen the muscles of the larynx and nasopharynx, you need to do special sound exercises and sing.

   Of course, this is not a reason to sign up with a vocal teacher, but home singing is quite suitable for training and a good mood.

8. Vegetable oil - coconut, sea buckthorn, any that can be bought at the pharmacy. Before going to bed, you can gargle with a small amount.

9. If the cause of snoring is a global disorder or is a consequence of an illness, it is important to begin treating the underlying cause. Sometimes this requires determination and surgical intervention.

10. Nipples, clamps, and mouthguards from the “anti-snoring” series can bring temporary relief, but do not always lead to a positive result, because during sleep they can simply fall out, and sleeping with the awareness of a foreign body in the mouth can be more traumatic for the nervous system and give rise to fears.

Take care of yourself and be healthy!

09.10.2019

Source: https://www.pharmeconom.ru/articles/chem_opasen_khrap_i_kak_ot_nego_izbavitsya/

Is snoring dangerous to your health?

What is obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA)? How does apnea differ from simple snoring, what danger does sleep apnea pose to a person and how to treat it? Somnologist and endocrinologist Ekaterina Mikhailovna Kalinina spoke about this and much more on the live broadcast of the Apteka.ru website.

You can watch the broadcast on the Apteka.ru channel on YouTube.

Snoring in itself is not a diagnosis. It occurs as a result of beating and vibration of tissue in the nasopharynx, since there is no cartilaginous frame there. Muscles relax during sleep and vibrations occur. But sometimes the walls of the pharynx and palate collapse, as a result, air does not enter the lungs, but breathing efforts are maintained.

The man tries to breathe, but cannot. Sleep fragmentation, decreased oxygen levels, and daytime sleepiness occur.

It's called "sleep apnea", obstructive sleep apnea (OSA - obstructive sleep apnea syndrome) - and this is serious. It should be noted that apnea is defined as stopping breathing for more than 10 seconds.

How common is this syndrome?

5–7% of people over 30 years of age suffer from this pathology. Thus, more people suffer from OSA than from diabetes (3%) and bronchial asthma (5%).

A severe form of the disease occurs in 1-2% of people over 30 years of age, but the older a person gets, the more common this syndrome is.

After 60 years of age, up to 20% of men and women suffer from OSA. Women are more protected due to their hormonal levels.

Risk factors for OSA

Who suffers from this disease? Men suffer more often than women: for every ten men there is one woman.

The older the person, the higher the likelihood of the disease.

In addition, most people with OSA are obese. Endocrine diseases can also lead to this syndrome.

• Alcohol abuse aggravates OSA.
• Disturbances in the structure of the ENT organs and changes in the structure of the facial skeleton - for example, a small jaw pushed back - can also cause a severe form of OSA.
• And lastly, the use of sedatives and hypnotics can lead to OSA, so caution should be exercised.

Why is obesity a major factor?

Fat tissue is deposited not only on the waist, but also around internal organs, including around the throat.

In an obese patient, the lumen of the pharynx is narrower, which is reduced by fat pads. The muscles relax at night and collapse easily.

Therefore, obese patients are more likely to suffer from this syndrome. In addition, as a result of sleep problems, obese people have difficulty losing excess weight.

A risk factor is chronic alcohol consumption. There is a very high probability of developing OSA in people who drink alcohol daily, but occasional consumption (once a week, once a month) is dangerous, it can lead to the development of mild OSA or worsen the situation if the syndrome already exists.

How does OSA lead to significant disturbances in the body?

As a result of falling asleep, muscle tone decreases and the airways collapse, breathing stops, which leads to a decrease in blood oxygen saturation.

The body immediately reacts to any fluctuations in oxygen. This is stress for the body: increased levels of adrenaline and other hormones can lead to increased blood pressure. The heart rhythm may be disturbed, which can even cause the heart to stop.

1. OSA can cause a stroke or heart attack during sleep.
2. Due to OSA, patients experience morning headaches and erythrocytosis (blood thickening due to increased production of red blood cells, a reaction to lack of oxygen).
3. Due to lack of oxygen, the brain has to constantly wake up the patient, due to which the patient is unable to enter the deep stages of sleep.

We tested five apps for you that promise healthy sleep and easy awakening

Simply put, the patient does not get enough sleep. He experiences daytime sleepiness. The brain does not rest, as a result the patient’s memory deteriorates and attention decreases.

The most important thing is that the secretion of hormones is disrupted, which is the reason why it is more difficult for obese people to lose weight. Violation of hormone secretion in men can lead to impotence.

How does OSA manifest?

Of course, the patient snores, snores very loudly.

Daytime sleepiness is one of the clearest signs of this syndrome. But daytime sleepiness can be considered a manifestation of OSA only if the person slept for 7–8 hours.

Others may indicate that the patient has stopped breathing during sleep - for example, during a train ride. The most serious indications from the patient himself are that he has stopped breathing - which means he wakes up from them.

Restless sleep: Typically, patients do not have problems falling asleep, and they may even believe that they have no problems sleeping at all.

However, often patients with OSA may indicate that they sleep restlessly, that is, they constantly roll over, and may even sit up in bed.

• Sleep does not help OSA sufferers feel more alert; they always complain of fatigue.
• Frequent urination at night in men can be a urological problem, but it can also be a consequence of OSA if an examination by a urologist does not reveal any pathologies.
• Night sweats are one of the manifestations of severe OSA.

Question from a viewer: I live alone, there is no one else to tell me about my respiratory arrest. Are there devices that record this? I observe some of the listed signs in myself.

Of course, there are devices, I will talk about this later. There is a separate diagnosis of this syndrome at different levels.

Question from a viewer: Must all of the listed signs be present with OSA, or can only some of them be present?

There may be only two or three signs, but this will also indicate OSA. It is interesting that the patient may not indicate any of the listed signs at all, but doctors will detect a heart rhythm disturbance only at night on a cardiogram. This is suspicious, cardiologists know about it, they send patients for additional studies.

Question from a viewer: Daytime sleepiness with enough sleep can also be caused by other reasons, such as stuffiness. How to understand what the reason is?

Typically, daytime sleepiness is caused by endocrine disorders such as hypothyroidism (low thyroid function) and anemia. If you have these syndromes, you do not need to diagnose yourself with OSA; you need to contact a specialist who will refer you to the necessary tests.

Why is it important to identify OSA in patients?

A large study was conducted that lasted 18 years (Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study).

The study found that patients with severe OSA were 5 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease. This is higher than the risk of death from diabetes.

By the way, diseases such as obesity and diabetes mellitus may be closely related to OSA; be careful and consult a specialist.

It is important that OSA can be a health threat not only for people suffering from this disease, but also for others: in some countries, people with sleep apnea are not issued a driver's license.

Falling asleep at the wheel is the cause of almost 20% of road accidents. Patients with sleep apnea have a 4-6 times increased risk of getting into an accident compared to the average. This is more than for drivers under the influence of alcohol.

Obstructive sleep apnea was responsible for approximately 310,000 motor vehicle crashes in 2000 in the United States. These incidents killed 930 people and caused $15.9 billion in damage.

How to Diagnose OSA

There is a screening diagnostic where the oxygen level of a sleeping person is measured every two seconds.

Computer monitoring pulse oximetry is a method of long-term monitoring of saturation and pulse.

The pulse oximeter allows you to perform more than 25,000 saturation measurements in 8 hours of sleep and save the obtained data in the device’s memory. This method is good at detecting severe forms of OSA.

The second screening method, also outpatient, is a respiratory monitor. The patient can take it home and conduct the test themselves.

The respiratory monitor diagnostic system allows you to record snoring, any pauses in breathing, identify central and obstructive episodes of apnea and sleep fragmentation.

There is also cardiorespiratory monitoring - polysomnography. This study is carried out in the hospital, the patient is examined not only for breathing and oxygen, an electrocardiogram is recorded, and the sleeping position is recorded. These are the most detailed studies.

1. Question from a viewer: Are public transport drivers tested for sleep apnea or only for alcohol and drugs?
2. In many countries, yes, in Russia only railway workers are checked.

Treatment methods

Snoring in itself is not a diagnosis, and the patient may not seek medical attention. Snoring needs to be treated when it becomes one of the manifestations of sleep apnea.

The most common treatment is surgical removal of chronic nasal obstruction. Surgery is most effective for mild OSA.

There are also intraoral devices, various mouthguards, that push the lower jaw and create more space between the tongue and pharynx to prevent snoring and stopping breathing. It is also effective for uncomplicated snoring and mild forms of sleep apnea.

As a result of CPAP therapy, the refreshing effect of sleep returns and headaches disappear, daytime sleepiness decreases, insulin resistance decreases and testosterone production normalizes. Patients who sleep while receiving CPAP therapy have a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Question from a viewer: Mouthguards that are attached while you sleep cannot come off? So you can suffocate.

This is impossible because they are securely fixed in the mouth by the teeth. They can't fall out.

• To determine the most effective method of treating sleep, you can contact a sleep center for diagnostics.
• ENT doctors can also conduct a study in which the patient is sedated with medication and uses a thin endoscope through the nose to see at what level the patient is snoring and where the airway overlap occurs.
• These studies are necessary because surgery is effective only for mild forms of sleep apnea; to treat more severe forms, you need to consult an ENT doctor.
• Recorded by Nina Timakova
• Photo depositphotos.com
• The opinion of the author may not coincide with the opinion of the editors

Source: https://apteka.ru/info/articles/bolezni-i-lechenie/khrap-opasen-dlya-zdorovya/

Why is snoring harmful?

Snoring is considered an unpleasant but harmless phenomenon, and its “nuisance,” as many people believe, does not affect the snorer himself and only harms those around him. It is estimated that people who sleep in the same or adjacent room as a snorer lose up to two hours of sleep each night.

Moreover, these two hours, which is the most unpleasant thing, are formed from several short-term awakenings throughout the night, and this aggravates the consequences of lack of sleep.

Relatives and friends of a snoring person are often indignant: they say that everyone suffers because of him, but at least he cares! In fact, snoring can be harmful not only to those who hear it, but also to those who reproduce it.

What happens when you snore?

For example, a person may have a narrow throat due to excess weight. Fat deposits in obese people not only accumulate under the skin, but are also located between the structures of the neck, in the tissues of the tongue, and soft palate. All this leads to the fact that the pharynx is mechanically compressed.

Or another example: a person smokes. Due to chronic damage to the mucous membrane by components of tobacco smoke, it becomes inflamed and swollen, as a result of which the volume of tissue increases, and this also creates difficulty breathing.

There are “nasal” causes of snoring: polyps, deviated nasal septum. These disorders also lead to deterioration of air circulation in the upper respiratory tract and provoke snoring.

During wakefulness, the narrowing of the airway does not cause any noticeable problems. However, during sleep, all the muscles of the body relax, which increases the contraction. The walls of the throat begin to move closer together or even touch, they vibrate from the flow of air, and this creates the sound of snoring.

Snoring is divided into two types: uncomplicated and complicated. With uncomplicated snoring, despite noisy sleep, a person does not experience any health problems, since he receives enough oxygen when breathing.

Complicated snoring is accompanied by frequent pauses in breathing during sleep, and this leads to oxygen starvation and makes snoring harmful to human health. Snoring with pauses in breathing during sleep is called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

This condition is very dangerous...

Symptoms and consequences of complicated snoring

The harm of snoring with sleep apnea lies, firstly, in the immediate symptoms of the disease, and secondly, in its consequences. The symptoms of sleep apnea are unpleasant and numerous, and they significantly reduce a person’s quality of life. These include:

• Severe daytime sleepiness;
• Restless night's sleep;
• Fatigue, lethargy, decreased performance;
• Increased blood pressure;
• Heartburn;
• Frequent urination at night;
• Night sweats.

 Consequences and potential dangers of the disease:

• Risk of accidents and road accidents due to severe drowsiness;
• Arterial hypertension, tendency to hypertensive crises;
• Risk of myocardial infarction, stroke.

What can you do to prevent snoring from causing harm?

As a rule, when a person snores for a short time, it is uncomplicated. However, over time, it can develop into a health-threatening obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. To prevent this from happening, snoring must be combated. This can be done in various ways. Effective treatments for snoring depend on its causes.

The most common cause of snoring is excess weight. In many cases, it is enough for a person to lose 5-7 kg in order to significantly reduce or stop snoring.

A special “anti-snoring exercise” that strengthens the muscles of the tongue, soft palate and pharynx helps a lot. For ENT diseases that can also cause snoring, you need to contact an appropriate specialist so that he can select treatment.

The truth is, most people don't know why they snore. Sometimes the same person has several causes of snoring at once. In such cases, it is almost impossible to independently determine why snoring appeared and what to do about it. Therefore, visiting a doctor is the most desirable action for a person who wants to get rid of snoring. A somnologist treats snoring.

Source: https://buzunov.ru/articles/hrap-i-sindrom-obstruktivnogo-apnoe-sna/chem-vreden-hrap/

How dangerous is snoring and what are its consequences?

Snoring is a physiological process that occurs during breathing during sleep, which is accompanied by rattling, vibration and loud sound. This occurs due to the oscillatory movements of the walls of the larynx as inhaled air passes through it.

The air pressure on the walls of the larynx during inhalation provokes their contact, they begin to vibrate and hit each other. This is also facilitated by the fact that during sleep the tone of all muscles in the body weakens and the walls of the larynx are relaxed.

At the same time, it does not matter whether a person breathes through the mouth or the nose - the mechanism of snoring is the same.

Snoring is not a harmless symptom, but a completely serious borderline condition. Finding out its structure and causes will help you understand why snoring is dangerous.

Causes of snoring

Every fourth person on earth suffers from snoring, including children. This is facilitated by factors such as:

• Curvature of the nasal septum.
• Narrowing of the nasal passages.
• Adenoids.
• Tonsil disease.
• Proliferation of lymphoid tissue in the oropharynx.
• Overweight. Fat puts pressure on soft tissues, causing them to sag and touch as air moves.
• Provoking negative factors: smoking, drinking alcohol, drugs. They help reduce muscle tone, while relaxing the soft palate and the walls of the larynx, as a result, its lumen narrows, which prevents the free passage of air through it. Tobacco tar causes an inflammatory process in the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, resulting in swelling, which also impedes the movement of air.
• Runny nose: vasomotor or allergic. Leads to swelling of the walls of the nose, larynx, and ear canals. Edema narrows the respiratory lumen, the swollen walls vibrate when air passes under pressure, and snoring occurs.
• Aging of the body is a natural process of tissue sagging.

In the process of snoring, it is customary to distinguish 2 structures:

1. Uncomplicated primary. A person snores during sleep, but the sleep phases themselves are not disturbed, physiological processes remain normal.
2. Snoring is a sign of short-term breathing cessation during sleep - obstructive sleep apnea . During night sleep, the sleeper repeatedly experiences attacks of respiratory arrest, which is also accompanied by symptoms of disruption of the cardiovascular system and brain.

Another situation that describes why snoring is dangerous is loss of consciousness with snoring. The lack of a person’s response to surrounding stimuli in combination with snoring indicates brain damage.

Such situations can occur with a stroke or cerebral infarction.

In order to distinguish physiological snoring from pathological snoring during a stroke, it is enough to provoke reflex flexion of the toes; with brain damage it becomes impossible.

Reasons for the harmful effects of snoring

Scientists from Italy set out to answer the question: is snoring harmful, or is it just physiological characteristics of the body .

In the course of multiple experiments, they found that snoring is caused by a lack of gray matter in the brain, which is responsible for abstract thinking.

The intellectual abilities of snorers deteriorate significantly, and organic changes appear in the functioning of the brain.

Negative consequences of snoring

More serious consequences of snoring include:

• Apnea. This is snoring, with episodes of periodic cessation of breathing. With each episode, there is a shortage of oxygen supply to the body, the brain is forced to give a wake-up signal to swallow air. After waking up, a headache appears, due to hypoxia, brain cells die, as a result of which memory suffers. The heart is forced to pump blood faster, suffering from hypoxia, and as a result, cardiac dysfunction occurs. This leads to various arrhythmias, hypertension, heart attack or stroke.
• Obesity. Due to the loss of the deep sleep phase during snoring, the production of growth hormone in the pituitary gland, which is also responsible for the metabolism of fat in the body, decreases. As a result, the food entering the body is not completely digested into energy, but is stored as undigested fat. Body weight gradually increases, and it is quite difficult to lose it.
• The production of sex hormones decreases as a result of hypoxia and the absence of a deep sleep phase. In men this manifests itself in loss of potency, in women – in loss of libido.

So, snoring is a common and insidious defect that carries a hidden threat. You should not tolerate or ignore it, this may prevent you from negative consequences.

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Why is snoring dangerous and its consequences?

In total, modern science knows about 80 diseases and sleep disorders. One of the most common is snoring.

Snoring is a characteristic sound that occurs during breathing while a person sleeps. As a rule, not only the patient himself, but also the people around him suffer from intense snoring. And this disorder is not as harmless as it might seem at first glance. Snoring can be a symptom of a dangerous problem - apnea and cause harm to the cardiovascular system and brain.

In this article I will tell you why snoring is dangerous and its consequences.

Breathing disorders during sleep, snoring and apnea

Apnea is what is called stopping breathing during sleep. When a person snores, then subsides, the pause lasts approximately 10-20 seconds, sometimes 1 minute, and then loud snoring, in fact this is an acute episode of suffocation associated with blockage of the airways at the level of the pharynx. One of the most dangerous and common breathing disorders and consequences of snoring is apnea.

What are the dangers of snoring and apnea and what consequences do they lead to?

Why do sleep apnea occur?

When a person falls asleep, his muscle tone decreases, the muscles of the pharynx relax and sag.

The muscles of the pharynx gradually collapse together, the airways close, and air does not pass into the lungs, in response to a lack of oxygen, the brain sends signals to the internal organs, a powerful hormonal release causes contraction of the muscles of the pharynx, the lumen of the airways opens and the person snores loudly, and so on until the next stop. breathing.

No matter how much a person sleeps, he cannot get enough sleep, because every cessation of breathing entails a signal to the brain and seems to say - breathe. And this can be repeated up to 500-600 times per night. For many years, such patients live in a state of hypoxia, when the brain does not receive oxygen. Therefore, such a person cannot rest and completely relax.

What are the causes of pauses in breathing (apnea) during sleep?

The causes of apnea are numerous, but almost all patients diagnosed with apnea are overweight, so excess body weight is one of the main causes of apnea. Fat is also deposited at the neck level, which leads to narrowing of the airways.

High blood pressure is a frequent companion of patients who have attacks of sleep apnea. Frequent causes include hypertrophy of the tonsils, which close 80% of the lumen of the pharynx, where the airways collapse, causing sleep apnea.

What to do if you snore and hold your breath in your sleep?

There are many methods to solve the problem of snoring and holding your breath. Medicinal, surgical, hardware and preventive methods. Experts often recommend reducing body weight by 10%, which entails a 2-fold improvement in breathing parameters during sleep.

Therefore, patients with apnea syndrome first of all need to lose weight, but many also require surgical treatment - removal of the tonsils. An otolaryngologist examines the nose, throat and respiratory tract, and a sleep specialist treats sleep disorders.

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Source: https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5bacc1b2756d5900ab4d0fe2/5bdadfaaec5e2700ae9f4e59

Why is snoring so dangerous...

• Those who suffer from snoring in their sleep consider it their shortcoming and an annoying misunderstanding. However, it is worth remembering that snoring is a disease that, if left untreated, can lead to quite dangerous consequences...
• Medical certificate:
• Obstructive apnea syndrome, the main manifestation of which is snoring, is also characterized by the presence of periodically recurring partial or complete cessation of breathing during sleep.
• Statistics:

While sleeping, chronic snorers can experience more than 300 pauses in breathing in one night! Frequent stoppages of breathing lead to acute oxygen deficiency, which can result in the development of certain cardiovascular diseases. In 35% of cases, cardiac arrest may occur during sleep.

Predisposition to the disease...

Among the main etiological factors in the development of apnea are the following:

1. Most often, men suffer from this disease.
2. The incidence rate increases with age.
3. Obesity (especially an increase in the thickness of the fat masses in the neck, the presence of abdominal obesity) is one of the most important risk factors.
4. Postmenopausal period.
5. Having bad habits (smoking and drinking alcohol).
6. Anomalies of the development of the upper and lower jaws.
7. Excessive proliferation of lymphoid tissue in the neck area.
8. Taking sedatives or sleeping pills.
9. Concomitant neurological diseases (stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, myotonic dystrophy, myopathy, polyneuropathy, etc.).

... and its main manifestations

You should not delay visiting your doctor if you experience the following symptoms indicating the presence of apnea:

• Snoring in your sleep.
• Stopping breathing.
• Insomnia, fatigue and lethargy after waking up.
• Depressive states, stress, irritability, chronic fatigue syndrome.
• Daytime sleepiness.
• The presence of concomitant endocrine and cardiovascular diseases.
• Excess body weight or progressive weight gain.

Diagnosis of the disease...

The examinations, which are carried out after the initial examination by the doctor and the establishment of the clinical picture, do not take much time. And most importantly, they are comfortable and painless. First of all, you will be prescribed a polysomnographic study, which includes recording the following parameters throughout the entire sleep period:

• electroencephalograms,
• electrooculograms,
• chin myogram,
• myograms from the anterior tibial muscles,
• oronasal flow,
• thoracic and abdominal breathing movements,
• electrocardiograms,
• presence of snoring.

Cardiorespiratory monitoring is also used to measure parameters. And to assess the severity of sleepiness during the day, in addition to special questionnaires, a multiple sleep latency test is used: the time of falling asleep during the daytime is assessed.

1. ...and its effective treatment
2. All methods of treating obstructive sleep apnea syndrome can be divided into conservative (the goal of which is to reduce body weight) and surgical (their goal is to correct ENT pathology and factors provoking the disease).
3. Conservative methods include diet therapy, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, the use of assistive devices, as well as the main method of treatment - CPAP therapy, which involves applying constant positive pressure to the upper airways, which prevents their obstruction.

The most common surgical procedure for treating sleep apnea is uvulopalatynopharyngoplasty (UPVP). The operation consists of excision of part of the soft palate with the uvula, removal of the palatine tonsils, and the formation of sutures that tighten the posterior wall.

• However, even after treatment, it is necessary in the future to eliminate the factors that provoke the development of the disease, for example: sleeping on the back (there are special devices for the formation of a negative conditioned reflex to sleep in the supine position), drinking alcohol and certain medications.
• Correction of concomitant endocrine and neurological pathologies is also effective.
• Systemic Hypertension Department 

Litvin Alexander Yurievich leading scientific associate, doctor of medical sciences +7(495) 414-68-34

Source: https://cardioweb.ru/institut-klinicheskoj-kardiologii/item/303-pochemu-tak-opasen-khrap