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Snoring is a common phenomenon that most people consider normal. Is snoring a disease? Does snoring need treatment? We believe this is a common problem for many people. In fact, snoring is your body's own red flag of danger. Studies show that 50% of snorers snore first, then develop sleep apnea, which may lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, cerebral hemorrhage, stroke, and even death in the middle of the night.

Snoring is mostly caused by upper airway obstruction, which may be a structural problem in the back of the throat or nose. Severe snoring may be accompanied by the risk of apnea, which can be classified as central, obstructive or upper airway resistance syndrome. If snoring lasts for an extended period of time, it will inevitably cause serious harm to the body, and even complex complications. In order to solve the problem of sleep once and for all, it is absolutely necessary to have a sleep examination.

Initial Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

The high risk group of sleep apnea is usually those who habitually snore, have a short neck, are obese, have a short or retracted jaw, have the long, hanging uvula, and have large tonsils. Men are more likely to suffer from the disorder than women, especially those who are obese, older and often smoke and drink. People with more of the following symptoms and risk factors are more likely to develop:

• Gender: Men are about 2 to 8 times as many as women.
• Obesity: Those who weigh more than 120% of their ideal body weight are at greater risk.
• Neck circumference: male greater than 43 cm, female greater than 38 cm.
• Tonsil hypertrophy.
• Nasal septum deviation
• Retracted or small jaw
• Specific genetic diseases, such as Treacher Collins, Down syndrome, Aperts syndrome, and achondrophasia.
• Endocrine diseases, such as hypothyroidism and acromegaly.
• Alcohol, tranquilizers and sleeping pills.

Influence

The patient recurrently temporarily stops breathing during sleep, which can occur as many as hundreds of times a night, each lasting from seconds to minutes.

Sleep apnea may lead to hypoxia in the body, decrease of oxygen concentration in blood, and recurrent sleep apnea every night. The immediate effect is the reduction of their own sleep, or interference with the sleeping quality of the person next to the patient. In the long run, it will increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and is also related to the occurrence of diabetes mellitus.

Medical Examination

People with these symptoms should seek medical attention as soon as possible. So how do doctors diagnose sleep apnea? Currently, the most accurate diagnosis of sleep apnea syndrome is from the polysomnography (PSG).

PSG is used to record the whole night's sleep cycle, apnea and shallow breathing times, patterns, hypoxia index, times, ECG changes, oronasal airflow, chest and abdomen breathing movement, lobe oximeter signals, and snoring times. In addition, there are some simpler screening methods, but their accuracy remains to be evaluated. These methods include questionnaires and nighttime oxygen monitoring.

Prevention

Usual health care should not be neglected, such as keeping the BMI within 26, quitting smoking and alcohol, avoiding using tranquilizers and sleeping pills, sleeping on one's side, eating less stimulating food and having regular examinations to reduce the incidence of the disease.

Suggested Treatment

Revise lifestyle habits (such as weight loss, side sleeping) and receive the persistent positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, intraoral orthosis, or upper respiratory surgery (e.g. microwave radiofrequency, nasopharyngeal adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty). Different therapies have their pros and cons, which require an experienced sleep specialist to help patients make the right choices.

Good health is heavily reliant upon a good sleep, and only good sleep can give us good health. If we can solve all the sleep disorders and pay attention to all the sleep hygiene, then we can have a good sleep and good health.