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Three-quarters of Britons snore

Snoring can be a serious problem

Three-quarters of British adults are snorers, and one in three snores so badly it stops their partner from sleeping, research has found.

The study, commissioned by hotel chain Travelodge, named Coventry as the nation’s snoring capital, with 90% of the locals afflicted by the habit.

This was followed by Sheffield, Glasgow and Plymouth.

The poll, of 1,788 adults, found 21% blamed snoring for making them feel less sexy in the bedroom

SNORING HOTSPOTS

Coventry (90%)
Sheffield (87%)
Glasgow (86%)
Plymouth (82%)
Leeds (82%)
Newcastle (79%)
Bristol (79%)
Manchester (78%)
Liverpool (77%)
Belfast (75%)
One in 10 said the embarrassment of snoring had stopped them sleeping with a new partner.

And one in five of those with partners said snoring had had a negative impact on their relationship.

Famous people renowned for their snoring include Winston Churchill, Michael Douglas, film director Ken Russell, and TV pundit John McCririck.

Former US President Teddy Roosevelt’s snoring was so bad that when he stayed in a Washington hospital all the other patients had to be relocated to a different floor so that they could sleep.

Chris Idzikowski, a sleep expert from Edinburgh Sleep Centre, said: “Modern lifestyles can be blamed for this increase in snoring, with boozing and unhealthy eating to blame.

“Our research shows that although snoring is often made fun of, it’s a real problem that can have important effects on our wellbeing and lifestyle.

“Apart from lack of sleep and tiredness, snoring can cause intimacy issues and put an unnecessary strain on relationships.

“But there are a number of things people can do to prevent and/or reduce snoring.”

Snoring can often be caused by reduced airflow to the nasal passages, so sleeping with your head raised off the mattress, or on your side or stomach can help.

Losing weight, and cutting alcohol consumption can also work for some people.

The survey identified five distinct types of snorer:

The Snorter (18%): Distinguished by a rapid blowing of air through the nostrils and mouth, similar to the sound of a horse snorting.

The Snorchestra (12%): Typified by long, low snores that gradually build into a deafening crescendo.
The McEnroe (10%): Distinguished by violent grunting sounds, similar to the noise made by tennis stars when competing.
The Walrus (8%): Typified by continuous groaning noises when sleeping.
The Old Banger (5%): Sounds like a broken car with a spluttering engine.

Taken from the BBC website

Divorce

Unreasonable behaviour is by far the most frequently cited reason for divorce in Britain, with about 65,000 divorces granted on that basis in 2001 and about 4 times as many women as men opting for it. This is mainly because it is one of only two ways (the other is adultery) to get a ‘quickie’ divorce – and one that does not require at least two years’ separation.

Having regard to the number of snorers in the UK it should come as no surprise that snoring heads this list.

Unreasonable Behaviour: The Top Ten Complaints
Snoring
Not enough sex
Too much sex
Flirting with other people
Family jealousy (accusations of spouse putting family first or being unduly influenced by his/her mother)
Problems with step children
Ex-spouses (especially former wives being a financial drain)
Gambling
Secrecy about money
Aggressive criticism

Don’t let your marriage become one of these sad statistics. It would be far more advisable to use a mandibular advancement device like SnorBan®. One of these mouthpieces will cost you much, much less than a divorce!

Lack of Sleep

One ‘good night’s sleep’ is not enough. A Good Night’s Sleep is the product of night after night of undisturbed, uninterrupted sleep with a duration of around eight hours in a bed that provides adequate comfort, support and space. And what matters is how you feel in the morning. If you wake up full of renewed energy, you’ve had ‘a good night’s sleep.’

There is no formula for working out how much sleep is enough for you. Expecting all people to need the same amount of rest would be as absurd as expecting them to eat the same amount of food every day. Each of us seems to have a sleep ‘appetite’ that is as much a part of our genetic programming as hair, height or skin tone. Normal sleep times range from five to ten hours; the average is 7 1/2. Only about 2% can get by with just five hours; another 2% needs twice that amount.

So how much sleep do you need?

To work that out, keep your wake-up time the same every morning and vary your bedtimes. Are you groggy after six hours of shut-eye? Does an extra hour give you more stamina? Does an extra two hours make any difference? Too much time in bed can make some people feel sluggish, so don’t assume that more is better. Listen to your body’s signals and adjust your sleep schedule to suit them.

What happens when you don’t get the rest you need?

The first casualty of too little sleep is your smile. Weariness breeds irritability and depression. Sleepy people mope instead of cope, snap at co-workers, complain about anything and everything. Whilst everyone around them may be laughing, they’re yawning.

But bad moods aren’t the only consequence of bad nights. Without adequate sleep, people can’t perform at their peak. Every half an hour less sleep than usual can impair the way you feel and function the next day. The more sleep you lose, the more you suffer.

According to a recent study, one sleepless night sabotages creativity and coping skills. Without sleep, the “walking wounded” are less spontaneous, flexible and original. Unable to break out of intellectual ruts or come up with a fresh perspective, they become rigid, stick to tried-and-tested approaches to problems and can’t deal with unfamiliar situations. If they concentrate hard enough, they can perform routine tasks or well-known, well defined emergencies-unless they lose a second night of sleep. Then even performance of mundane or familiar chores suffers.

The effect of snoring on sleep

Your sleep can, of course, be affected by snoring. The snorer’s noise will affect his or her own quality of sleep and also the sleep of others in the household. For snorers and their families it is vital for everyone’s wellbeing to find a way to stop snoring. A snoring mouthpiece such as SnorBan® is now known to be very effective for snorer’s who snore through the mouth. Mouthpieces like SnorBan® are the most usual anti-snoring device prescribed by sleep clinics.

It’s all in the genes, snorers just can’t help it!

A cure for snoring could have come closer after research which suggests that the condition may be in the genes.

Experts hope the finding could lead to treatments to correct the faulty genes that cause people to snore, allowing them and their partners to sleep in peace.

Researchers studied around 2,000 pairs of identical and non-identical twins.

They were asked whether they snored, whether this disturbed their sleep, if they felt sleepy during the day and if they had experienced restless leg syndrome (RLS) in which the legs jerk involuntarily in the night.

‘No laughing matter’
It was found that participants with an identical twin who suffered disruptive snoring were twice as likely to experience this problem themselves compared to a participant with a non-identical twin who lost sleep due to snoring. They were also one and a half times more likely to feel sleepy during the day and to suffer RLS compared to people with a non-identical twin who suffered these problems.

Identical twins share all their genes, while non-identical twins share 50 per cent.

Dr Adrian Williams, a co-author of the study at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, said the problem of snoring and sleep disorders was a serious one.

“Sleep disorders are surprisingly common and it is increasingly recognised that they can have a devastating impact on sufferers’ everyday lives – they are no laughing matter”, he said.

“They even contribute to road traffic accidents when sufferers fall asleep at the wheel.”

The researchers believe that genetic factors account for half the variation in different people’s likelihood of being a snorer, with other factors such as smoking and obesity explaining the other half.

On the link between obesity and snoring, Professor Tim Spector, of St Thomas’, said there was evidence that people who snore produce more of a hormone called ghrelin which can increase the appetite and may make them overweight.

He believes that one reason why the genes which disrupt sleep may have persisted through the ages is because they make it easier for us to survive in times of intense cold or when food is scarce.

“Poor sleep patterns make people gain weight and retain fat,” he said. “These genes may have helped our ancestors through periods of famine and the Ice Age.”

The findings are published in the journal Twin Research.

Obesity

It is a fact that obesity and snoring are linked. This is not so surprising when you consider that fat laid down on the windpipe restricts the airway and leads to the sound called snoring.

As well as increasing the likelihood of snoring, obesity also leads to other medical conditions including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, some cancers and osteoarthritis. It is important to try and lose weight to reduce your chances of developing one or more of these problems. However, in order to lose weight you need to be in the right state of mind.

SnorBan® can help you feel strong enough to tackle obesity by alleviating your snoring problem during the nights, leaving you refreshed and more able to cope with challenges during the day. Find out more about SnorBan® and take the first steps towards a happier and healthier lifestyle and stop snoring.

Health Issues

Nothing is better for your health than undisturbed sleep. But snoring can disturb your sleep pattern leaving you feeling tired during the day. As well as having an impact on your mood, lack of sleep puts a severe strain on your body and on your blood pressure which can lead to serious health issues. The heart, arteries and the immune system can be compromised and the chances of having a stroke or developing Type 2 diabetes are significantly increased.

To gain the maximum benefit from sleep you must take in oxygen which enables you to wake up refreshed and able to cope with the stresses of the day. When you snore you are fighting to take in air and you tend to gulp and gasp because your throat has closed up. Your system is telling you to wake up because you need to breathe, because you need oxygen. This fighting happens all night long when you snore. It is no wonder that you wake up feeling tired.

A less serious, but unpleasant side effect of snoring arises because snoring forces air over oral and throat tissues creating a dry environment, which then easily leads to bad breath and sour/bitter tastes.

It is not worth running the risk of developing one of these long term, serious diseases if you can possibly avoid it. The SnorBan® solution is so simple! Find out more and do your body a favour.

What Happens During Sleep

Many people think of their sleeping bodies as if they were cars parked for the night–motionless, engines off, headlights dimmed. But sleep is an amazingly complex state of being. As we sleep, muscles tense and relax. Pulse, temperature and blood pressure rise and fall. Chemicals crucial for well-being course through the blood stream. The brain, like a Hollywood director, conjures up fantastic stories, complete with a plot, characters and action.

You don’t simply “fall” asleep. You descend slowly through different levels. As you close your eyes and drift off, you enter the first stage of what is called quiet sleep. Your brain produces irregular, rapid waves, and muscle tension decreases. You breathe smoothly, and mundane thoughts float through your mind. If roused, you might jerk awake quickly and deny that you’d slept at all.

In stage 2 of quiet sleep, your brain waves become larger, punctuated by occasional sudden bursts of electrical activity. You’ve definitely crossed the border between wakefulness and sleep. If someone lifted your eyelids gently, you wouldn’t waken; your eyes no longer respond to stimuli.

As you descend into stage 3, your brain waves become slower and bigger. In this state of deep slumber, your bodily functions slow down even more. Finally stepping into stage 4, you reach deepest sleep, the most profound state of unconsciousness. On an EEG (electroencephalogram), your brain waves would appear extremely large and slow. You are so “dead to the world” that a thunderstorm might not wake you.

This step-by-step journey into oblivion usually takes more than an hour. Then you begin to climb upward, moving rapidly through the same sleep stages as before, not all the way to full wakefulness but in active sleep. Because the pupils dart back and forth, this stage is called Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep. (The four stages of quiet sleep are often referred to as non-REM or NREM sleep.)

During REM, your brain waves resemble those of waking rather than of quiet sleep. The large muscles of your torso, arms and legs are paralysed, although your fingers and toes may twitch. You breathe quickly and slowly, the flow of blood through your brain accelerates. REM sleep is the time of vivid dreaming, and if wakened, you’d probably recall a fragment of a fantasy.

After about ten minutes in REM sleep, you descend the sleep staircase again. The entire cycle of REM and NREM stages takes roughly 90 minutes. Early in the night, the periods spent in the deepest stages of quiet sleep are longer. In the second half of the night, REM sleep predominates. By morning, you go around the sleep circuit four or five times.

This pattern changes gradually throughout life. From infancy to adulthood, REM periods dwindle to less than a quarter of a night’s sleep.

By their thirties, men spend less time in the very deep stages of REM sleep. Women begin to sleep less deeply in their fifties. By age 65, both sexes spend half as much time in deep sleep as they did when 25.

The lighter sleep stages increase later in life, and REM shrinks to about a fifth of total sleep time.

If you snore and sleep with a partner you will probably disturb them who will probably waken you to tell you. It is important therefore that you find a cure for snoring. Should you not both of you could suffer from sleep deprivation.

Sexual Problems

14% of men who snore have problems achieving an erection.

Severe snoring can disrupt the sex lives of both partners because it causes tiredness, irritability and, in men, makes an erection difficult as was found in a study presented at a meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago.

Carried out at the National Naval Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, it looked at 29 men and women with sleep apnoea – which causes the airway to become temporarily blocked several times during sleep – who were receiving treatment for the condition.

Asked to rate their sex lives before and after treatment – they found that afterward they experienced better orgasms and improved sexual drive.

Hormone effects

Janet Myers, who led the study, said: “In men, sexual dysfunction may be related to suppression of reproductive or hormonal functioning.”

She said that men may also have diminished oxygen levels in their bloodstream that could hinder erection.

She treated the volunteers by placing a special mask over their face as they slept. This was attached to an air compressor that forced air through the nasal passages.

Altogether patients were asked about five categories of sexual performance. Apart from the two in which they showed improvement, these were sexual cognition or fantasy, sexual arousal, and sexual behaviour.

“If patients are more alert, they’re less fatigued, and they’re more likely to have better sexual functioning,” Ms Myers said.

Many of those taking part in the study were moderately obese – a recognised risk factor for sleep apnoea – and the mean age was 45.

Underlying Medical Conditions

Sometimes snoring can be the result of a medical condition. It is important that this condition is recognised, diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. Don’t put ill health down to snoring. If in doubt – check it out!

One of the most usual illnesses that make us snore is the common cold. The airways become obstructed which either causes snoring in a non-snorer or makes a snorer worse (or louder!) Since there really is no cure for a cold besides allowing it to run its course, you need to wait for your cold to clear up and you will find that your snoring problem should vanish with it.

Other infections can also make breathing difficult and cause the sound of snoring as you struggle to draw air through blocked nasal passages in your sleep. Find the infection, treat it, cure it your snoring should be cured as well.

Tonsillitis is another medical condition which causes snoring. This is usually accompanied by swollen lymphoid tissues located at the back of the throat, or adenoids. Your tonsils are small oval masses of tissue on either side of the back of your mouth, and they are important to your body’s immune system. It is no longer recommended to remove tonsils surgically, so you need to find out why they are swollen and find a solution.

Swollen adenoids are a cause of snoring usually in young children. They do not constitute a serious health risk, so you may have to sit it out and let the condition reverse itself in time. Often, adenoids shrink and disappear by adolescence.

Snoring can also be caused by a deviated nasal septum. This is a serious condition where the wall that separates the nasal passages is crooked causing breathing difficulties. The good news is that this can be corrected by surgery.

These are just of few of the medical conditions which have snoring as a symptom. If you are in any doubt that your snoring is caused by ill-health, then you must seek medical advice straight away.

Mouth snoring, caused by the tongue slipping backward during sleep, rather than as a result of a medical condition, can be treated by using a SnorBan® mouthpiece. It is cheap, easy to fit and to use and, most importantly, effective.

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA)

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) is a sleeping disorder which results in pauses during breathing whilst asleep. The patient is often unaware they have the condition and it is usually noticed by their partners who notice these pauses in their breath pattern whilst they are asleep. Patients with OSA often wake up tired and irritable because their quality of sleep will have been so poor. They may find it difficult to stay focused and are forgetful. None of these traits are conducive to maintaining good relationships. The fatigue and sleepiness that patients with OSA suffer can prevent them from being full participants in life.

OSA is thought to affect approximately four per cent of women and nine percent of men between the ages of 30 and 60 years. Studies have shown that people with the condition are so fatigued during the day that when driving, their performance is similar to that of a drunk driver.

There have been several recent scientific studies looking at these issues. These studies found that quality-of-life was significantly impaired in patients with OSA and that treatment could restore normal function.

SnorBan® reduces snoring, which prevents sleep apnoea, but it is not a treatment against sleep apnoea. If you suspect that you suffer from sleep apnoea, you must contact your doctor.

Nasal Polyps

About one in 100 of the UK population will develop nasal polyps at some stage in their life. They can affect anyone, although most cases occur in those over the age 40 and they are rare in children under 16. They are four times more common in men than women.

Polyps are painless non-cancerous growths found inside the nasal passages. The primary symptoms are a blocked nose, difficulty in breathing, a dulled sense of taste and possibly, very loud snoring. Further, a runny nose (rhinorrhoea) and postnasal drip – the sensation of something continually running down the back of the throat – are common.

It is known that certain conditions that can make their growth more likely include asthma, allergy to aspirin and cystic fibrosis.

Polyps can vary greatly in size and several can grow like a ‘small bunch of grapes.’ They will often continue to grow until treated, although rates of growth vary. Very large, untreated ones can make the nose and front of the face enlarge and cause infections.

Initial treatment is usually steroid nose drops or tablets to shrink the growths with a steroid nasal spray being used to prevent a recurrence.

However, in some cases surgery, is sometimes necessary.

When this occurs a telescopic instrument known as an endoscope, about the thickness of a drinking straw is used. A small camera is attached to the device allowing the surgeon to see the nasal passages through a number of angles and find even small polyps in the nooks and corner of the nasal passage. The surgical procedure, which is carried out under local; or in severe cases, under general anaesthetic, involves using fine cutting instruments to remove the polyps. In some cases heated blades are used which simultaneously cut and stop bleeding, while larger polyps require dissolvable stitches.

A Brief History Of the MAD

Everyone knows that snoring can create domestic disharmony, (ending in divorce) but few are aware of how this can harm the perpetrator’s performance while awake.

An understanding, therefore, of the mechanism of this sleep-breathing disorder will make clear the cause of the noise, the after effect on the snorer, its relation to OSA, and what can be done to prevent it.

Snoring occurs when the airway is constricted. The constriction accelerates the air passing through the airway causing the tissues of the pharynx, mainly the soft palate and uvula, to vibrate; just like the reed of a bassoon.

A number of factors can cause the narrowing of the airway e.g. nasal constriction or congestion, enlarged tonsils and adenoids, micrognathia or retrognathia, macroglossia, and adipose tissue in the pharyngeal area. All these factors will predispose one to snore, but chief of them all is a super relaxed tongue.

It is normal for the muscle tonicity in the pharyngeal area to decrease during sleep, but in snorers this tendency becomes greater. Since the back of the tongue is the side wall of the airway its rearward movement obviously narrows this vital lumen.

Therefore, when the diaphragm contracts and creates a vacuum, in an attempt to suck in air through the nose or mouth, it also sucks back the flaccid tongue. The resultant narrowed airway accelerates the airflow that, in turn, causes the audible vibrations of the soft palate and uvula.

When the tongue is sucked back into complete apposition with the posterior wall of the pharynx the oral and nasal air cannot reach the lungs. This is obstructive sleep apnoea. The term “apnoea” literally means “without breath”. Once the tongue makes a seal with the posterior pharyngeal wall, the diaphragm intensifies its efforts to suck in air; however, it only succeeds in making the seal tighter. This is analogous to sucking on a straw after contacting a lump of ice cream— the greater the suction, the flatter the straw.

The obstruction in the pharynx will not release until the blood carbon dioxide levels rise high enough to awaken the patient. This usually occurs with a loud snort, and within seconds the patient is asleep again. This can repeat hundreds of times per night with the patient completely unaware of its occurrence the following morning.

However, the main daytime symptoms of OSA are those of sleep deprivation, namely sleepiness.

The first patient to wear a modified functional orthopaedic appliance for the relief of snoring and/or OSA was a 45-year-old man of Japanese decent. He had an apnoea index of 79, i.e., an average of 79 apnoeas per hour during the entire night. His breathing would stop for 10 to 60 seconds on the average of every 45 seconds. He got practically no sleep, and during the day he was known to fall asleep while talking to a client sitting across the desk from him. His physician advised him to have a tracheotomy with a valve, which he could close during the day and open at bedtime.

When he refused, the physician suggested that an oral surgeon evaluate him for mandibular advancement. The surgeon rejected the option of surgery when he found that the patient had a Class I occlusion with an ANB of only 3 degrees.

During a discussion with the oral surgeon, details of this case came to the attention of this author who then suggested constructing a modified functional orthodontic appliance, which could maintain his mandible in a protruded position only while sleeping. The patient readily consented to trying this device. The main modifications of the appliance were complete occlusal coverage to prevent movement of the teeth in any direction and clasps on upper and lower dentitions to preclude any functional movement of the mandible that might create an orthodontic effect. The appliance as modified was named Nocturnal Airway Patency Appliance (NAPA)

The first NAPA was delivered on September 21, 1983 to Rodney Takeuchi. He has worn a NAPA practically every night since then. The results were dramatic. His snoring stopped immediately, he was no longer sleepy during the day and his performance at work improved. He and his family consider him a new man. Objectively, an overnight sleep study with polysomnography indicated his sleep apnoea index dropped from 79 to 5.3 and his blood oxygen saturation markedly improved

Snoring has long been the butt of many jokes, but it has been the source of tragedy, not humour, to those whose families have been broken because of it. Equally gratifying has been the response of middle age men who assumed their vim and vigour was solely due to advancing age and not related to their snoring.

Road Accidents

People who suffer from the common sleep disorder, Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, of which the most significant sign is loud and heavy, snoring, are seven times more likely to have a road accident than other drivers.

The research shows that up to 11% of drivers admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel.

In sleep apnoea the throat temporarily closes during sleep causing the snorer to wake violently owing to a lack of oxygen. It is a condition that is more common in overweight people. It causes extreme fatigue because the continual awaking of the sufferer results in many hours of sleep being lost.

According to the DOE, Transport and Regions ‘valuation of the benefits of prevention of road accidents and casualties’ they estimated that the cost to society of a fatal accident was £1,250,000 and that was in 1999.

3,201 died in UK car accidents last year and the cost of those who suffered brain damaged, was much, much greater.

Crashes resulting from drowsy driving are easy to deduce as they leave no brake marks.

We often feel tired when driving yet just shrug off the feeling and plough on – which is not only obtuse and thoughtless, but also potentially fatal. It causes more road deaths than alcohol.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, published in June 2003, provided some horrific statistics.

Sleepiness at the wheel, or drowsy driving, is said to be the cause of about 22% of road accidents on major highways (where accidents happen at high speed and no signs of any avoidance – e.g. braking – being taken). In fact it’s the cause of more road deaths than alcohol. A UK poll shows that up to 11% of drivers admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel.

Those who know they snore and suffer from daytime fatigue have, though, an easy remedy. The SnorBan® mouthpiece has been designed to treat snoring. It is easy to use and fit and is comfortable to wear. It is also comes with guaranteed refund so in the unlikely event that it fails to work you get your money back.

When the air passages are constricted, turbulence in the air flow occurs during breathing. This turbulence makes the soft tissue in the respiratory passages vibrate, causing the snoring sound. The structures involved are the uvula and the soft palate. The irregular air flow is often due to one of the following causes:
• Being overweight 
• Alcohol and medicine
• Smoking 
• Allergies
• Congenital irregularities in the respiratory passages
• Blockage of the nose

Both alcohol and sleeping medication cause the throat muscles to relax, diminishing the airflow behind the root of the tongue. Smoking makes the mucous membrane swell, further restricting the ability to breathe through your nose.  Snoring is normally harmless in terms of your health, but it can be socially unacceptable and often needs to be reduced for that reason. Simple advice and tips are available to reduce the tendency to snore. Find tips here.