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Does your partner's snoring keep you up? It could be impacting your health
Confirmed
In Short: Experts warn that sleeping next to a snorer could impact your health, with 75% of people with a snoring partner reporting disrupted sleep, according to a US survey by the Sleep Foundation.
Simple lifestyle changes such as losing weight, quitting smoking, reducing alcohol intake, and changing sleeping positions can help with snoring, suggests Dr Clare Simon, a dentist with a special interest in dental sleep medicine.
Prof Ama Johal, a consultant orthodontist and sleep expert, notes that partners of snorers can become so impacted that they may need to sleep in separate rooms, emphasizing the necessity of addressing the issue.
Snoring is caused by the vibration of the soft tissues in the upper airways during sleep, and about 40% of the UK adult population snores, with more men than women affected, according to the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association (BSSAA).
What's confirmed
- Simple lifestyle changes such as losing weight, quitting smoking, reducing alcohol intake, and changing sleeping positions can help with snoring, suggests Dr Clare Simon, a dentist with a special interest in dental sleep medicine.
- Prof Ama Johal, a consultant orthodontist and sleep expert, notes that partners of snorers can become so impacted that they may need to sleep in separate rooms, emphasizing the necessity of addressing the issue.
- Snoring is caused by the vibration of the soft tissues in the upper airways during sleep, and about 40% of the UK adult population snores, with more men than women affected, according to the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association (BSSAA).
What's still developing
- But according to experts, sleeping next to a snorer could be impacting your health.
- This is something Meg Warren, 29, experienced when her former partner's snoring would keep her up.
- She used to wake up often in the night due to the snoring, but has found that wearing ear plugs is a "life saver" as they allow her to sleep through most of the noise when she shares a bed with her partner.
- An expert might suggest treating nasal obstruction or allergies, if this is what is causing snoring, or wearing a custom mouthguard to gently push the lower jaw forward and keep the airway open.
- Have you ever slept next to a snoring partner and woken up feeling stressed, unfocused or forgetful the next day?
- As snoring is relatively common, it is often left untreated and dismissed as a harmless irritation.
- Prof Ama Johal, a consultant orthodontist and sleep expert at Aerox Health, explains that the partner of a snorer can become "so impacted upon that it's almost a last-ditch effort on their part to get up and go sleep in a separate room because they have to sleep".
- He adds: "As humans we physically can't function without that necessity." Prof Ama Johal says many couples put up with the negative effects snoring for too long During the night, we cycle through different stages of sleep in repeating patterns, usually every 90 minutes.