5 Surprising Ways Snoring Affects Your Body

How Your Snoring Is Affecting Your Body Negatively

Do you get frequently told by your family and friends that you snore loudly? Perhaps your bed partner wakes you up multiple times a night to get you to turn over, or your family makes off-the-cuff comments about your loud habit. Snoring is much more than just a noisy nuisance for your loved ones. It is actually a symptom of a much larger health problem, and chronic snoring should be taken seriously. If you or your loved one is a notorious snorer, it is time to do something about it. Keep reading for five surprising ways snoring affects your body and how to stop snoring with innovative snoring and sleep apnea treatment.

Why Is Snoring Bad?

Snoring isn’t just loud and annoying for those around you; it is actually dangerous for your body and health. This is because when you are snoring, you are breathing through your mouth. Breathing through the mouth is not the body’s natural way of breathing; breathing through the nose is.

Your nose acts like a filter, which weeds out all the toxins from the air and provides your lungs and bloodstream with high-quality oxygen. When you breathe through your mouth, there is no filter, and all of the toxins are being allowed into your body. This provides your lungs and bloodstream with lower-quality oxygen, which is the impetus for many of the health issues that snoring causes.

You’re At An Increased Risk for Cardiovascular Issues

One of the five surprising ways that snoring affects your body is that you are at an increased risk of developing a cardiovascular issue.

Sleep apnea increases the risk of CVD and can lead to worse outcomes from cardiovascular disease. Obstructive sleep apnea, in particular, has been linked to higher rates of high blood pressure, stroke, and coronary artery disease. There’s also evidence that sleep apnea can cause left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, which increases the risk of heart failure.

There are many reasons why snoring and sleep apnea put you at an increased risk of heart issues. They include:

• Since the body’s natural way of breathing is through the nose, mouth breathing is a survival mechanism that causes a spike in blood pressure.
• Sleep apnea releases cortisone and adrenaline due to the multiple awakenings in a night. Enduring this night after night for many years will cause heart issues.
• The sudden and constant awakenings jolt your cardiovascular system, which can cause issues in the long term.

You Will Get Sleep Apnea

If you snore night after night, chances are, you have sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a common condition in which your breathing stops and restarts many times while you sleep. This can prevent your body from getting enough oxygen. You may want to talk to your healthcare provider about sleep apnea if someone tells you that you snore or gasp during sleep or if you experience other symptoms of poor-quality sleep, such as excessive daytime sleepiness.

Although this condition is very common, it is very dangerous.

Some of the symptoms of sleep apnea include:

• Breathing that starts and stops during sleep
• Frequent loud snoring
• Gasping for air during sleep
• Daytime sleepiness and tiredness which can lead to problems learning, focusing, and reacting
• Dry mouth or headaches
• Sexual dysfunction or decreased libido
• Waking up often during the night to urinate

There are two types of sleep apnea.

1. Obstructive sleep apnea: This happens when your upper airway becomes blocked many times while you sleep, reducing or completely stopping airflow. This is the most common type of sleep apnea. Anything that could narrow your airway, such as obesity, large tonsils, or changes in your hormone levels, can increase your risk for obstructive sleep apnea.
2. Central sleep apnea: This happens when your brain does not send the signals needed to breathe. Health conditions that affect how your brain controls your airway and chest muscles can cause central sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea does not go away on its own. In some cases, symptoms may improve when certain lifestyle changes are made. These lifestyle changes can include losing weight, exercising, quitting smoking, and drinking less alcohol. However, sleep apnea usually requires treatment to overcome.

One of the most popularly prescribed treatments for sleep apnea includes the use of a CPAP machine, but most people do not know that this is not the only way to treat sleep apnea. There are many other, less-invasive ways to treat sleep apnea that do not require the use of a loud, bulky, and embarrassing CPAP machine, such as The Vivos Method.

Your Daytime Drowsiness Impacts Your Daily Life

One of the more obvious health effects of snoring, which most people who suffer from snoring can relate to, includes excessive daytime drowsiness. Most people who snore and have sleep apnea are extremely tired throughout the day, require a nap at some point, or drink a lot of coffee to feel awake.

Excessive daytime drowsiness can cause a lot of potential issues. Some of these include:

• Increased risk of accidents. Excessive daytime drowsiness can slow down your response time. Whether you are driving, walking, working, or otherwise going about your day, you are at an increased risk of something happening.
• Poor performance at school or work. People who suffer from extreme daytime drowsiness have less patience and ability to focus. This can lead to issues and a decline in performance at school or work.
• Depression and anxiety. Having a poor night’s sleep and feeling tired the next day can cause you to have lower patience, higher anxiety, and increased irritability. When this happens every day, it compounds, and you will start to suffer from depression and anxiety.
• Relationship problems. Excessive daytime drowsiness can cause issues in your friendships and relationships due to mood disturbances and low sexual libido. You may have less motivation to want to see family and friends or go to important events because you are always tired, which can cause a drift between you and your loved ones.

It Is Difficult to Lose Weight & You Will Get Dental Issues

Snoring can cause multiple physical health issues, including dental problems and difficulty losing weight. In fact, if you snore and have sleep apnea, you will likely pack on the pounds pretty quickly. Obesity and sleep apnea go hand-in-hand, and so do dental issues.

• Obesity. Obesity is one of the causes of sleep apnea due to the extra fat around the neck causing an obstruction in the airway. In addition, the opposite is true, and sleep apnea can cause obesity. This is because people who suffer from excessive daytime drowsiness have less motivation to exercise or eat healthily, which can quickly lead to weight gain. In addition, the low-quality oxygen being provided to your lungs and bloodstream by mouth breathing makes it difficult to lose weight no matter how hard you may try. Your muscles are unable to recover as well and it is very difficult to lose weight.
• Dental issues. As a mouth breather and snorer, you may notice that you wake up frequently with a dry mouth. This leads to halitosis, also known as bad breath. In addition, breathing through the mouth lets in toxins that wouldn’t normally be allowed in, and they will quickly lead to cavities, gum issues, dental problems, and infections in the mouth.

You’re At An Increased Risk for Dementia

Sleep apnea and other sleep disorders can be directly linked to dementia.

Dementia patients often exhibit the symptoms of sleep apnea, such as chronic snoring and/or temporary loss of breath during sleep. Many experts believe that sleep apnea is directly correlated to the induction of severe dementia, and vice versa; even though sleep apnea does not directly cause dementia, the effects of sundowning and persistent hypoxic conditions can symptomatically amplify dementia-related symptoms. Sleep-disordered breathing episodes are quite common; 90% of people with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s experience at least five respiratory events per hour of sleep. The overall prevalence of SDB in patients with dementia varies between 33% and 70%.

A recent study suggests a link between sleep deprivation and increased risk for Alzheimer’s. Levels of amyloid-beta protein in the bloodstream rise during waking periods and decline during sleep. This protein makes up some of the brain plaques found in Alzheimer’s patients. Sleep problems can be an early indicator of dementia. Alzheimer’s patients often see changes in their sleep patterns early on; what was once a 20-minute daytime nap now stretches to several hours per day. In a recent long-term longitudinal study, older people who complained of daytime sleepiness, restless nights, and increased use of sleep aid medications were much more likely to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms within two years.

How to Stop Snoring

Snoring is dangerous and can lead to a host of health conditions. Snoring and sleep apnea do not go away on their own; they will actually worsen over time if action is not taken.

Luckily, there are many ways to treat snoring and sleep apnea.

1. Get diagnosed. The first step to treatment for your snoring and sleep apnea is to go to your doctor and obtain a diagnosis of sleep apnea.
2. See a sleep apnea specialist. There are many ways to treat sleep apnea that do not include the use of a loud, bulky, dangerous, and embarrassing CPAP machine. Make an appointment with a sleep apnea specialist in your area, such as Gorman Health and Wellness,
3. Start the Vivos Method. CPAP machines as a method of treatment for sleep apnea can be effective; however, it does not treat the root cause, and it signs you up for a lifetime sentence of being chained to it night after night. The Vivos Method is less invasive and can help you overcome your snoring and sleep apnea in as little as one year.

Snoring and Sleep Apnea Treatment with Gorman Health and Wellness

Dr. Gorman is a part of the breathing wellness movement, which aims to increase awareness and improve treatment for sleep-related airway conditions like sleep apnea. He has partnered with organizations focused on collaborating with dentists to apply the sciences of Craniofacial Epigenetics (the study of cranial modifications caused by gene expression as opposed to genetic code alteration) and Pneumopedics® (the practical application of oral appliance therapy and non-surgical airway remodeling) in the management of sleep apnea.

Together, applying these sciences allows for underlying causes of airway obstruction to be treated in 98% of cases, resulting in a high success rate among sleep apnea patients. For every sleep apnea case at our practice, Dr. Gorman will gather patient data and determine the patient’s specific needs based on home sleep test results, dental impressions, CT scans, and images. Our state-of-the-art technology, paired with Dr. Gorman’s experience with sleep disorders, allows him to find the most effective treatment plan for each individual’s particular case, yielding improved daytime and nighttime breathing for the patient.

“I have been helping people suffering from Sleep Apnea with a non-invasive, clinically approved treatment method. This method has allowed my patients to sleep with far fewer events per hour, allowing them to eliminate their CPAP and BiPAP machines. Imagine not having to use one of those machines, getting back a much greater quality of life along with the benefits of breathing better.” – Dr. Gorman.

For more information on Dr. Gorman, improving your sleep apnea, and decreasing your risk for all of the health issues mentioned in this blog, contact us today.