Snoring & Sleep Apnea
Snoring:
Some 45 percent of normal adults snore at least occasionally and 25 percent are habitual snorers. Problem snoring is more frequent in males and overweight persons, and it usually grows worse with age. More than 300 devices are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as cures for snoring. Some are variations on the old idea of sewing a tennis ball on the pajama back - to force the snorer to sleep on his side. (Snoring is often worse when the person sleeps on his back). Chin and head straps, neck collars, and devices inserted into the mouth are usually disappointing as snoring cures. Many electrical devices have been designed to produce painful or unpleasant stimuli when the patient snores. The presumption was that a person could be trained or conditioned not to snore. Unfortunately, snoring is not under the person's control whatsoever; and if these devices work it is probably because they keep the snorer awake.

What Causes Snoring?
The noisy sounds of snoring occur when there is an obstruction to the free flow of air through the passages at the back of the mouth and nose. This is the collapsible part of the airway where the tongue and upper throat meet the soft palate and uvula (the fleshy structure that dangles from the roof of the mouth back into the throat). When these structures strike against each other and vibrate during breathing, that is snoring. Persons who snore have at least one of the following problems:

Poor muscle tone (lack of tightness) in the muscles of the tongue and throat. Flabby muscles allow the tongue to fall backwards into the airway or allow the throat muscles to be drawn in from the sides into the airway. This occurs when the person's muscular control is too relaxed from alcohol or from drugs which cause sleepiness. It also happens in some persons when they relax in the deep-sleep stages.

Excessive bulkiness of tissues of the throat. Large tonsils and adenoids, for example, commonly cause snoring in children. Overweight persons also have bulky neck tissues. Cysts or tumors could also be present, but they are rare.

Excessive length of the soft palate and uvula. A long palate may narrow the opening from the nose into the throat. As it dangles in the airway, the soft palate with its attached uvula acts as a flutter valve during relaxed breathing, and contributes to the noise of snoring. A long uvula makes matters even worse.

Obstructed nasal airways. When a person has a stuffy or blocked-up nose he must pull hard to inhale air through it. This creates an exaggerated vacuum in his throat, in the collapsible part of the airway, and it pulls together the floppy tissues of the throat. So snoring occurs even in persons who would not snore if they could breathe through the nose properly. This explains why some people snore only during the hay fever season, or when they have a cold or sinus infection. Also, deformities of the nose or nasal septum frequently cause such obstruction. "Deviated septum" is a common term for a deformity inside the nose in the wall that separates one nostril from the other.

Is Snoring Serious?
Socially - yes. It is disruptive to family life. It makes the snorer an object of ridicule and causes other household members sleepless nights and resentfulness. Snorers become unwelcome roommates on vacations or business trips.

And medically - yes. It disturbs the sleeping patterns of the snorer himself, so that he may not sleep restfully. Furthermore, heavy snorers tend to develop high blood pressure at a younger age than non-snorers.

The most exaggerated form of snoring is known as obstructive sleep apnea, when loud snoring is interrupted by frequent episodes of totally obstructed breathing. This is serious if the episodes last over 10 seconds each and occur more than 7 times per hour. Your physician may recommend a laboratory sleep study as a way of evaluating your symptoms. Apnea patients may experience 50 to 500 obstructed events per night, and many spend as much as half their sleep time with blood oxygen levels below normal. During the obstructive episodes, the heart muscle may not receive sufficient oxygen resulting in irregular heartbeats that may be life threatening. Each apnea (obstructed breathing) episode ends when the brain wakes up the person enough so that he begins breathing again. The sleeper is unaware of his frequent awakenings because they only last for a few seconds but the result is that the person never progresses to deeper stages of sleep. Persons with obstructive sleep apnea may spend little of their night-time hours in the deep sleep stages that are essential for a good rest. Therefore, in the morning they awaken unrefreshed and are sleepy much of the day. They may fall asleep while driving to work or while on the job.

Since snorers with severe sleep apnea are often unaware of it, a laboratory sleep study may be the only way to discover it.

Can Snoring Be Cured?
Remember, snoring means obstructed breathing, and obstruction can be serious. It's not funny, and it is definitely not hopeless.
Every child who snores should be thoroughly examined by a physician. Medical evidence suggests that a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy will probably make an important difference in the health and well-being of the child.

Snoring adults should be examined to determine the seriousness of the problem. Treatment will depend, of course, on the diagnosis. It may be as simple as managing nasal allergies or infection. In other cases, it may require surgery to correct a nasal deformity or to remove large tonsils or an enlarged uvula. Many snorers respond best to surgery on the throat to remove flabby tissue and expand the airway. There are other non-surgical approaches that can be performed in the office setting which essentially are treatments designed to cause scarring and thus stiffening of the soft palate. These include somnoplasty and snoreplasty.

Please make an appointment with one of our physicians to discuss the right option for you!
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