Snoring and Sleep Apnea, Part I

Recently, we had some close relatives staying with us for the weekend.  At some point, in the middle of the night, I got up to have something to drink only to find someone sleeping on the couch in the den.  “Jeff” I said “What are you doing here?  Is the couch any more comfortable then the bed?”  “No,” he responded.  “Carol threw me out because I was snoring and she couldn’t sleep.”  I asked him, “Could I offer you anything more comfortable than the couch?”  “No,” he said, “That’s not necessary.  At home, when she throws me out I end up sleeping in the closet.”

How many of us can relate to the scene of one of the partners snoring and the other being forced to find a quieter place to sleep, or vice versa?  Let me assure you that you are not alone.  Of all adults above the age of 40, about 40% snore.  Of the general population, about 87 million Americans snore, and 45 million of them snore every night.  Needless to say, snoring is a socially embarrassing habit which is often made fun of.  You would be surprised to learn that the socially embarrassing aspect of snoring is the least of the problems. Snoring can indicate much more serious medical issues that cannot be ignored because they are life threatening.  Because of the extent of complexity of sleep apnea, I cannot discuss the entire topic in one article.  Therefore, in this column I plan to deal just with sleep apnea and its relationship to snoring.

To being with, psychologists will tell you that snoring can and does lead to breakups in relationships between couples, including marriage, and for obvious reasons.  The psychological impact from such situations cannot be discounted.  More directly related in a medical sense are the underlying complications which are indicated by snoring, and that is, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Under normal conditions, air passes through the nose and the flexible structures in the back of the throat, including the soft palate and tongue.  While these muscles relax during sleep, the airway remains open.  However, if under certain circumstance, the muscles constrict, leading to a narrower airway, airflow is partially, or even worse, totally, blocked. Snoring results from the vibration of the soft tissues in the back of the throat under such conditions.  This interruption of airflow, particularly if each episode lasts 10 seconds or longer and occurs 30-40 times per hour, is called obstructive sleep apnea (meaning, without breath).  Conservatively speaking, with each episode lasting 10 seconds, 30 times per hour, eight hours a night, a person’s brain is deprived of 40 minutes of oxygen per night.

In my next column, I plan to discuss the medical ramifications of this problem.