Snoring Mouthpiece - stop and prevent snoring

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Snoring Health Implications

Snoring, is actually not a sickness but rather a symptom to an impending health condition.

How does snoring occur? It happens when a person is sleeping: the muscles inside his or her mouth relaxes and sags. Usually it’s the soft palate, the uvula and the tonsils that sags. When they do, the airway of the the sleeping person’s throat gets partially blocked. This partial blockage will cause the sagging muscles to vibrate and cause that buzzing sound more commonly known as snoring.

Now, why did we say that snoring is not a sickness? Because snoring in itself is not hazardous to the body. What is dangerous and should be given attention to are its implications.

People who suffer from obesity and are overweight are most likely to snore during sleep because of the fat gathering around their throat. When they sleep the excess fats would collapse in the airways (due to relaxation) causing an obstruction to their breathing. Obviously, the collapse of the throat muscles will cause the vibration of the throat muscles that will produce that disturbing snore.

In this case, the implications are obvious. Since the person is suffering from obesity and excess weight, it is possible that the person could eventually suffer from heart diseases. The cure in this case should be the reduction of fats in the body and the adjustment of his or her lifestyle through exercise and diet.

Sometimes, snoring could be a symptom to a less obvious but threateningly serious condition. It is a sleeping disorder known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). A person suffering from this condition usually snores loudly and just like every other person who snores, his breathing is obstructed.

OSA is a condition where the person skips breathing for over ten seconds and this skip or total obstruction of breathing may occur more than seven times per hour. When sleep apnea occurs, the oxygen levels in the body reduces which will cause the heart to pump more blood. By doing so, the heart will get strained and this may lead to serious heart conditions.

Also, if the body becomes aware of this, it is possible that the body will subconsciously deprive itself of deep slumber. This is to prevent the throat muscles to totally relax and sag and therefore the body will not be able to fully rest. Sometimes, people with sleeping apnea will have short episodes of waking during sleep to catch his or her breath. But his happens so sudden that the person doesn’t even notice that it happens. Sometimes, for some individuals, total obstruction of breathing may also cause the person to wake up in the middle of the night.

The implication in this situation is that the person will not be able to sleep well. Because of this, even after long hours of sleep, the individual will feel exhausted and tired because he or she wasn’t able to actually rest. This will of course lead to stress related illnesses including heart diseases.

Now, if you look at it, snoring may look like a simple noise created during sleep when in fact, it is related to some serious medical condition. This is why correcting and treating such sleeping habit is important.

There are various methods and solutions provided and developed to address and provide treatment to snoring such as:

Correcting sleeping posture - By correcting and adjusting sleeping posture, the throat and airways will be less prone to getting obstructed and may help prevent snoring.

Anti snoring pillows - which will also adjust the position of the head and the throat to minimize the probability of obstruction and thus prevent snoring.

Surgery – by removing tissues at the back of the throat, air passages are cleared and widened to allow air to move freely in and out of the throat. By doing so, the person’s snoring may be reduced.

Snoring Mouth Piece – these are dental appliances that will adjust the position of the jaw, the tongue and the throat muscles to prevent and minimize snoring.

There are more gadgets, items, methods and practices made and developed to either prevent or minimize snoring and its health implications. But what is important in this situation is that the person or the individual who snores during sleep should watch his health as well, especially in terms of diet and lifestyle.A healthy lifestyle and a healthy diet will surely minimize the fatal and serious medical conditions related to snoring.

How To Diagnose Sleep Apnea

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a sleeping disorder that is difficult to detect. Simply observing a patient is not enough to determine whether one is afflicted with this disorder. Although there are symptoms like fatigue even after a full night’s rest and difficulty to breathe when sleeping, they are not conclusive in determining whether one has OSA or not. But, although these symptoms are not conclusive, these are enough for you to consider consulting with a specialist and undergo diagnosis.

How is Obstructive Sleep Apnea diagnosed?

To conclusively identify the sleeping disorder that a person is suffering he or she must undergo a process or a sleep study called the Polysomnogram. This sleep study monitors your brain waves, heart rate and breathing as you sleep.

When you visit the hospital or clinic, you will be required to sleep the night for the polysomnogram. Your brain waves will be charted to monitor your REM activities, your breathing will also be charted to determine how many times you stop breathing during your sleep. Your oxygen levels will be charted as well and also, your leg movements will also be monitored to determine the major movements of your body when you sleep.

Actually, there are about 14 charts to be determined or monitored during your sleep. All these charts will determine conclusively what sleeping disorder you might be afflicted with.

If you are actually suffering from OSA, then you might be suffering from one of the two types of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. It could be Sleep Apnea, where your breathing ceases for 10 seconds, followed by an arousal (shifts in brain waves, which causes the fatigue) and then a 3% desaturation of oxygen in the blood. It could also be hypopnea where your your breathing is decreased by 50% for 10 seconds followed by an arousal, and then a 3% desaturation of oxygen in the blood.

Both these Sleep Apnea disorders are dangerous to your health especially to your heart. In order to prevent any serious implications, your doctor will provide you with a mandible contraption that will allow you to breathe normally at night. It is advisable to heed your doctor’s advise after the results are gathered.