Snoring and Sleep Apnea
Snoring is not a trivial issue. For one thing, it’s a major symptom of sleep apnea, which is a serious medical condition. For another, sleep deprivation from sleeping with someone who snores can cause strokes, heart disease, and more. Untreated sleep apnea can put a strain on your relationship as symptoms progress. So seeking treatment can prevent health complications for you and your partner while helping your relationship.
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when someone stops breathing several times during the night due to blockage of the airway. It’s often the patient’s spouse or sleep partner who first notices the nighttime symptoms of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can include a multitude of symptoms including daytime fatigue and snoring at night which oftentimes rouses the patient’s bed partner from their sleep. Prolonged snoring and sleep apnea can lead to one or both partners becoming sleep deprived which can have negative effects on your interpersonal relationships.
How Snoring Affects Sleep Partners
If you’re a heavy snorer, there’s a good chance that it’s keeping the person who sleeps with you awake. This can lead to a great deal of tension in the relationship. It can be a source of arguments, causing resentment that tears at the fabric of the relationship.
Your snoring can also cause your sleep partner to miss out on a significant amount of sleep and this can damage their wellbeing. Lack of sleep leads to a number of serious health and wellness issues, including:
Lack of sleep leads to a number of serious health and wellness issues, including:
- Greater risk for strokes, diabetes, and heart disease
- Daytime sleepiness and fatigue
- Higher incidents of workplace and automobile accidents
- Reduced sex drive
- Depression and anxiety
- Reduced memory and intellectual function
- Weight gain
The Effects of Snoring
Resentment
Snoring often disturbs the sleep of the non-snoring partner, causing their sleep quality to decrease. Poor sleep can have negative effects on your health, happiness, and work-life.
Eventually, you may find yourself resenting your partner over the quality of sleep you’re lacking. If you’re snoring, low energy and sleep deprivation may create feelings of resentment for your partner.
Lack of Bonding
One solution many couples resort to is sleeping in separate rooms when their partner’s loud snoring becomes unbearable. This may allow for more sleep, but damages intimacy in a relationship. Without time to catch up with each other, feelings of distance could start to plague your relationship. Almost half of the couples in long-term relationships who stop sleeping together report that heavy snoring is the reason why.
Earplugs and white noise machines can be effective at allowing you to sleep with a heavy snorer, but many people find them inconvenient. The biggest issue with earplugs is that they prevent you from hearing important cues, such as an alarm clock, a disturbance, or the sound of children stirring during the night.
A lack of sleep also leads to a reduced sex drive, further impacting intimacy and pushing you and your partner apart.
Sleeping apart isn’t a long-term solution to snoring. That’s why Dr. Garceau offers quality snoring solutions.
Communication Issues
Poor sleep quality in both partners can cause general grumpiness and impaired communication. When you aren’t able to sleep properly, your brain doesn’t get the rest it needs to restore and repair itself. Prolonged sleep deprivation can negatively affect cognitive function which means, moodiness, ability to concentrate, and other functions may be impaired. Situations that may normally be resolved through patient conversation might become arguments.
Relief for Heavy Snoring
The good news is that there’s help available for heavy snorers. We offer a variety of effective treatments for snoring, including our convenient and portable dental appliances to mitigate your snoring problem.
If you or your partner snores heavily at night, it could also be a sign of sleep apnea and it is important to seek treatment as soon as possible. Talk to your physician about conducting a sleep study for a diagnosis. A sleep study will be able to confirm if the snoring is due to sleep apnea. If it turns out that your snoring is not related to sleep apnea, we can still treat your snoring with oral appliance therapy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are snoring and sleep apnea related?
While snoring is one of the most noticeable symptoms of sleep apnea, not everyone who snores suffers from the condition. If you snore, we recommend getting a sleep test to make sure it isn’t a sign of sleep apnea.
Even if you don’t have sleep apnea, Dr. Garceau can help treat your snoring with a convenient oral appliance. Snoring can affect your relationship with your partner and drive them to seek a different place to sleep, so it’s crucial to relieve your symptoms.
Can snoring be stopped?
Yes! Many patients can stop their snoring with the help of treatment. We offer convenient oral appliances that move your jaw forward while you sleep to keep your airway open, allowing you to sleep silently. There are also some lifestyle changes Dr. Garceau may recommend to help stop your snoring.
Some of these changes include losing weight, stopping the use of sedatives before bed, and quitting smoking. We recommend making these changes with the guidance of a professional and in combination with other snoring treatments.
Can lifestyle changes help alleviate snoring and sleep apnea?
Yes, certain lifestyle changes can be effective in reducing snoring and, in some cases, alleviating mild cases of sleep apnea. These may include losing weight, avoiding alcohol and sedatives before bedtime, establishing a regular sleep schedule, and sleeping on your side instead of your back. Additionally, maintaining good sleep hygiene practices, such as creating a comfortable sleep environment, can contribute to better sleep quality.
Is snoring always a sign of sleep apnea?
No, not everyone who snores has sleep apnea. While snoring can be associated with sleep apnea, it can also be caused by other factors such as nasal congestion, obesity, alcohol consumption, or sleeping position. However, loud and persistent snoring, especially when accompanied by other symptoms like daytime sleepiness and irritability, should be evaluated by a healthcare professional to rule out any underlying sleep disorders.
Quality Sleep For You & Your Partner
Don’t let snoring or sleep apnea harm your health and marriage. Dentists like Dr. Roberta Garceau work to provide solutions to sleep apnea so you can focus on what’s important to you. If you’re concerned about the effects of snoring or think your might be suffering from sleep apnea and want to schedule a consultation with Dr. Garceau, call our Windsor office at (860) 254-6189 or fill out the form to the right and we’ll reach out to you.