In some cases, snoring is just a minor, pesky problem. However, in others, it come lead to some serious health issues. While snoring is common among people of all ages and genders, according to data provided by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, men are almost as twice as likely to have a snoring problem than women.
What are the Main Causes of Snoring?
The loud sound you make while you snore is formed in your throat when the air that’s going in and out of your lungs hits an obstacle. That causes the air to vibrate and thus, create that all too familiar sound, which can keep us awake for hours.
And what are some of the obstacles that cause it? Well, the muscles in your neck can cause it along with certain anatomical abnormalities of the nose. Those aren’t the only factors of course, but they are the most common ones.
Your throat muscles become weaker as you age, which is why so many elderly people snore while they sleep. Also, drugs and alcohol can have a similar effect on your throat muscles, because they are muscle-relaxants after all.
Can Snoring be Dangerous for Your Health?
As we said in the first paragraph, snoring might be nothing more than a nuisance, however, snoring has been linked to a number of medical problems. As some of you probably know, snoring is a strong indicator of sleep apnea.
Not only that, but according to WebMD, snoring is also associated with serious diseases, including;
- High blood pressure
- Heart attack and stroke
- Premature death
Let’s get back to sleep apnea for one moment. According to new findings, people who are dealing with obstructive sleep apnea are actually at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s at some stage of their lives.
As Science Daily reports, researchers have recently discovered that people who suffer sleep apnea tend to develop certain memory problems much earlier than regular people. The study looked at more than 200 subjects and found out that on average, people with sleep apnea develop cognitive problems.
This is the first study that found a clear connection between sleep apnea and cognitive impairments, which means we still are not quite sure how it all works. Researchers think that snoring contributes to a beta-amyloid build up in your brain. People who suffer from Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia also have high levels of this hormone.
How to Ease the Symptoms of Snoring?
Although snoring won’t necessarily lead to some of the serious illnesses we mentioned above, there’s still a reasonable chance that it will. That means, even if you snore only from time to time, you should still try to deal with it before it turns into a full-blown problem.
But you shouldn’t worry – there are numerous snoring solutions out there. As a matter of fact, there are even some high tech gadgets, such as the Smartpatch, Neuroon Intelligent Sleep Mask, and the Smart Pillow, to name a few.
Needless to say, all of these solutions are costly. So if you don’t want to spend a ton of money on resolving something that might not be a problem, you can try some breathing exercises at first. If they don’t work, you can then buy a cost-effective anti-snoring gadget that’s know to produce good results.
A pretty good low-cost solution is an anti-snoring mouthpiece, which holds your tongue and jaw in place while you’re in a sleeping state. If you want to know more about mouthpieces that can help you stop snoring, we recommend you read this Zenguard review and see how they actually work.
Final Thoughts
If your snoring becomes problematic at any point in your life – for example, if your spouse starts complaining or sleeping in a separate room – you should definitely visit a doctor. A sleep specialist will do a checkup and see whether you need a special treatment for your problem or not.
We hope you enjoyed our article and that you found it helpful. If you have additional questions about snoring by any chance, don’t hesitate to leave a comment in the comment section below.
