Snoring can be a danger to your health in addition to being bothersome.
- Living with a snorer can strain even the most dedicated relationship leading to dissension and in some cases, divorce. Studies show bed partners of snorers loose up to one hour of sleep per night. The emotional costs of snoring can be as severe as snoring's physical damage. And it's definitely a relationship deal breaker in the early stages of an intimate relationship.
- If you are kept awake night after night by a bed-partner's snoring, you are not getting the sleep you need. Sleep deprivation can lead to irritability, muddled thinking, illness, poor performance at work and drowsy driving.
- When a spouse is disturbed by snoring, he or she will move to a seperate bedroom. A recent study pointed out that 80% of snoring couples slept apart. The effect of the noise on a sleeping partner of a snorer can raise blood pressure in direct relation to the intensity of the noise. High blood pressure is a known risk factor for stroke, heart disease, kidney disease and dementia.
- Repeated deprivation of oxygen to the brain can cause high blood pressure which can damage the carotid arteries on each side of the neck. The carotid arteries carry oxygen to the brain. The damage can lead to the development of cholesterol containing plaque which further restricts blood flow to the brain and can lead to stroke.
- A report from the University of California School of Dentistry found that 21% of men who snore had hardened blockages in their carotid arteries.
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea may arise as snoring is a crdinal symptom of OSA.
- A new study has shown that loud snoring itself can have devastating consequences. An article published in March, 2008 stated that loud snorers had 40% greater odds of having hypertension, 34% greater odds of having a heart attack and 67% greater odds of having a stroke than people who did not snore.
- The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that showed snorers have 3X as many motor vehicle accidents as non-snorers.
- A Mayo Clinic Study showed bed partners loose about one hour of sleep each night.
