While smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a family history of cardiovascular disease are commonly cited as risk factors, the health risks associated with snoring are often overlooked.
Snoring is an EAR, nose and throat problem, how can it have adverse effects on the heart?
While snoring doesn't necessarily harm your heart, one type of snoring that does is called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. That is, sleep will apnea, and even suddenly suffocated wake up. Patients can stop breathing briefly after falling asleep, triggering risks such as heart failure and stroke.
How is snoring dangerous?
The airway of a snorer is usually narrower than normal, and compensatory contractions of the throat muscles during the day keep the airway open and free of blockage. But when sleeping at night, nerve excitability drops, muscle relaxation, pharyngeal tissue blockage, so that the upper airway collapse, when the airflow through the narrow part, produce eddy current and cause vibration, thereby appearing snoring, serious breathing can temporarily stop, affecting the health of snoring.
What are the dangers of snoring?
1. Memory and brain cell function are affected
Patients are usually accompanied by daytime lethargy, inattention, resulting in cognitive function is also affected, attention, memory and executive ability compared with healthy people significantly decreased, the serious cases will lead to dementia.
Snoring is closely related to hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and hypercapnia
The brain is in a state of hypoxia and low pressure for a long time, which easily leads to hypertension and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
3. Snoring is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes
The incidence of diabetes in snorers is 15 to 30 percent, and the two affect each other.
4. Affect lung function
Due to long-term hypoventilation and even temporary apnea, patients will lead to pulmonary dysfunction, insufficient ventilation, severe hypoxemia and hypercapnia. If apnea time is too long, acute respiratory failure can occur, and some patients can also be complicated with nighttime asthma.
Try these tips to avoid snoring
1. Keep your pillow low
Patients with sleep snoring should choose a pillow of appropriate height. Some people think that sleeping on a high pillow will improve breathing, but this is wrong. Sleeping on a high pillow can actually make snoring worse.
2. Don't make the mattress too soft
Soft mattresses are comfortable to lie on, but they're bad for our spines and bad for snorers. Snores are better off sleeping on a firm mattress.
3. Create a sleep environment
A good sleep environment helps us fall asleep faster and sleep better. Sleep often snore nasal cavity, throat are often dry, can put a humidifier in the bedroom, can moisten the nasal cavity.
4. Don't drink alcohol before bed
Drinking alcohol before bed can increase blood pressure and blood sugar. It can also lead to a narrowing of our airways, which makes it difficult to breathe, leading to snoring.
5. Pay attention to sleep position
Everyone has their own sleeping position, and for snores, sleeping on their side is best.
6. Drink honey before bed
Honey is a great way to moisturize your throat. Taking some honey before bed can help smooth your throat and keep you breathing. It's also good for snorers.
7. To lose weight
Studies have found that obese people are three times more likely to snore than people of normal weight.
8. Develop good habits
Quitting smoking, limiting alcohol and exercising are all helpful in preventing and controlling snoring.