Care For Your Sleep

Posts Tagged ‘snoring’

Australian specialists and scientists carry on studying human sleep patterns and discovering new things about possible risks linked to having troubled nights on a regular basis. According to a new research, such symptoms as snoring, obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep disturbances can be connected with graduate brain damage and brain shrinkage. The study was carried out by a group of Australian sleep physicians from Austin Health Center in Melbourne, leaded by Fergal O’Donoghue.

Using high-tech imagery technologies, the specialists analyzed brain scans of a large group of the participants, some of which were normal sleepers, and some suffered from regular snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. After comparing the scans of the participants, it turned out that those who have troubled sleep on a regular basis have certain differences in two brain areas: in particular, around those ones which are responsible for human memory and our physical movement control.

It was actually left unclear, if it is sleep apnea that caused brain changes, or vice-versa. Specialists tend to believe that the connections between sleep disorder causing brain shrinkage are more likely to take place, but it is also clear that these types of sleep patterns can cause serious risks to snorer’s health and life.  “These were patients with very severe decreases in oxygen levels during the night, and we know from animal studies that if you subject them to drops in oxygen levels, they do develop changes in brain structure,” O’Donoghue says.

Snoring and sleep apnea are among very common conditions for toady’s Australian society as they are very frequently associated with overweight and obesity. According to O’Donoghue, about 90% of cases are undiagnosed. At the same time, another research of Australian sleep experts at Sydney University has shown that those people who suffer from snoring and obstructive sleep apnea have three times higher risks of atherosclerosis caused by damaged artery walls. These findings of Australian sleep specialists were recently presented at the Australian Sleep Conference  in Christchurch.

Snoring is quite a serious problem that the majority of senior people have to experience. It is a condition when the air a person takes in causes vibrations of the relaxed tissues in the throat. As a result, quite loud and unpleasant harsh sounds are created. Snoring is not only disturbing for the people around, it can also indicate pretty serious health problems. According to the specialists, the main causes of snoring include such factors as having extra weight, suffering from sleep apnea, nasal conditions and the specifics of mouth anatomy, alcohol consumption before going to sleep, and others.

Actually, ineffective weight management should be considered the most common cause and the most serious inclination to snoring. Recent researches demonstrated that those people who are affected by snoring usually have extra weight and have to fight against other consequences of this problem (including breathlessness, varicose veins, etc.). Based on the findings of such studies, the scientists offered a new approach to the treatment, which can help thousands of people stop snoring.

The experts are convinced that in order to achieve positive results and stop snoring, it can be enough to lower the person’s weight for 10%, and this will cause a substantial snoring relief for quite a long period of time. “In the majority of people, extra weight causes cessation of breathing at night, that is why the risk of developing such habit as snoring is much higher,” a Spanish researcher comments. According to this scientists, snoring relief is something very important as snoring is linked to serious disruption of cardio-vascular system function and can cause a stroke.

The experiments in Spain involved middle-aged men and women, who suffered from regular snoring. They were offered a healthy nutrition plan and effective weight management techniques, which helped the participants to shed 20-25 lbs. As a result, 35% of the participants managed to achieve a substantial snoring relief and be back to normal breathing patterns during their night’s sleep. At that those participants, who did not follow the diet displayed no changes in their night’s snoring routine.

It is a known fact that about 25% of men and women above 45 suffer from serious snoring and sleep apnea. At that, about 3% of those experience gasping and numerous interruptions in breathing, which eventually lead to constant sleep interruption at night. Recently, a group of British specialists carried out  a series of researches, which ended up with some disappointing findings. They registered new scientific evidence of the fact that snoring affects our brain activity and increases the risks of having a stroke.

The sleep of 13 volunteers (12 male and 1 female) with heavy forms of snoring (obstructive apnea) was under close observation of the scientists. It was found out that there are certain bio-chemical changes that occur in the brain under effect of snoring. Most likely, the brain is affected by a lack of oxygen caused even by a short interruption of breathing, which occurs in people with sleep apnea. Negative effect of such interruptions in breathing is very strong, that is why the specialists suggest to revise our attitude toward snoring and not to delay treatment of this ailment.

Moreover, obstructive apnea and hypopnea proved to cause decreased blood flow to brain, as well as create extra pressure on the chest and heart. The scientists say that every night the people with obstructive apnea have to fight for breathing with the same efforts as the ones they would have to spend for breathing with a hand over their nose and mouth. According to Dr. Kingman P. Strohl of Case Western Reserve University, reduced blood flow to the brain caused by severe snoring increases risks for stroke.