Too much Snoring could mean Sleep Apnea, from Idaho Falls Cosmetic Dentists

Snoring is very common in the general population and usually poses no problems.

However, if you’re the type who snores the stops breathing for more than 10 seconds then resume breathing or snoring again, we've got a problem.

If your room mate, spouse, or partner has noticed this from you then you probably have sleep apnea. You can consult an Idaho Falls cosmetic dentist who has specialized in the diagnoses and management of sleep apnea regarding the said illness.

Sleep apnea is pretty hard to detect since this only happens when you sleep. But f you have a spouse or a partner or a roommate (you can also ask a friend to help you) that has complained about your snoring then why don’t you ask them to observe you for a while when you sleep. Ask them if they observe you stop breathing for a moment (more than 10 seconds) and time and record these lapses of breathing.

Medically speaking, there are three different types of sleep apnea: Obstructive sleep apnea (most common), Central Sleep apnea, and the mixed sleep apnea.

The obstructive type sleep apnea is the one most involved in loud snoring and it is also the most common sleep apnea. In this type, the air passages cave in or gets blocked which results to shallow or pauses in breathing. The snoring is produced because when the person with sleep apnea tries to exhale, he or she unconsciously tries to unblock the airpassages which makes a loud sound which we all call snoring.

Risk factors of obstructive sleep apnea are obesity, increased in age, and smoking.

In central sleep apnea, the muscles used for breathing does not make any effort to breathe because the brain did not send any messages for them to take action in the breathing process. When the person afflicted stops breathing there is no effort or struggle to breathe again. Later on, after the episode of not breathing ends, they breathe faster for a while as if to catch their own breath.

As for the mixed type, the patient who has this both have the combination of the obstructive and central sleep apnea.

Moreover, long term effects of sleep apnea includes excessive fatigue during the day (with no obvious causes), memory lapses, problems in vision, problems in judgement, behavioural changes such as increased aggressiveness and irritation, and undermined cognition. All these effect may have negative outcomes in relationships, job performance, and other day to day activities.

If sleep apnea goes ignored and untreated it could result to several type of health problems such as hypertension, obesity, heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeats, heart failure, diabetes, and other cardiovascular and heart problems.

You can consult your Idaho Falls cosmetic dentist who has specialized in sleep apnea. You might undergo tests to confirm the presence of sleep apnea like oxymetry or polysomnography.

If you value your health, friends, family, and your job don’t ignore sleep apnea before it’s too late. It’s better to make sure if your snoring is a result of a health problem or not.

Get yourself evaluated to prevent consequential health problems.