What happens when that soft, sweet sleep is rudely interrupted by the boisterous snoring of your beloved? Like a splash of cold water in the morning, your partner’s snoring can affect your health & wellness in ways you probably haven’t considered.
Sleep Problems are Shared among Partners
Even if you aren’t fully woken from sleep, you are more than likely still suffering from the effects of your partner’s snoring. Like the ins and outs of breathing, a couple sleeping together can affect each other, transferring one’s bad sleeping problems over to the other.
If that problem is snoring, then the health issues could be more involved. Studies have shown that your partner’s snoring will affect your sleeping. In a Mayo Clinic study, snorers woke up their spouses almost as much as they woke up themselves. In addition to the physiological, there are increased emotional tensions that manifest themselves in relationships where snoring is prevalent.
[Related: Why does Snoring Happen?]
As much as you love and cherish your partner, you would feel the urge to take that pillow and clobber them with it. Unsurprisingly, shortened sleep is bad for your health. It could be as apparent as increased levels of fatigue and sleepiness, higher blood pressure, or reduced dopamine levels. Also, it’s been shown that cognitive ability suffers from sleep deprivation.
It might be relieving to kick your snorer in the shins, this wouldn’t really qualify as a dependable plan to get a good night’s rest. A way to avoid the deeper problem but attack a symptom would be to sleep in separate rooms. Maintaining good sleep hygiene is key to ensuring that your body is mentally and physically recovered from the day. This can range from setting a regular time to begin your nightly bedtime ritual to reducing evening screen time on electronic devices to restricting the types of food that could keep you up.
Real Danger of Snoring is Sleep Apnea
Your beloved’s snoring can be detrimental to your whole health, but the harm it can cause to your partner could be a worse problem. Because interrupted sleep is nothing compared to interrupted breathing. Snoring could be a symptom of sleep apnea, the interruption of a full breath. Sleep is basically the vacation you get from the work of everyday life. It resets your body. Can you imagine not getting any relaxation during your vacation? Sleep apnea means your body gets a shortened breath, oxygenated as it needs to be at its time of recovery.
Sleep apnea is dangerous since it keeps your body from operating at optimal levels. This could take the form of diminished immune system and increased rates of depression. All these negative effects are possible since the body is strained from fully executing its biological processes, leading to more severe complications and even sudden death.
According to research, obesity and sleep apnea are correlated. The extra tissue in the back of the throat can fall down over the airway and block the flow of air into the lungs while a person sleeps. At The Pasha Sinus And Snoring Center we have developed our own medically supervised weight loss program for our patients. Breaking this vicious cycle is paramount for managing sleep apnea as well as general healthy living.
Couples’ Health Outcomes are Related
As much as we love to spend time with our partners, the closeness means you’ll be sharing not simply the emotional & social ups and downs of any normal relationship. You’re also sharing your healths. It’s been found that couples’ health statuses are related to each other.
Additionally, there are emergent effects from physical ailments, most commonly the stress-induced release of cortisol, a hormone responsible for blood sugar levels, metabolism, and inflammation. The stress that releases cortisol can come from a couple emotionally managing a health issue connected to sleep apnea or paying the healthcare costs.
Even if you’re not experiencing any health issues due to your partner’s snoring, that does not mean your partner’s snoring is not giving them any. This Valentine’s Day, give yourself the gift of knowing that that snoring is truly affecting the health of you and your loved ones.
To stay up-to-date on everything happening at Pasha, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Pinterest so you can breathe freely in 2019 and beyond!
