True Sleep Houston
Snoring
Snoring can often be the first sign of an underlying sleep disorder.
A lot of our patients seek treatment with us initially because they or their bed partner snore and it interferes with their ability to sleep.
Unless a patient is suffering from sinus or nasal congestion, snoring is a symptom of an airway being obstructed. When the soft palate and tissues in the back of the throat collapse, the throat can vibrate as air passes through this area.
Common causes are large tonsils, sleeping position, alcohol consumption, excess weight around the neck, or sleeping pills and muscle relaxers.
Snoring can be a sign of sleep disorders, UARS (upper airway resistance syndrome) and OSA (obstructive sleep apnea). This means your airway is blocked in some capacity and turbulent airflow causes the vibrations and noise that you hear as you snore. This causes your body to produce a significant amount of extra effort to try to breathe while you are sleeping.
Sometimes, because this is a large effort on behalf of your body while you sleep- the actual effort can wake you in the middle of the night (called micro-arousals). Sometimes you don’t have these micro-arousals. Either way, you feel extremely fatigued and sleepy during the day, sometimes even despite eating healthy and exercising.
Many of our patients are suffering from UARS and feel many of the symptoms of Sleep Apnea, but indeed don’t have Sleep Apnea but do suffer from UARS. This is because your body uses an incredible amount of effort to do this and is working all night long instead of resting. You are spending the whole night fighting to breathe and you wake up tired, exhausted and sometimes can have poor concentration and memory problems.
Other issues arising from sleep deprivation include:
Irritability
Depression
Anxiety
Morning headaches
Sweating at night
Oral appliances are an extremely effective way to treat UARS.