Snoring: More Than Just An Annoyance
From the Three Stooges to Popeye, snoring has been a subject for comedy, reports "Sunday Morning" contributor Rita Braver, unless you're the one who's doing it.
Which is why snorers like Jerry Chiles seek out doctors like Samuel Potolicchio, who runs the Sleep Center at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
"I remember young couples coming in, and the guy said, 'I'll put my head on the block. Give me any surgery — anything — but please, I have to stop this snoring, otherwise she's going to leave me,'" Dr. Potolicchio says.
The physiological reason for snoring is simple. It's caused when air passages get blocked due to weak throat muscles or swollen tissues, causing the tonsils, adenoids or uvula to vibrate. Men snore more than women — especially as they get older. Being overweight, drinking too much alcohol and smoking can all lead to snoring, but the biggest factor is genetics.
"If your mom or dad snored, that probably means that there's a good chance that you're going to snore?" Braver asks.
"There's a 50 percent chance, exactly," Dr. Potolicchio says.
So how prevalent is snoring? Well, a recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that some 59 percent of all Americans admit to some amount of snoring. But guess what — 67 percent of those polled say their partner snores, though it's not just the roommate who suffers.
Dr. Mark Sanders runs the Sleep Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
"Most importantly, snoring can be an indicator of a more serious health-related issue of sleep apnea," he says.
Dr. Sanders says snorers diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea have repeated episodes throughout the night when they actually stop breathing for a few seconds at a time. They might not even be conscious of it, but it leaves them exhausted and prone to accidents, even falling asleep at the wheel the way one of his patients Carl Lander did.
"When the car stopped and I came to, my — the window was — my windshield was shattered," Lander says. "The motor was on fire. The doors were not open, and I had to crawl out through a window.
For more than 20 years, Lander has been using various versions of a contraption known as a C-Pap for continuous positive airway pressure, which keeps the airways open during sleep.
"'Cause after one night of sleep, it was that I was able to function like I never thought—like I haven't functioned for years," he says.
There are other purported ways to stop snoring as well, including a variety of oral devices and even special throat sprays and pillows that may or may not work — sometimes surgery to firm up the throat muscles or shorten the uvula.
"The effort is in order to reduce the amount of tissue that is likely to vibrate," Dr. Sanders says.
Dr. Sanders says it's just since the 1970's that researchers have really begun to understand snoring and sleep deprivation. There's even emerging evidence it may be linked to diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. There are now some 3,000 clinics in the U.S.
"We are in fact a country with increasing risk factors for snoring. We are getting heavier, and as a nation, we are getting older," Dr. Sanders says.
So is there any good news? Well, it turns out not everyone needs a sophisticated cure for snoring.
"And it's probably worth noting that one of the oldest therapies for snoring and sleep apnea is the elbow," Dr. Sanders says. "The elbow of the partner inserted to the side of the rib cage of the snorer, or the person with sleep apnea."