If your partner wakes you up with an elbow in the ribs or a pillow in the face at night because of your snoring, you’re probably going to just roll over and fall back asleep. The middle of the night is no time for talking through these problems. But when they bring it up again in the morning, an unfortunate number of people, predominantly men, just don’t want to talk about it.
But you should talk about snoring treatment, and here’s why:
Your Health Is on the Line
You might think it’s just snoring, and that’s possible, but it’s also possible that you have sleep apnea, in which your breathing stops during the night. It can happen hundreds of times a night, even though you’re not aware of it.
Sleep apnea comes with serious risks for your overall health, including life-threatening cardiovascular risks. Overall, sleep apnea can increase your risk of death from any cause by up to six times. Even snoring can be bad for your cardiovascular health. The vibrations of snoring cause micro-injuries to your arteries, causing them to scar, which leads to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and can increase your risk of stroke.
The only way to know whether you have sleep apnea is with a sleep test, which you should consider if your partner is complaining about snoring—the louder you snore, the higher your risk of sleep apnea. It’s vital for your health to take your partner’s reports of snoring seriously.
It Will Improve Your Sleep
Snoring doesn’t just impact your partner’s sleep: it can make it harder for you to sleep, too. And we’re not just talking about elbows and pillows—the sound of your snoring can wake you up, too, even if you’re not aware of it. Plus, snoring is caused by constriction in your airway, and low oxygen can lead to lower quality sleep.
If you have sleep apnea, the problem is even worse. With sleep apnea, you awaken each time your body stops breathing. Your brain has to awaken enough to restart breathing, and that can keep you from reaching the deeper levels of sleep necessary for many of the tasks your body needs to perform during sleep. As a result, you might feel exhausted every day, no matter how many hours you spend in bed each night. If you find yourself dozing off at work or when driving home in the evening, you should take your snoring seriously and seek care.
It Can Improve Intimacy
Let’s face it: your spouse is less likely to want to get intimate with you when they aren’t sleeping well. They will have a lower sexual drive. Plus, they’re more likely to be angry. No wonder, considering the getting treatment to help give them more energy.
And you’re less likely to want intimacy, too, since snoring and sleep apnea can significantly impact your sex drive. It can be worse than that, too, as sleep apnea can lead to erectile dysfunction and other types of sexual dysfunction. Women with sleep apnea not only experience lower sex drives, but they also experience less sexual pleasure. If you want to improve intimacy with your partner, it’s time to treat your snoring.
It Can Prevent Violence
We’re not saying that your spouse will stab you in your sleep because of snoring. But it happens. Sleep deprivation can take otherwise sane and loving people and cause temporary insanity.
The problem is that poor sleep diminishes empathy. If you’re snoring, the odds are good that neither you nor your partner sleeps well at night. This means that you are both likely to be low on empathy, leading to situations where even minor disagreements can escalate into major arguments and possibly violence.
You can protect yourself by doing something about your snoring. Even just exploring options can help to diffuse a tense situation.
It’s Your Responsibility
Your snoring is your responsibility. When you enter into a relationship with someone, you commit to at least some bare-bones consideration. When your snoring saturates the entire room—even the entire house—it’s your responsibility to do something about it.
Effective Snoring Treatment in the Detroit Area
We know that many people put off getting snoring treatment because they think it’s impossible to treat snoring. However, it is possible to treat your snoring effectively. Avoid the home remedies you might find online or at your local drugstore. Instead, seek professional care from a sleep dentist. Prescription oral appliances are very effective at treating snoring and sleep apnea. At the Michigan Center for TMJ & Sleep Wellness, we have a long history of helping patients find relief. Check out the reviews from some of our satisfied patients.
You might have put it off a while, but there’s no better time than the present to do the right thing. Please call (248) 480-0085 for an appointment with a Detroit sleep dentist at the Michigan Center for TMJ & Sleep Wellness.
