You may realize that you snore but have little idea of how severe your snoring problem really is until someone tells you. If a loved one has expressed concern about your snoring habit and its disruptive nature, there is more than one reason to take note. Not only do you want to support your relationship by protecting everyone’s sleep, yours included, but you also need to realize that there comes the point at which snoring is a dangerous habit. Here, we want to point out a few ways that snoring may be revealing that you have obstructive sleep apnea.

No Amount Of Sleep Feels Like Enough

Many people wake up feeling groggy and sleepy. However, if you consistently wake up feeling exhausted, even after at least eight hours in bed, it could be because your quality of sleep is being disrupted. If your morning is spent chugging coffee and you still can’t seem to break out of that fog bank in your head, it could be that your body is working on overdrive at night.

Obstructive sleep apnea causes a pause in breathing. This can happen hundreds of times a night. When you stop breathing, your brain panics and releases adrenaline to wake you up enough so you begin to breathe again (until the next apnea episode). As a result of this constant struggle for deep sleep, some people find that they have to nap during the day or that they fall asleep when they sit for a few minutes.

Mornings Are A Headache

Many people with obstructive sleep apnea also report that they tend to wake up with a headache more often than not. The reason that this may occur is that the flow of oxygen to the brain is restricted during every apnea episode.

Blood Pressure Climbs

Sleep apnea disrupts the processes that are commonly performed while you sleep. Therefore, a number of secondary concerns may originate with this sleep disorder. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is one example. Blood pressure may increase in the face of obstructive sleep apnea because, in the body’s state of shock, blood vessels constrict and blood pressure rises to jumpstart the respiratory system. The circulatory effects of an apnea episode linger even after breathing has resumed.

Obstructive sleep apnea presents serious concerns, but it can be treated efficiently. Some people obtain the best results with oral appliance therapy. If you suspect you have obstructive sleep apnea and would like to learn more about this treatment, contact us online or call our Beverly Hills office at 310-276-4537.

We all are familiar with the sound of snoring but what causes snoring and how can a Beverly Hills sleep apnea dentist help? Snoring is not only annoying to whoever is within earshot of you while you are sleeping but it can be a sign of a more serious health problem called obstructive sleep apnea.

Snoring is simply the sound that is produced during sleep by the soft tissues of the upper airway vibrating during sleep. This happens because the airway has become partially blocked – as we sleep the tissues in our mouth and throat relax and fall back blocking the airway. Snoring is common even in Beverly Hills. If you are over the age of 30 then almost 50% of men and 30% of women will snore. Simple snoring can sometimes be solved by avoiding certain sleeping positions. Most people snore more when sleeping on their back so forcing yourself to sleep on your side may fix the problem.

Mild snoring probably won’t cause any real health consequences but more severe snoring may increase the risk of narrowing of the blood vessels in the neck. A study showed that the more total sleep time spent snoring led to a higher risk of developing the narrowing. Researchers believe this happens because of the vibration damaging the carotid arteries.

Snoring can cause your bed partner (and in more serious cases those in adjoining rooms) to experience disturbed sleep. Disrupted sleep can lead to mood changes, increases in blood pressure and weight gain.

You don’t have to sleep in another room! An oral appliance from a dentist who is experienced in treating sleep breathing disorders can create a custom oral appliance that will stop the snoring. Not only will your bed partner feel better after a full night of sleep, you will be surprised how much more energy you will have following a quiet, restful night of sleep.

To find out more about oral appliances for snoring please contact Beverly Hills sleep apnea dentist Dr. David Frey at 310-276-4537 today to schedule your consultation.

Does a snoring spouse keep you awake at night? Losing sleep because of a bed-partner that snores actually has been given a name by sleep researchers – SAS or Spousal Arousal Syndrome. Researchers say that spouses of snorers lose an average of two hours of sleep each night. No wonder you feel cranky!

Lack of sleep causes weight gain, irritability, increased blood pressure, memory problems and daytime sleepiness. Poor job performance and an increased risk of accident due to tiredness are also common. Most couples, about 80%, resort to sleeping in separate bedrooms. In fact some home builders are now designing homes with a “snoring room” next to the master bedroom.

The problem with this solution is that it doesn’t address the real problem. The snoring spouse most likely has a sleep breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Does your partner seem to stop breathing or gasp for air during sleep? These are signs of OSA which can have serious consequences if left untreated.

Sleep apnea occurs when the soft tissues of the mouth and throat relax during sleep and fall back into the airway. When the airway is partially blocked you have snoring. When the airway is completely blocked breathing stops. The brain becomes starved for oxygen and briefly wakens the sleeper to gasp for breath. This can happen many times each hour and the sleeper never remembers anything. The long suffering spouse remembers it all.

Untreated obstructive sleep apnea increases risk of heart attack and stroke, causes weight gain and poor blood sugar control. Fortunately, diagnosing and treating sleep apnea can allow you both a full night of sleep. A highly effective treatment for OSA is a specially made oral appliance from a dentist trained in dental sleep medicine. In Beverly Hills, CA your dental sleep medicine dentist is Dr. David Frey.

Get your spouse diagnosed and treated. You both wake up feeling energized and refreshed! How long has it been since that happened?

To schedule your consultation please contact Beverly Hills sleep medicine dentist Dr. David Frey at 310-276-4537 today.