A recent study conducted has revealed that almost 45 percent of normal adults are occasional snorers and around 25 percent of them are confirmed habitual snorers. More number of men snore than women and as individuals advance in their age they may tend to snore frequently. Further, adult over weight males snore more often than the over weight women.
Whenever there is a blockage in your throat airway that restricts free airflow, then the forced in air will vibrate the soft palate tissues present in the upper throat area and this vibration is heard as snoring outside.
Sometimes the small conical shaped skinny structure called uvula that hangs from upper portion of your throat may also vibrate during your breathing in sleep and this will also produce snoring. The airway block in throat will normally occur when your tongue falls back from its position or when the soft palate tissues fall back in throat due to relaxation.
What Could be the Possible Indication?
Though snoring is a serious social issue it may also indicate other serious medical conditions such as sleep apnea in a person. Often the snorers seldom recognize their condition and they continue to cause resentment in others. A habitual snorer despite his/her full night s sleep may not feel refreshed in the morning and the person will continue to feel drowsiness in the morning.
Further, snoring is also an indication of sleep apnea and in such case the persons will wake up intermittently in their sleep and fall back asleep without being conscious about it. This frequent wake up state will not give enough rest for the person and such person will have other classic symptoms such as memory loss, drowsiness, fatigue, etc.
Sleep apnea is a serious health condition and may even result in stroke or heart attack in a person and hence as a prudent person you should never ignore your snoring habit and you should consult a doctor for professional advice.
Get your snoring diagnosed properly and try to rule out the possibility of sleep apnea. Instead of consulting a general physician, you can consult an otolaryngologist who will be the right person to diagnose your snoring pattern in relation to your throat and neck condition and let you know the seriousness of your snoring.
Any treatment to snoring will normally be taken up or administered only after a proper diagnosis, as snoring in a person can be due to nasal allergy, or nasal septum deformity, or infections or even due to presence of adenoids or tonsils.
Further, the treatment methods are also varied in nature and it may include a surgical correction or medication or recommending lifestyle changes or a combination of these methods. Normally snoring and sleep apnea can be effectively treated by more than one treatment methods or with a specific combination of these treatment methods.
Besides surgical remedies such as bipolar cautery, or laser and radiofrequency surgery, there are also few easy self-help remedies such as adapting to a changed lifestyle, weight reduction, abstinence from alcohol, usage of antihistamines, etc., that can help people to stop snoring.