It’s been shown that there is a direct link between how well you sleep and your weight in particular the amount of fat that your body stores. The real culprit would appear to be stress which of course in most people causes them to sleep badly.

So if stress causes us to get fatter then anything that causes stress will hinder our attempts to lose weight.  When it comes to stress I would have to say living and sleeping with a partner who snores is definitely stressful.  It’s been shown that the partners of snorers get much less quality sleep than normal couples.

Waking up in the morning un-refreshed and sleepy does not set you up well for the challenges that the day will bring.  With most people working, looking after children and doing the normal household chores life is stressful enough without having to cope with loss of sleep as well.

Many Snoring Cures (if you can call them that) exist and trust me I’ve had my partner try them all but I’ve yet to find one that makes a big difference.  Some people are more fortunate and depending on the cause of the snoring have found a solution that works for them lucky devils.

Regardless this new study has caused me to smile because now for the first time I can blame my partner for my increasing weight. After all if he stopped snoring I wouldn’t be so fat would I?

So, if you’re trying to lose weight (fat) and are struggling then it might be a good idea to sleep in a separate room for a few weeks to see if it makes any difference.  After all losing weight is hard enough without any additional factors to have to deal with.

It would appear that dealing with stress from our environment is becoming one of the most important factors in remaining fit and healthy into our old-age.  Stress reduction I feel is one of the most important things you can do to help you cope with your normal daily activities.

My favourite ways of reducing stress is Pilates and self hypnosis because they are effective and get the job done quicker and easier than any other method I’ve tried before.

If you live with a snorer good luck!

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Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Snoring, Sleep And Why We Are Getting Fatter

Sleeping problems have a massive effect on one’s life, leading to all kinds of health problems, including anxiety and depression, difficulties in concentration, and a variety of related physical problems. Insomnia has many sources, too.

It can be caused by stressful situations in life, or lifestyle issues such as jet lag, alcohol or caffeine intake. Anything which stops us from getting the right amount of sleep we need (seven to eight hours as an adult, eight to nine hours as an adolescent and six to eight for the elderly) is a bad thing indeed.  Good sleep is something which deserves the highest priority, as much as exercise and diet.

Of course, exercise and diet are also key factors in assuring that your sleep is of a good quality. It’s a virtuous cycle- if you eat well and stay active,  you’ll find that you find it a lot easier to get a good night’s sleep. Another good tip is to avoid distractions in your sleeping area, such as computers or other electronic equipment. The more dedicated your bedroom is to sleep, the more fit for purpose it will be. One of the most common issues with our modern lifestyles is that we do too much in our sleeping areas. If we are to optimise our capability for sleep, we should not be associating our bedrooms with activity like work, or entertainment.

A good way to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep is to establish a personal routine, switching off things like the TV well before you go to sleep, taking time to relax and to get your body ready to shut down. A common mistake people make is to think that they need to tire their minds out before going to sleep, and so they’ll end up playing games on their computers or reading till they can’t keep their eyes open.

This is just self-defeating behaviour- the more you are doing to keep your mind stimulated, the more likely you are to stay awake. The opposite is true- each night, you should be trying to let go of thoughts which keep your mind occupied, to gently drift off, and let yourself relax into a calm and peaceful night’s sleep.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

The Importance Of A Good Night’s Sleep

The traditional image of a relationship is that both partners sleep together, but more and more research is coming to suggest that partners sleeping in a small double bed together can be doing more harm to a relationship than good.

Recent research conducted by Surrey University suggested that sleeping in separate beds may actually be healthier, avoiding arguments over issues like snoring, sharing space or disturbing each other’s sleep.

Here’s a stat from the British Snoring and Sleep Apnea Association; 41.5% of people in the British Isles snore. That leads to 15 million people whose partner snores. The resultant loss of sleep, which is experienced by an estimated third of the UK’s population, has been calculated as up to two years worth of sleep. It’s also true that male snorers outnumber female snorers by 2.3 to 1. The medical reason for this is that women have wider airways than men. Sorry to add more ammunition to the wars of the sexes, but in this case, it’s true! By the age of 60, roughly 60% of all men snore.

Now, given that we all typically need between seven and a half and eight and a half hours’ sleep, it’s clear that this is a pretty bad state of affairs.  Thankfully, there’s a lot that can be done.  There’s a myriad of snoring aids out there. You can move to a more comfortable bed, you can ensure that your sleeping environment is comfortably and find an anti-snoring aid that works for you.  There’s sleeping pillows to improve your posture, nasal sprays which can keep your airways open, and mandibular advancement devices and CPAP machines for the more seriously afflicted. There’s always things we can do.

So if you have a problem, don’t ignore it. Sort it out, for your own sake, and that of your partner.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Snoring Drives Couples To Sleep Apart

It’s been widely known that sleep plays a vital role in mental processes. A good night’s sleep will obviously make you sharper, more refreshed and alert. If you or your partner snores, the interruptions this causes can lead to problems, lapses and concentration and so on. But did you know that sleep is vital in the formation of memory, especially in the young?

Here’s a quote from Rebecca C. Spencer, who is professor of psychology at Amherst’s University of Massachusetts; “When you sleep, the brain replays the ‘movie’ from your day…we believe this is how sleep improves memory. As we grow old, that movie…(is) interrupted more frequently.” This difference means that in the young, the benefits of getting a decent night’s sleep can be enormous.

What do these interruptions mean? It means that we are less able to retain information learned, less able to form decent long-term memories from new experiences.  This has been understood for a while, but research led by professor Spencer is starting to suggest that even shifts from one type of sleep to another can cause a problem.

What’s this got to do with snoring? Well, it’s been noted that disturbances, such as external noise, can trigger your defence mechanisms, shifting you out of one sleep stage to another, and towards, but not necessarily all the way to consciousness. In other words, if your partner is a heavy snorer, then you may be being deprived of this vital ‘replay’ of the day’s events by their snoring, even without being woken up fully.

Just another reason to get them to sort it out? You bet!

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

The Effects Of Sleep On Memory Formation

We talk a lot about procedures and treatments to help combat snoring. These can be wonderful, life-changing things, but it’s also worth thinking about posture.  A lot of the time, if you’re a snorer, it’ll be because you’re sleeping on your back.

Snoring itself is caused by a looseness of tissue in the roof of the mouth, or the tongue lolling back into the throat and causing an obstruction to the breathing passages. If you’re lying on your back, what you’re doing is giving a helping hand to gravity, making it more likely that this will happen. Studies of  the postures of sleepers have suggested that most people whose snoring poses a problem do sleep on their backs.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that almost all experts recommend changing your sleeping posture, if you want to reduce or eliminate problem snoring without further intervention. Of course, it’s not always possible to stop yourself from moving about when you sleep, so here’s a classic old trick. Now, stay with me on this, you’re going to laugh but it will make a difference.

Right.

First, find an old t-shirt or pyjama top, and sew a pocket into the back.

With me so far? ok.

Now, take several tennis balls, and place this in the pocket.

No, seriously, try this.

You then wear the t-shirt to bed, and sleep on your side or your stomach.

As we’ve said before, if you can stay off your back you’re a lot less likely to snore. This can help to prevent that, because if you shift onto your back, you should find that the tennis balls make you uncomfortable, and that you shift back onto your side.

Give it a try. If you can stomach the curious looks by your partner the first night, you might well find that they disappear after the first tranquil night of sleep!

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

An Interesting Tip To Improve Your Posture As You Sleep.

Snoring is often seen as simply a social problem, something annoys your partner and nothing else. If you’ve been reading this blog, then by now, I hope you realise that isn’t the whole story.

Snoring, it’s worth remembering, is often a symptom of something else. Snoring is a sign that you are having a problem with moving air in and out of your respiratory passages, which can mean that your oxygen supply is being compromised. getting a good supply of oxygen is an essential part of the body’s self-maintenance.  This is the central associated risk with Sleep Apnea- the closure of the breathing passages can lead to lower oxygen levels in the blood, which then causes knock-on problems- the heart has to work harder to get oxygen to the cells, which leads to high blood pressure, and strain on the heart. I’m sure you don’t need to be told about what a bad thing that is for your health.

There are options, of course. A friend of mine recently told me that he’s woken up having had a good night’s sleep for the first time in years, thanks to a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device, which is basically a mask which keeps up a certain level of air pressure in the breathing passages, and ensuring a decent regular air supply.  It can be a bit uncomfortable,  but the benefit is obvious and striking.

This solution can work wonders, but it’s also a good idea to lose weight, and if you are a smoker, to stop smoking. Think of it as a treatment for the causes of snoring, not the symptoms.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Some Of The Physical Consequences Associated With Snoring

Not a nice story, this- a lorry driver who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a 55 year-old woman was diagnosed as suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea. He went free (and rightly so), but the warning is a stark one.

The driver, Robert Earnshaw (42) was found innocent of all charges of dangerous driving, because he was diagnosed with the condition. In his account to the court, he said he had slept for twenty minutes in a service station before going back out onto the road, and reports no memory whatsoever of the tragic events that followed, which killed Susan Clark at the scene, and could have killed more (the crash was a six-car pile-up).

Mrs Clark’s children, Sarah Richards and Jason Clark, have been told that this tragic scenario is likely to play itself out again, somewhere else on Britain’s roads.

When interviewed by Wales on Sunday, Mr Clarke is reported asked  “How does someone go from awake to asleep in a matter of seconds? He didn’t even realise. He said it was completely out of the blue.”

When informed of the diagnosis of Sleep Apnea, Mr Clarke is reported as saying “If that is true, how many other people on the roads have this condition? If the experts are right, it could happen again.”

He’s now campaigning to raise awareness of the condition, to try and get some good out of the situation.  If there’s a lesson to be learned from this, it’s that if you think you have a medical issue that’s disrupting your sleep, shouldn’t you be doing something about it?

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Another Reason To Address Your Sleep Disorder

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Sleep Disorders And Childhood Obesity

Suffering from sleepiness as a result of sleep apnea? A recent trial conducted in Hattiesburg, USA, has suggested that the medication Armodanifil, also known as Nuvigil, can help to alleviate this problem.

One of the problems with snoring, sleep apnea or disturbed sleep is that not only is it unpleasant for partners, it can also leave you exhausted during the day.  This can make suffering from sleep disorders something of a living hell, and can lead to anxiety and depression.

John Harsh, Phd, of Southern Mississipi, stated that ‘you want to jump in there right away and find the underlying problem or… at least treat the sleepiness so you can improve their functioning, improve their safety, and improve their quality of life.”

This trial seems to have been a success, showing general improvements on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and the Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire for the trial group, without much in the way of side-effects.

This is all well and good, and any positive developments in the treatment of sleep disorders are to be encouraged, but it’s my feeling that a lot of people will be a little resistant to simply medicating the results of their bad sleep away. Surely getting good sleep in the first place is more important?

By all means, take medication to alleviate symptoms. It’s always going to be better, however, to get good sleep in the first place. It’s also worth noting that this study was sponsored by the company that makes Armodafinil, and two of the co-authors of the study hold stocks in that company.

The whole issue of corporate-sponsored scientific studies is too big to go into here. One thing that is worth saying, is that what works for you, is what’s best for you. More choice is a good thing, always.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

More Medicines On The Market – Can They Be Trusted?

So, the scientific consensus continues to pile up around snoring and Sleep Apnea, giving more and more weight to the view that you really shouldn’t just ignore your snoring, or your partner’s snoring.

The November’s Journal of the American College of Cardiology brings with it new findings about the risk of nocturnal cardiac arrhythmia in patients who have respiratory problems when during sleep. Particularly, patients were most found to be at risk after elongated pauses in breathing, which is of course the major feature of Sleep Apnea.

I don’t wish to be too alarmist- the results seem to show that there isn’t too high a risk, citing just 1 extra case of arrhythmia per 40,000 respiratory issues. If you’re suffering from Sleep Apnea, don’t worry yourself sick! It is, however, enough of a number to be statistically significant, and has been described by Dr Susan Redline, one of the co-investigators in the study, as suggesting that “people with arrhythmias may have unrecognised or untreated sleep apnea, which may be contributing to their heart rhythm disturbances.”

The study concluded that the chances of a patient developing nocturnal arrhythmia (which can mean such issues such as atrial fibrillation or tachycardia) were increased 18-fold, if respiratory disturbances were present. As part of the conclusions to their study, the authors advised that people need to be tested more frequently for conditions like sleep apnea, especially in cases where the patient is at an increased risk of cardiac illness.

The thing to take from this is that if you are a snorer, or your partner is, you need to treat it as something more than just an irritation or distraction.  It’s easy to just write a partner’s snoring off as ‘just one of those things’ but the truth is that in some cases, it really isn’t.

The good thing, of course, is that this is entirely curable. The more we learn about Sleep Apnea, and other respiratory disorders, the more we know how to treat them.  Simple aids can be used to correct the problem at source, which leads to a whole lot of benefit for both the sufferer and those around them.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

More Evidence For The Connections Between Sleep Apnea and Health Issues