What is sleep apnea? Sleep apnea in a nutshell is when the upper airway obstruction results from excess or collapse of soft tissue in the soft palate, tonsillar pillars, tongue, tongue base, and hypopharyngeal walls.
Specific anatomic risk factors predisposing to obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome include long soft palate, shallow palatal arches, large tongue base, narrow mandibular arches, and mandibular hypoplasia.
One other common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea include drooling in about one-third and dry mouth in up to three-quarters of snorers.
In one study of 668 patients with suspected sleep-disordered breathing, dry mouth was observed in 31.
4% of snorers with confirmed obstructive sleep apnea as compared to 16.
4% in primary snorers and 3.
2% in normal subjects.
Furthermore, there was a linear increase in prevalence of dry mouth as the severity of obstructive sleep apnea increased.
Sleep bruxism is also a common finding, occurring in 4.
4% of the general population, with obstructive sleep apnea snorers being at higher risk of reporting sleep bruxism.
In a small study of 21 patients, 54% of those with mild obstructive sleep apnea and 40% of those with moderate disease were diagnosed with bruxism which was not observed to be directly associated with respiratory events but rather seemed to be related to sleep disruption and arousal.
But, more importantly, you don't have to spend years and thousands of dollars on treatments to figure it all out.
You've just received a complete run-down of the solutions to save you money and likely avoid surgery.
The bottom line is snoring does not have to be complicated.
There are many easy and practical solutions available.
Although many people believe that snoring is difficult to get rid of, I hope this guide has opened your eyes to the possibilities you have.
In most cases, your snoring can be solved quickly, easily, and naturally.
All it takes is the 3-step simple process: 1.
Determine the causes of your snoring.
Once you've done this, then you dramatically narrow the amount of solutions you can try saving you loads of time, money and effort.
2.
Understand the potential treatments that address your causes.
Once you know everything that's out there you can pick the best ones.
This is opposed to going from one new discovery to the next.
3.
Find-out the solution that is best for you based on your own needs and the recommendations of your doctor.
You now know what's out there so you can communicate with your doctor more effectively.
Obstructive sleep apnea is the commonest sleep disorder.
It is characterized by repetitive apneas and hypopneas during sleep.
These events are due to partial or complete collapse of the upper airway, resulting in decreased oxygenation and sympathetic overdrive.
Frequent arousals occur, causing sleep fragmentation leading to excessive daytime sleepiness, morning headaches, poor concentration, memory loss, frustration, depression and even marital discord.