If you sleep next to a snorer you know how a noisy sleeper affects you. You should be aware that the snorer sleeping next to you may be at risk of several other problems, over and above your animosity. Depending on the severity and reason for the snoring, snorers may experience headaches, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating and may even be at greater risk of stroke and heart problems.

Snoring is the term used to describe the sound made during sleep when a person’s airway is narrowed making breathing more difficult. During sleep the muscles in the throat relax often decreasing the width of the airway. As the oxygen that the body requires remains the same whether breathing is normal or not, a decreased airway causes air to travel faster into the body. The actual sound is caused by the vibration of the soft palate, uvula and surrounding tissues as the air travels through the narrow relaxed airway.

Snoring can be a symptom of more serious conditions including obstructive sleep apnea, where breathing is obstructed completely causing the sleeper to awake several times in the night often gasping for air.

There are several treatments and procedures that have been created all with varying degrees of success to curb, reduce or eliminate snoring. Dr. Schachter has experience working with sleep appliances to surgical methods that can help quite the snorer in your life improving your sleep as well as theirs.