Snoring can damage a person's sex life

Snoring is often taken lightly. But, snorers please note – the condition could hamper one's sex life, says a leading British doctor.

According to Dr Mark Potter, snoring can have profound implications for a person's wellbeing, impacting on everything from their sex lives to the odds of succumbing to a death from heart attack or stroke.

In fact, heavy snorers can also struggle to get their breath when they are asleep and their oxygen levels plummet so low that they turn blue, 'The Times' reported.

"The lack of oxygen triggers a survival response that wakes them briefly to prevent suffocation, a cycle of snoring, obstruction and wakening that can be repeated hundreds of times a night.

"This results in an awful night's sleep, and predisposes the snorer to a range of health problems including high blood pressure and heart disease," Dr Potter said.

He has suggested that snorers should consult a doctor to get rid of the condition.

"More extensive investigation is likely to be required if sleep apnea syndrome is suspected. The first step for most patients will be to monitor their oxygen levels throughout the night using a simple fingertip device – a pulse oximetre," Dr Potter said.

Snoring more dangerous for brain function than previously thought

Washington, June 4: While snoring has been linked to learning impairment, stroke and premature death, researchers at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) now say that snoring linked with sleep apnea may impair brain function more than previously thought.

The research has shown that obstructive sleep apnea sufferers experience similar changes in brain biochemistry to people who have had a severe stroke or who are dying.

And the new study is the first to analyse-"in a second-by-second timeframe"-what is happening in the brains of sufferers as they sleep.

Previous studies have focused on recreating oxygen impairment in awake patients.

"It used to be thought that apnoeic snoring had absolutely no acute effects on brain function but this is plainly not true," said New South Global Professor Caroline Rae, the lead author of the study.

Severe form of Sleep apnea is characterised by extended pauses in breathing, repetitive asphyxia, and sleep fragmentation.

Children with enlarged tonsils and adenoids are also affected, raising concerns of long-term cognitive damage.

The researchers used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study the brains of 13 men with severe, untreated, obstructive sleep apnea.

They found that even a moderate degree of oxygen desaturation during the patients'' sleep had significant effects on the brain''s bioenergetic status.

"The findings show that lack of oxygen while asleep may be far more detrimental than when awake, possibly because the normal compensatory mechanisms don''t work as well when you are asleep," said Rae.

She added: "This is happening in someone with sleep apnea acutely and continually when they are asleep. It''s a completely different biochemical mechanism from anything we''ve seen before and is similar to what you see in somebody who has had a very severe stroke or is dying."

In her opinion, the findings suggested societal perceptions of snoring needed to change.

She said: "People look at people snoring and think it''s funny. That has to stop."

Rae said that they don''t known why the body responded to oxygen depletion in this way.

"The brain could be basically resetting its bioenergetics to make itself more resistant to lack of oxygen. It may be a compensatory mechanism to keep you alive, we just don''t know, but even if it is it''s not likely to be doing you much good," said Rae.

The study has been published in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. (ANI)