snoring

People with extreme cases of sleep apnea should take a little more precaution. Characterized by heavy snoring plus extended pauses in breathing, sometimes lasting more than ten seconds, extreme apnea heightens risks of having ischemic strokes by up to two and a half times as compared to people without sleeping disorders.

Researchers in a study involving 394 subjects whose ages ranged from 70 and above explain that “after studying the quality of their sleep, we tracked the volunteers over the course of six years. After which, 20 of the study subjects had suffered a stroke.”

Lead study author, Neurology Service of the Hospital Complex of Navarra physician Roberto Munoz, confirms that aside from sleep apnea being a major contributor to the possibility of ischemic stroke, there are almost 5 percent of all adults who suffer from sleeping problems, which only makes matters even worse. Munoz later sermons obese patients suffering from sleep apnea that “one of the measures for avoiding the problem is losing weight.”

“Honey, you were snoring really loud last night,” alleged my husband.

“That’s impossible,” I said. “I don’t snore.”

“Oh no?”

“No, I would hear it if I snored.”

“You don’t hear it because you are sleeping!” he declared. “Something I was not able to do so well with all that snoring going on.”

“Maybe it was the dog?” I suggested.

“Listen, TyranaSNORous rex,” he said. “The snoring was coming from the body in the bed next to me. I think after all these years, I can tell the difference between you and the dog.”

I shrugged and disappeared into the bathroom.

Truth be told, I kind of knew I had been snoring. It might have something to do with the fact that I was dreaming I was bowling in a thunderstorm while fireworks were being shot off and men with jackhammers worked nearby. Or maybe it was the fact that I actually woke up at one point because I heard someone snort. When I realized my husband was not in the bed, it did not leave a lot of other people to blame it on.

I was actually pretty aghast to discover that I might be on my way to becoming my father. My dad snored so loudly that one time when I was growing up, the neighbors called wildlife control because they thought there was a wounded warthog roaming the streets. Although I have been informed that my snores sound like a cross between a congested cow and a rusty chainsaw, I had no doubt that I would soon be elevated to warthog status if I didn’t address the problem.

It was the only place she could sleep because he was snoring so loudly.

Manschot’s snoring was a symptom of a much bigger problem. He is among the estimated 18 million Americans with obstructive sleep apnea, a chronic condition in which the airway is blocked during sleep. It prevented Manschot from breathing and caused him to snore.

“Basically, I was waking up 30 or 40 times an hour,” Manschot said. Doctors evaluated him, and “they said on a scale of one to 10, I was a 12. They could hear me down the hall with the doors closed.”

The prevalence of sleep apnea is expected to grow with the rise in obesity and the aging population because age and weight are two factors that increase the chances of developing the chronic condition in which the back of the throat relaxes and the airway becomes blocked.

For some, surgery can alleviate the problem. For others, the use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine opens up the airways and allows for more normal breathing during sleep.

Manschot was prescribed a CPAP machine — the most common treatment for sleep apnea. The machine pumps air through a hose and into a mask that fits over a person’s mouth and nose or just over the nose. The machine gently blows air into the throat, artificially holding the airway open.

“Now, I’m sleeping through the night and have been for years,” Manschot said. “I think it’s immensely benefited me.”

Untreated sleep apnea can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity and diabetes.

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Manschot’s snoring was a symptom of a much bigger problem. He is among the estimated 18 million Americans with obstructive sleep apnea, a chronic condition in which the airway is blocked during sleep. It prevented Manschot from breathing and caused him to snore.

“Basically, I was waking up 30 or 40 times an hour,” Manschot says. Doctors evaluated him, and “they said on a scale of 1 to 10, I was a 12. They could hear me down the hall with the doors closed.”

Worsening trend

The prevalence of sleep apnea is expected to grow with the rise in obesity and the aging population, because age and weight are two factors that increase the chances of developing the chronic condition in which the back of the throat relaxes and the airway becomes blocked.

For some, surgery can alleviate the problem. For others, the use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine opens up the airways and allows for more normal breathing during sleep.

Manschot was prescribed a CPAP machine — the most common treatment for sleep apnea. The machine pumps air through a hose and into a mask that fits over a person’s mouth and nose, or just over the nose. The machine gently blows air into the throat, artificially holding the airway open.

“Now, I’m sleeping through the night and have been for years,” Manschot says. “I think it’s immensely benefited me.”

Emily Maschot is thrilled that her husband is now sleeping through the night — it means, she is, too.

“I think it has saved our marriage,” she says, “and maybe even saved his life.”

When plagiocephaly is left untreated, sports helmets will not fit properly. And if the ears do not align, wearing glasses may be difficult.

With asymmetric plagiocephaly, Tracy says, children can have issues with crossbite, which can lead to trouble breast feeding; temporomandibular joint disorder, which causes the jaw to have painful clicking when the mouth opens and closes; and an increase in ear infections due to the misalignment of the ears’ drainage tubes.

The functional issues with brachycephaly are a bit more significant, and include underbites, increased ear infections and problems with sleep apnea or snoring.

“Basically what happens is the compression of the length is also compressing everything inside the skull, so the airway goes from being circular to oblique,” Tracy says. “So basically they are not able to get as much air flow in and out. And obviously if you have sleep problems as a baby it can affect your learning.”

Generally, plagiocephaly is caused by lack of “tummy time,” which is in correlation to the SIDS campaign and convenience devices such as car seats, strollers and cradle swings, Tracy says.

Lack of tummy time is also attributed to developmental delays such as motor skills, rolling over and crawling, according to a survey of pediatric physical and occupational therapists. The survey was done for Pathways Awareness, a nonprofit dedicated to early detection of motor delays in children.

Another cause of plagiocephaly is torticollis, which occurs when a baby’s neck is weak on one side and tight on the other, causing him to favor a side when he lies down, Tracy says.

The baby’s position in the womb, especially in cases of twins, triplets and other multiples, also can affect the head shape because space is restricted. And premature babies are at a higher risk of developing plagiocephaly because their skulls are not as thick, Tracy says.

Babies can only be treated at CranialTech until they are 18 months old, because the skull is continuously thickening and after a certain point the plagiocephaly becomes untreatable, Tracy says.

They prefer to see the child ages 4 to 6 months because the child has exponential head growth during the first 12 months.

“I felt really bad,” says Manschot, 63, of Novi, Mich. “She was curled up with blankets and whatever pillows she could scrounge, trying to make a bed out of the bath tub.”

It was the only place she could sleep because he was snoring so loudly.

Manschot’s snoring was a symptom of a much bigger problem. He is among the estimated 18 million Americans with obstructive sleep apnea, a chronic condition in which the airway is blocked during sleep. It prevented Manschot from breathing and caused him to snore.

“Basically, I was waking up 30 or 40 times an hour,” Manschot says. Doctors evaluated him, and “they said on a scale of 1 to 10, I was a 12. They could hear me down the hall with the doors closed.”

The prevalence of sleep apnea is expected to grow with the rise in obesity and the aging population, because age and weight are two factors that increase the chances of developing the chronic condition in which the back of the throat relaxes and the airway becomes blocked.

For some, surgery can alleviate the problem. For others, the use of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine opens up the airways and allows for more normal breathing during sleep.

Two performances will be given, at 3:30 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m.

Actors will be using scripts from the original broadcasts, recreating these great comedies from Radio’s “Golden Age.” Audience members can experience what it might have been like to be present at a live radio broadcast from the past.

The program opens with a 1942 episode of Fibber McGee and Molly called “The Valentine Candy.” Series regulars Ol’Timer, Mr. Wimple, Mayor LaTrivia, Mrs. Uppington and Johnson’s Wax announcer Mr. Wilcox all make guest appearances.

From 1947, the second act includes The Bickersons. On the eve of a big business trip, John’s raucous snoring keeps Blanche awake as usual and Blanche returns the favor by nagging him with her hilarious imaginary illness. The piece was smartly written by Phillip Rapp, creator of Baby Snooks. Originally performed by Don Ameche and Francis Langford, this radio favorite first appeared as a comedy sketch on “The Old Gold Show” and “The Dreme Hour.”

Families are welcome. Refreshments will be available at intermission. Admission is free; donations accepted. For more, call the library 474-2044 or e-mail ocean@sealib.org.

The study included men aged 55 to 75 who were diagnosed with benign prostate enlargement (BPE) and reported nighttime urination (nocturia) at least once nightly. They were compared to a control group of same-age men who had no BPE and one or no nocturia episodes per night.

The Israeli researchers found that 57.8 percent of the men with BPE may have obstructive sleep apnea and that the sleep disorder may be the actual cause of the sleep awakenings the men believe are caused by the need to urinate. Obstructive sleep apnea is characterized by snoring, pauses in a person’s breathing that cause awakenings, and also daytime sleepiness.

The study, by the team at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is published in the March/April issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

“If nocturia severity in BPE patients is actually a pre-existing sleep disorder, this can now be treated and help improve patients’ quality of life,” Dr. Howard Tandeter, a researcher in the family medicine department, said in a university news release.

If patients with BPE report frequent nighttime awakenings to urinate, doctors should suspect obstructive sleep apnea as a possible cause and treat accordingly, Tandeter recommended.

“Even among those patients with well-defined medical reasons for nocturia, sleep disorders may still be found as the source of most awakenings,” he said. “Therefore, the diagnosis of a sleep disorder should be seriously considered whenever a patient reports frequent awakenings from sleep to urinate since the problem is treatable.”

We were not alone: Lots of couples have sleep habits that keep each other awake. The Better Sleep Council, funded by the mattress in­dustry, surveyed 1,000 Americans in 2007 and found 1 in 3 reporting that their partner’s sleep habits af­fected their own sleep.

But, said designers and therapists, there are plenty of creative solutions to such problems.

“I’m a hopeless romantic,” said Beverly Hills, Calif., de­signer Christopher Grubb, who likes helping clients en­joy sleeping in the same room.

Snoring, he said, is a com­mon problem among his cli­ents, and one found relief with an anti-snoring pillow from Sona, one of several companies that offer pillows designed to help prevent snoring by keeping the sleeper’s airway open.

Grubb also suggests sheets with a high thread count to maximize comfort, a mid-weight comforter to balance different tempera­ture preferences, and beds that cater to partners’ differ­ent needs.

Sometimes, that can mean two mattresses, side by side. For example, Leggett & Platt offers a bed base called the Prodigy. Imagine two hospi­tal beds side by side, each of which can be raised and low­ered independently, plus a massage feature that can be used as a silent alarm in the morning. Each partner has a separate mattress and can choose its firmness.

Going to this extra effort is worth it, said Tina B. Tessi­na, a psychotherapist who blogs as Dr. Romance, and is the author of “Money, Sex and Kids: Stop Fighting about the Three Things That Can Ruin Your Marriage” (Adams Media, 2008).