삼성서울병원

Zzzzzzzz…!@$! !@#@!#!" Guess what that was. It was the sound of the loud, loud snoring of Ms. A's husband. The thunderous, annoying sound of his snoring is driving her crazy. But her husband, unconscious, sleeping like a log, has no idea what kind of torture his wife is going through. Have you ever been in her shoes? Being tortured by an unbelievably noisy sound of someone snoring while you’re trying really hard to go to sleep?

Most of us tend to put snoring down as some kind of bad habit despite its annoying nature. But the catch is that snoring is actually a danger signal which can indicate health problems. We have to recognize that snoring isn't just a habit but a symptom of disease. So if we find someone who snores loudly, including ourselves, we must make sure that he/she gets appropriate medical treatment at a specialized hospital.

It does not cause pain, as it does not hurt the corneal epithelium; patients recover their eyesight quickly; and it rarely produces corneal opacification or causes the recurrence of myopia to develop. The procedure involves creating a circular flap, a fifth of a cornea thick (around 0.5 mm), using a femtosecond laser to cut the tissue beneath. It is a surgery that involves cutting the middle, not the surface, of the cornea.

Snoring is basically a vibration sound from the soft palate (a part of one's mouth) or the mucous membrane around it. We should not interpret the sound as something funny, but as a 'desperate SOS call' which our body is shouting. Yes, we must take it as an 'ominous sign of bad health'.

In general, snoring is caused by a narrowed oropharyngeal airway due to a fat soft palate or uvula, or enlarged tonsils or tongue. Snoring causes obstructive sleep apnoea or OSA. Unable to breathe during snoring, people with OSA pause to pant loudly while asleep. If you are an OSA patient, you must do something at once. OSA may result in a lack of oxygen into your body, often leading to critical damage to your brain and heart. In addition, OSA hampers sound sleep, causing chronic sleep disorder and accumulated fatigue. Also, it may impair your learning abilities, or spoil your memory and concentration. What's worse, it may even cause other diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes.

1. Diabetes

According to research results published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a patient with OSA is 20~30% more vulnerable to diabetes. OSA triggers hypersecretion of cortisol, a stress hormone. This elevates blood sugar levels. Combined with the high insulin resistance of people with chronic snoring disease, there is an increased danger of diabetes.

2. High Blood Pressure: Cardiovascular Complications

Possible cardiovascular complications caused by snoring or OSA include: arrhythmia (irregular pulse), high blood pressure, ischemic heart diseases (IHD), and cardiac arrest which can lead to sudden death. Responding to the decrease in oxygen saturation due to OSA, blood vessels constrict. This leads to temporary high blood pressure. So during the day, high blood pressure can continue even if the patient doesn't have hypoxia. Being able to cause IHD, it is also one of the worst risk factors that can lead to cardiac infarction. As a result, OSA patients are 23 times more vulnerable to the disease than others. In fact, patients with moderate or higher levels of OSA are known to show higher mortality rates due to cardiovascular complications.

There are three types of snoring treatment: lifestyle adjustment, non-surgical treatment (with a positive pressure device or other in-mouth devices), and surgery. In general, if you avoid too much drinking and work, lose weight, and sleep on your side, it may help. In particular, you should never drink 3 to 4 hours prior to sleeping, and avoid sleeping pills if possible.

Alternatively you may use a positive pressure device: through a mask in close contact with your nose, the device prevents high airway obstruction by continuously injecting oxygen with the proper amount of positive pressure. Simply put, it's an "oxygen supporter". Treatment involving the use of the device not only stops snoring, but also improves your cognitive abilities during the day. It's also helpful in improving cardiovascular complications including high blood pressure. So it's often recommended as primary treatment.

Dentist-oriented in-mouth devices can help too. It ensures airway maintenance by preventing your tongue from falling back. This may prove helpful to some patients.
Surgical treatment refers to widening the closed section in the airway found by measures like sleep endoscopy. If you meet the criteria for the operation, you may get good results from it.