What are the health risks behind snoring?

Snoring, also known as snoring, is a common sleep phenomenon. Everyone thinks snoring is normal. After all, most people snore, especially men. For example, according to survey data, the snoring rate among the population is close to 50%, and both men and women have snoring. However, in general, the snoring rate of men is significantly higher than that of women (55.9% vs 31.8%) [1].

Of course, snoring is definitely not a good thing. In addition to affecting the sleep of others, it may also be a signal of certain diseases or conditions for yourself, such as sleep apnea syndrome. Let’s talk about it below.

01. What is sleep apnea syndrome?

Although snoring is a very common phenomenon, occasional snoring due to fatigue or physical discomfort is understandable; if you snore loudly every day, or even experience the "sudden stop of breathing" as many people describe, you should pay attention, because this is an obvious medical condition, namely sleep apnea syndrome.

Obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is a sleep disorder in which breathing stops during sleep[2]. Its pathogenesis is shown in the figure below. The airway becomes narrowed due to factors such as obesity, resulting in poor breathing and a decrease in oxygen intake. Typical manifestations are loud snoring, body twitching, or arm swinging.

This disease should not be underestimated. It is generally believed that sleep apnea can lead to sleep defects, fatigue and other poor sleep quality. So what are the dangers of sleep apnea?

02. What are the dangers of sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea has more serious harm than people can imagine...

1. Inducing cardiovascular disease. Sleep apnea causes a sudden imbalance of body pressure, resulting in increased negative pressure in the chest cavity, which can damage the vascular endothelium, further induce atherosclerosis, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and increase the risk of sudden death [3].

2. Damage to the brain and cause stroke. The brain is very susceptible to hypoxia. For example, there is a saying in emergency treatment that there are four golden minutes, which is to deal with brain hypoxia caused by cardiac arrest. Sleep apnea can also cause temporary brain hypoxia, further causing damage to the cerebral vascular endothelium. In particular, repeated and prolonged sleep apnea affects cerebral blood flow, inducing and aggravating stroke[4].

In addition, studies have found that conditions such as diabetes and suffocation are related to sleep apnea.

So how do we detect if we have sleep apnea?

03. How to determine whether there is sleep breathing disorder?

The first is to focus on yourself , such as sensing whether you have such a disorder from the feedback of others. If you live in the same room, you can get feedback from roommates and family members to know your own sleep situation. Of course, you can also try to use a mobile phone to record time and conduct self-analysis.

However, for most people, the judgment of sleep apnea may not be very accurate, so we have to mention another more scientific and accurate way - blood oxygen monitoring. Blood oxygen monitoring is an indirect but very effective method. The principle is that once apnea occurs, it will lead to hypoxia, so the oxygen saturation in the blood will decrease, so we only need to monitor the changes in blood oxygen saturation to understand whether our snoring constitutes sleep apnea.

(Hemoglobin saturation curve)

The principle is not complicated. The color of blood is directly related to the blood oxygen saturation, and they show a certain proportional relationship. Therefore, the blood oxygen saturation can be inferred by monitoring the blood color.

The most common way to detect blood oxygen saturation is to detect the SPO2 level (Peripheral oxygen saturation), because peripheral blood is easier to detect. Our skin is translucent and easy to transmit light, so we can use a simple device to emit light to detect blood, and then calculate the blood oxygen saturation based on its reflection. Since blood oxygen saturation is closely related to health, it has always been the focus of clinical testing.

04. How to deal with this sleep breathing disorder?

How should we deal with this sleep apnea? [5]

Losing weight is the top priority.

Obesity is the most common cause of sleep apnea, so maintaining a balanced diet and exercising more are the most direct ways to reduce the risk.

If the sleep apnea disorder is severe, you should go to the hospital immediately for relevant examinations and solve it through mechanical ventilation or surgery.

In any case, sleep apnea syndrome is a common but not negligible phenomenon. If it is serious, it can cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, which is a major threat to health. Everyone must pay attention to it.

[1] Hu Qinglei, Du Cuiping, Yang Yang, Bai Sujuan. Epidemiological study of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome in people aged 20 years and above in Putuo District, Shanghai[J]. Chinese Journal of Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, 2017, 17(01): 49-54.

[2]Olson EJ, Moore WR, Morgenthaler TI, et al. Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome[C]//Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Elsevier, 2003, 78(12): 1545-1552.

[3]Javaheri S. Central sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome in heart failure: prevalence, impact, and treatment[J]. Sleep, 1996, 19(suppl_10): S229-S231.

[4]Yaggi HK, Concato J, Kernan WN, et al. Obstructive sleep apnea as a risk factor for stroke and death[J]. New England Journal of Medicine, 2005, 353(19): 2034-2041.

[5]Salman LA, Shulman R, Cohen J B. Obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension, and cardiovascular risk: epidemiology, pathophysiology, and management[J]. Current Cardiology Reports, 2020, 22(2): 6.