Your partner’s snoring is bad for your health
Sharon Cohen
If your bedmate saws wood, you will be roused from sleep an average of 21 times an hour, compared with the snorer’s 27; less than six times an hour is considered normal. (Snoring goes hand-in-hand with sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops and starts, leading to frequent waking, high blood pressure and, potentially, heart disease and stroke.) Both of you will likely experience fatigue, stress and even pain. In fact, women with fibromyalgia who share a bed with a snorer report more pain than other women with the disorder.
“A woman married to a man who snores has a higher likelihood of sleep and quality-of-life problems herself,” says researcher Philip Lyng, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. Lyng studied 54 couples before and after the snorer (mostly men) used continuous positive airway pressure–a mask attached to a machine that blows air–for six weeks and found that both partners’ social, physical and emotional health improved.–C.P.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
