Snoring commonly affects nearly 90% of people during their adult lives. Primarily, snoring is caused by the vibrational movement of the upper airway tissue and happens mostly during sleep with a ratty sound when breathing is not consciously moderated through the nose or the mouth.
What Are The Common Issues?
There are a plethora of things related to the nose, mouth, and throat region that can cause snoring. Some of these causes are anatomical, involving a large tongue, uvula, or tonsils that can cause obstruction of a mechanical nature.
However, more often than not, deviated septum seems to be one of the more common causes where the cartilage separating the nose has deviated either to the left or the right side. Other causes may include weight gain, alcohol, and taking sedative drugs.
So, when should your snoring send you to the ENT? Let’s find out:
Onset Of Sleep Apnea
Though many perceive snoring to be an annoyance to one’s partner, it can become serious enough for you to want to visit an ENT doctor for snoring.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea is characterized by irregular breathing at night as a consequence of severe snoring. It is a serious condition since people with sleep apnea stop breathing in their sleep for brief periods throughout the night.
This disturbs your REM cycles and can also be dangerous, leaving you lethargic and sleepy throughout the day after not getting enough oxygen the entire night.
When It Starts Affecting Your Quality Of Life
It is only a matter of time before your snoring symptoms start affecting your life and your partner’s. It can also profoundly affect your relationship and may require you to seek help from a specialist for snoring.
If you’re lethargic during most of the day, feel like randomly dozing off, and wake up gasping for air multiple times during the night, it’s a sign that your condition has gotten serious and you need to seek help for snoring from an ENT.
If you can’t notice these symptoms on your own, listen to your partner when they tell you that you either snore too loudly or stop breathing in the night.
When You’re Waking Up Often In The Night
If you’re struggling to remember the last time you had a relaxing full night’s sleep, you may be experiencing a sleep disorder brought on by sleep apnea.
In conjunction with the relaxed muscles in your throat lining, the heavy snoring makes your airway narrow or temporarily closed. The body sends impulses to your brain that you can’t breathe. These transmitted signals give your body enough jerks to wake you up so you can continue to breathe normally.
When You Have Trouble Concentrating
Every night, about an hour, after you fall asleep, your Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep begins. This stage of the sleep cycle causes the brain activity to speed up, along with your heart rate and breathing.
It is one of the most important and active cycles of sleep that causes most of your dreaming and is necessary for memory, healthy brain development, and emotional processing.
Since sleep apnea causes you to wake up multiple times at night, it disturbs the REM sleep period and makes you feel tired.
The perpetual state of tiredness because of a lack of quality sleep is called absent-mindedness and can have serious health risks.
Many times, it becomes so severe that you miss entire conversations with friends and colleagues or fall asleep either at work or while driving. If this sounds like you, visit your ENT specialist for snoring.
When Nothing Else Seems To Be Working
Most patients try to relieve their snoring symptoms at home with home remedies and herbal interventions but a self-diagnosis followed by self-treatment without the guidance of a medical professional.
A specialist can help identify the root cause of your snoring, whether it’s weight gain, alcohol consumption or nasal congestion, so it’s better to have a professional take a look.
Why Go To An ENT Specialist?
All the above signs mean that you should see an ENT specialist at your earliest for an examination. The doctor will examine your airway, the anatomy of your tonsils and tongue, examine your nasal septum, your body mass index, and your drinking habits to identify the root cause of the issue.
Several medications, some pharmaceutical and some surgical help, relieve the symptoms. There are also special masks prescribed to be worn during sleep in more severe cases.
Conclusion
Living with sleep apnea is hard for you and your family. There’s no reason why you should delay an examination and diagnosis further. Seeking medical attention gets you the help you need and brings peace back into your life. Visit your nearest ENT today.
