14 DAY TRIAL // Snoring is often something most of us are ashamed of. However, it also holds the key to our health, in that it can determine if we suffer from a condition called sleep apnea, which, in turn, considerably increases the chances of a heart attack. Women’s Health puts forward a simple test we and our bed partner can perform to determine if we should see a doctor about the condition or not.
A pause in snoring can mean our body has an episode (called an apnea) when one or more breaths are skipped as we sleep. In other words, we stop breathing. Quite understandably, this can have disastrous consequences on our health, increasing the risk of having a heart attack during the night as well. One minute of our partner’s time is all it takes to determine if there is anything to worry about.
“Ask your bed buddy to stay up until you’ve passed out. If he hears a pause between snores that lasts up to 30 seconds and ends with a snort or a gasp for air, you may have sleep apnea. Breathless sleep forces your heart to work harder; one study found that having apnea increases your risk of having a heart attack or dying by 30 percent. If you’ve got a delay, see your doc.” Women’s Health writes in a new piece aptly called “Decipher Your Snoring.”
As noted above, this little exercise should not take up more than a minute of your partner’s time, while also being potentially very useful in determining whether you too suffer from the condition. What’s best about this exercise, it is being said, is that you get to sleep through it, while your partner watches over you. Should the delay in breathing and pause in snoring appear, then it’s high time you saw a doctor about it, it is further advised.
While on the subject of snoring, perhaps it’s also time we stopped being ashamed of it – or at least tried to. As a recent study has demonstrated, snoring can burn up to 2,000 calories in one single session so, while it is extremely noisy, at least it has its benefits as well.