bestlife
Snore no more
TREATMENTS FOR A SERIOUS HEALTH CONDITION By Jill Ellis-Worthington
C
ouples sit across the desk from Dr. Brian Rotenberg every day. They are not there for marriage therapy, well not exactly, but often the relationships are suffering. Rotenberg is a specialist in otolaryngology; he is a head and neck surgeon at St. Joseph’s Hospital and runs a sleep surgery clinic. “I often have couples in my office who are yelling at each other because they literally can’t sleep together any longer.” Often, it is the bed partner of the
40 Lifestyle January/February 2022
person who snores who initiates this visit because he/she is not sleeping well. Partners are also concerned because the snorer may have frequent periods of quiet, which often means he/she is not breathing. Though it occurs in people in their 20s and 30s, snoring often becomes a bigger problem with age, according to Rotenberg. “As we get older, the soft tissues of our throats stretch out and (snoring) can get worse,” he explains. This can be compounded by weight gain and aggravated by heavy night meals, along with greater alcohol consumption.
Rotenberg says half of men and 20 to 30 per cent of women snore, which can cause relationship angst. But the biggest problem is sleep apnea, a condition that can be a moderate to serious health issue. “All people with apnea snore but not all snorers have apnea.” Ten per cent of men and five per cent of women who snore have sleep apnea. This means that they stop breathing for 10 or more seconds several times each minute they are asleep. This causes oxygen levels in their blood to drop, impacting health in significant ways:
