Is Snoring a Sign of Danger to Health?

Almost all humans have experienced snoring in their sleep. Is snoring just a bad habit or a bad sign for your health? 

First, we need to know what causes snoring to occur. Snoring is a sound made when air flows through the respiratory tract and through soft tissue. When it passes through soft tissue with high pressure, vibrations appear in the soft tissue. The sound produced by these vibrations is called snoring. If the throat opening is smaller, the pressure generated will be stronger, resulting in a louder snoring sound. 

Can snoring be a sign that there is a problem in someone's body? The answer can be yes or no. When people are tired, they usually sleep snoring, but if someone is always snoring throughout their sleep, then we need to be aware of this. This indicates that there is a problem with the person's respiratory tract; there is a narrow part along the respiratory tract so that when air goes in and out, it causes the person to snore. This is a bad sign. Of course, this will also disrupt a person's sleep cycle.

Are there any tests we can do at home to distinguish between normal and abnormal snoring?

There is a questionnaire that we can do at home to determine whether the snoring experienced by our family or those closest to us is normal or severe. One of the questionnaires that we can use is the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. If, after filling out the questionnaire, the number of points obtained is above 9, then this indicates that we are experiencing a sleep disorder that requires professional help. For children, we can also use a questionnaire, namely the pediatric sleep scale.

Treatment of Patients with Snoring 

Usually, an ENT specialist will first analyze the cause of the snoring. There are several points that can be used as an assessment, such as body weight, age factors, measuring neck circumference, and gender. After that, there will be a further examination. We will take the patient to a special room, and the patient will be given a light anesthesia that causes the patient to sleep. When the patient makes snoring sounds, the doctor will look into the patient's throat with an endoscope to check which part is causing the snoring sound. it appears.  

Another examination is a sleep study. The patient will stay overnight in the hospital, and during sleep periods, the patient will have a device attached to his body so that it can be seen whether there are periods of not breathing during sleep.

For patients who are overweight, doctors will usually recommend losing weight.
When a patient experiences a phase of not breathing in their sleep cycle, the doctor will recommend that the patient use a device, namely CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), which is a device used during sleep that is in the form of a hood and will provide air pressure through a mask while sleeping.

If breathing problems are caused by anatomical disorders, surgery will be performed to open the respiratory tract.

Hermina friends, watch the Hermina Podcast episode "Is Snoring Dangerous in Sleep?" which discusses the dangers of snoring and the importance of quality sleep (click here).