Collin County Living Well Magazine July/August 2017 | страница 25

Save YOUR marriage–Stop snoring!
S
By Doohi Lee, MD
noring is usually passed off
as something annoying or
embarrassing, but there are
serious health risks associ-
ated with this common occur-
rence. There’s a continuum from just
snoring to sleep apnea, and regard-
less of where you fall on this line, you
are facing potentially devastating
health risks if untreated.
What are the Causes of Snoring?
Age. As you age, your body begins
to relax and lose muscle tone. This
process also occurs in the throat and
tongue muscles causing them to relax
and fall back into your airways.
Weight.  If you’re overweight you
could have an excess of built-up fatty
tissues in your throat as well as poor
muscle tone leading to a restriction of
your throat muscles.
Alcohol consumption, smok-
ing, and medications. Alcohol,
smoking, and some medications
increase muscle relaxation allowing
the flesh of the throat to relax and
disrupt airflow. Smoking also irritates
the nasal passages and throat muscles
causing inflammation of these areas.
Nasal and sinus problems.  Sea-
sonal allergies and sinus infections can
cause swelling of the nasal passages
making breathing difficult. A deviated
septum can also cause snoring due to the
imbalance in the sizes of breathing pas-
sages and possibly lead to sleep apnea.
Sleep posture. Sleeping on your
back puts you at a higher likelihood of
snoring. The tissues at the back of the
throat can more readily fall back and
cause partial or complete blockage of
the airways. Try changing your sleep-
ing posture by sleeping on your side.
Types of health problems
associated with snoring:
Stroke – Atherosclerotic plaques in
the carotid artery can loosen and trav-
el to the brain due to snoring.
Heart disease – Sleep apnea is
linked to cardiovascular problems
such as high blood pressure, coronary
artery disease and increased risk of
heart attacks. People with sleep ap-
nea have twice the risk of fatal and
nonfatal heart disease. You can also
develop arrhythmias such as atrial fi-
brillation, which increases the risk of
developing blood clots in the heart,
which then can travel to the lungs and
result in pulmonary embolism. limit the intake of alcohol, losing
weight and treating allergies to help
decrease snoring. There are remedies
including dental appliances or do it
yourself kits or chic straps to hold the
jaw thrust forward during the night to
open the airway. These can work, but
often the user awakes with stiffness or
spasms in the muscles that are held
in tension all night. And you have to
wear the device every night.
Mental health – Heavy snoring and
sleep apnea are linked to depression,
ADD, anxiety, decreased cognitive
function.
Brain health – Chronic sleep apnea
is linked to developing Parkinson’s dis-
ease later in life.
Other health problems – Increased
risk of injury due to daytime sleepi-
ness, obesity, hormonal disturbances
(leading to erectile dysfunction), noc-
turia (there is a link between sleep ap-
nea and prostate enlargement).
Sleeping partner’s health – There
is negative impact on your sleeping
partner arising from your snoring or
sleep apnea, in areas such as physi-
cal health, depression, poor mental
health, unhappiness, low optimism,
feeling left out, no t satisfied with rela-
tionship and unhappy marriage. All these solutions are effective to
various degrees, but none of them
presents a comprehensive permanent
non-surgical solution for snoring and
sleep apnea.
What are some solutions?
If causes include alcohol, obesity, al-
lergies, smoking and medications,
For those with obstructive sleep ap-
nea, the most common solution is C-
PAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pres-
sure) devices designed to keep your
airway open by pumping pressurized
air to the back of your throat to keep
it open. Many people get one but do
not use it because of the loud noise,
discomfort of the mask and strap on
the face, leaking air drying out the
eyes, and many other associated
complaints.
Introducing Snore-X™
Using the healing power of
LASER by Fotona as a Snoring
and Apnea Treatment
Snore-X is a patented, fast non-surgi-
cal, and friendly way of increasing the
quality of a patient’s sleep. Snore-X
lessons the effects of sleep apnea and
decreases the amplitude of snoring.
Snore-X is a non-invasive procedure
that shrinks the tissues in the back of
the mouth associated with snoring and
OSA. Utilizing the latest technology,
we gently heat all the loose tissue to
shrink them and open up the airway in
the back of the mouth. It’s a painless
and quick procedure that requires no
anesthesia and no downtime.
Call Dr. Doohi Lee at 972-612-1900 for more information on this exciting new procedure. As a cosmetic
surgeon and vein surgeon, Dr. Lee heads the team of medical professionals at Advanced Surgical Arts in Plano.
www.advsurgicalarts.com.
COLLIN COUNTY Living Well Magazine | JULY/AUGUST 2017
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