Does snoring affect people's life span?

In daily life, people are accustomed to the common phenomenon of snoring during sleep, commonly known as "snoring". However, modern medical research has proved that intractable snoring with repeated sleep apnea is a potentially dangerous disease, which is called "obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome" in medicine. Mild, accompanied by repeated snoring, palpitation, chest tightness, headache in the morning, dry mouth, drowsiness and mood changes during the day; In severe cases, there will be the risk of memory loss, sexual dysfunction, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and even sudden death. Sleep snoring is the most characteristic manifestation of sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome. Snoring is closely related to sleep apnea, so sleep snoring can not be ignored.

One third of life is spent in sleep. Humans have been paying attention to the exploration and research of sleep. Sleep is very important for human growth and development, rest, thinking and memory, regulating nervous and endocrine functions and improving immune system. Healthy sleep is one of the signs of good health and an important guarantee for conscious physiological activities. Although we experience sleep every night, our understanding of sleep is still very limited. The progress of modern medicine and biomedical engineering technology has helped us gradually uncover the mystery of sleep. I have been engaged in professional sleep medicine research and clinical work for more than 20 years. Numerous clinical examples show that sleep snoring and apnea will destroy sleep structure and affect sleep quality. They are potential killers at night. People of all ages may have sleep-disordered breathing. According to a large sample epidemiological survey in the United States, its incidence rate is 2%~4% among middle-aged people and 20%~40% among the elderly over 65 years old. Although the yellow race is not as obese as the white race, due to the hereditary maxillofacial anatomy, the yellow race may be more prone to sleep and breathing disorders than other races. If children and adolescents suffer from sleep snoring and sleep apnea for a long time, it will affect their intelligence and development and make their academic performance decline.

The degree of attention to the harm of disease depends first on the degree of understanding of the disease. In real life, there are still many misunderstandings about sleep snoring. Some people even suspect that I specialize in sleep snoring and apnea: "Study snoring? Is it necessary to treat? " Many people not only don't realize its harm, but also often mistakenly think that sleep snoring is the performance of sleeping soundly, lacking the desire to seek medical treatment, and its complications are often misdiagnosed and mistreated. So I think the biggest problem at present is to solve people's misunderstanding on this issue. From a global perspective, the content of sleep and breathing disorders in medical popular science education is relatively insufficient at present. We hope that vivid clinical examples and scientific education can awaken "snorers", answer the doubts of millions of patients and get rid of snoring and sleep as soon as possible. The development of modern medicine makes it easy and convenient to treat snoring. Painless treatment methods that do not affect working life include non-invasive, minimally invasive radio frequency, soft palate stent implantation and other latest methods, which provide patients with more choices.

This book is rich and vivid, with typical case analysis and illustrations. On the basis of knowledge and science, it is a good book that is easy to understand, and I believe every reader will benefit from it.

Guo Xiheng ※

Professor, chief physician, master tutor, sleep and respiratory medicine expert.

Director of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University-Beijing Institute of Respiratory Diseases-Sleep Respiratory Diseases Diagnosis and Treatment Center

Member of Sleep Group of Respiratory Branch of Chinese Medical Association.

Member of American Sleep Science Society.

Secretary-General of the American-Chinese Sleep Research Association

Deputy Director of Sleep and Respiratory Professional Group of China Sleep Research Association

Member and Academic Secretary of the Expert Committee on Healthy Sleep Promotion of Chinese Medical Doctor Association

Member of Beijing Medical Device Evaluation Expert Committee

Beware of the "invisible killer" in sleep

From the moment your birth is announced, the place you can't live without is the bed. You spend about one-third of your life in bed, and the quality of this one-third sleep time determines the quality of the other two-thirds. How will you spend this third of your time?

Snoring and holding your breath while sleeping, poor sleep, leading to stunting, mental retardation and decreased academic performance;

Tick when taking medicine, and you are afraid of crossing the station by car. Take a note to remind yourself when you do something.

In the meeting of the unit, the leader above speaks, and you snore like thunder and sing "anti-Taiwan drama";

In order to avoid dozing off and falling down when going to the toilet, you hold the game machine to "concentrate";

You can't go out alone, because you may fall asleep with a bang at any time;

Your reaction to talking with people is reduced, and you often ask irrelevant questions and don't know what to say;

You haven't seen a movie completely, and you fall asleep every time you see the beginning;

When you go out by bike, your eyelids always fight, and you often stop to take a nap on the side of the road.

When eating, people are already snoring with food in their mouths;

When you stand waiting for the bus, you will suddenly feel sleepy and often stumble to the ground;

I passed death several times because I was sleepy and my car was out of control.

When the voice is loud, my wife can't sleep, so we have to do countermeasures-husband and wife take turns sleeping;

After falling asleep, his face turned blue, his lips became cyanotic, and he even convulsed and kicked his limbs;

Because of drowsiness, I made many mistakes at work, so I had to "retire" and "be laid off" in advance, and the joy of life was packed with drowsiness.

Did you create these inappropriate "jokes"?

In fact, these phenomena are all caused by a disease! This disease, also known as sleep apnea syndrome, is an "invisible killer" in sleep. People with this disease sleep for more than ten hours, which is only equivalent to one or two hours of normal people. There is a simple reason. Because their oxygen channels are too small, their brains are always in a state of hypoxia. This morbid sleep can lead to coma and even death in severe cases.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) refers to apnea and hypoventilation caused by collapse and obstruction of upper respiratory tract during sleep, accompanied by symptoms such as snoring, sleep structure disorder, frequent decrease of blood oxygen saturation, daytime sleepiness, etc. Apnea means that the nasal and oral airflow stops for at least 10 second, and hypopnea means that the respiratory airflow drops to more than 50% of the normal airflow intensity, accompanied by a 4% drop in blood oxygen saturation. Pathological OSAS refers to the repeated attack of apnea for more than 30 times or the sleep apnea index (AHI) for more than 5 times during the 7-hour sleep every night. This disease mostly happens to obese people or snorers. In China, the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with snoring, sleep apnea and daytime sleepiness as the main symptoms is about 4%. Among the four types of snorers, sleep apnea syndrome patients 1, hypertension caused by sleep apnea syndrome 1/3, and heart disease 1/5. The 5-year mortality rate of patients with severe sleep apnea syndrome is 1 1% ~ 13%.

Sleep is another way of working for human beings and an active process. A good sleep is the basis of maintaining health and physical strength, which can prolong life, store energy and be beneficial to physical and mental recovery; Poor sleep will damage people's organs, shorten people's life span, reduce people's quality of life, and can lead to a series of social hazards such as traffic accidents, production and business accidents, and even lead to sudden death during sleep. Western countries such as Europe, America and Japan pay more attention to people-oriented and quality of life, and study sleep earlier. The United States has established more than 65,438+0,000 medical research centers to treat such diseases. However, the domestic research has just started in recent years, and the corresponding popular science books are rare. Many people snore, but few people know that snoring is a disease, let alone sleep apnea syndrome.

This book is easy to understand, lively and interesting. It lets you know about sleep and teaches you how to sleep. In the past, we were often helpless about severe sleep apnea syndrome. Nowadays, with the deepening of scientific research and the continuous development of high technology, new treatment methods are constantly emerging, and there is no longer nothing to do in the face of severe sleep apnea syndrome. For the treatment of this disease, in addition to the methods introduced in the book, we will also introduce the domestic high-tech minimally invasive surgery for this disease in the appendix.

This is a corner forgotten by society. When you finish reading this book, you will have a deeper understanding of the ups and downs of patients with sleep apnea syndrome and the common sense about sleep.

Friend, I sincerely hope to benefit from it and make your life happy!

Zhang Xiaoqing. ※

Doctor of Otolaryngology, deputy chief physician

Director of Sleep and Respiratory Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center and Otolaryngology Department, West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University

He is good at the frontier research of molecular biology etiology and gene diagnosis and treatment of head and neck tumors and high-tech minimally invasive surgery to treat severe sleep apnea syndrome.

Foreword Foreword Don't take snoring seriously.

It is said that in ancient times, when humans were still digging holes, adult men would scare away wild animals with thunderous snoring to protect their families. Up to now, men's snoring is basically regarded as a bold and frank performance. However, if women, especially gentle and graceful young women snore, they may be laughed at and ashamed, and even lose their lady image.

In this way, snoring is only used as a criterion for us to judge a person or a joke in real life. So is snoring generous and do you sleep soundly? From a medical point of view, this has nothing to do with personality. In fact, snoring occurs because the airway in the deep throat narrows, which hinders the flow of air. Snoring lightly can cause brain hypoxia and affect sleep quality. In severe cases, it may also cause sleep suffocation and threaten life.

According to statistics, more than 30% of adults snore, the ratio of male to female is about 3∶ 1, and the ratio of men over 60 is as high as 50%, which shows that there are quite a few snorers. Traditional ideas have influenced our understanding of snoring for a long time, but from now on, all snorers and people around them should pay attention to it, don't take it seriously, and treat it as a serious problem.

Once the fog clears, the extremely dangerous humiliation of snoring is exposed. Sleep apnea syndrome is one of the manifestations of losing face. People with this disease repeatedly snore, hold their breath and stop breathing during sleep, and some patients hold their breath many times during sleep. When apnea occurs repeatedly during sleep, the oxygen saturation in blood decreases, the carbon dioxide retention increases, the adjustment of nerve function is unbalanced, microvascular contraction and microcirculation are abnormal. , leading to ischemia and hypoxia of tissues and organs, and ultimately leading to multiple organ function damage. Due to lack of oxygen during sleep, patients are sleepy during the day and often fall asleep unconsciously in conversations, meetings, watching TV and other occasions. Some patients have memory loss, inattention, decreased work efficiency, and even symptoms such as dreaminess, fidgeting, impotence and headache in the morning. This disease will devour the lives of snorers and is the direct cause of many tragic deaths. The book lists some examples of traffic accidents caused by snoring while driving.

In this book, we will thoroughly expose the pathological truth behind snoring humor, which leads to serious diseases or tragic accidents such as stroke, and tell you how to judge whether your snoring is safe or dangerous, and how to prevent and treat snoring. As long as you read patiently, you can learn snoring knowledge that others don't understand and build a solid barrier for your health quality.

On the other hand, we also hope that readers can understand from this book that whether it is snoring or sleep apnea syndrome, the symptoms can be obviously improved as long as the methods are proper. Friends who have been troubled by snoring for many years no longer have to be unhappy. You can consult a doctor for symptomatic treatment according to the information in this book. Many people suffer from sleep disorders, and high-quality sleep will directly affect the level of QOL (quality of life). I hope everyone can get rid of the shackles of snoring and return to a healthy sleep state.

Chapter 1 Snoring can cause such serious trouble. Did you sleep soundly by snoring?

Snoring is not a sign of deep sleep.

According to statistics, 45% of normal adults snore occasionally, and 25% snore habitually. Speaking of snoring, it always gives people a humorous impression. People who snore have always been laughed at by everyone. And so far, most people have no doubt that snoring is a sign of deep sleep. Therefore, if a family member snores, everyone will only think that he is sleeping soundly and will not consider the reasons more.

But recently, people have begun to have a new understanding of snoring. With the rapid development of scientific research, it is found that snoring has brought serious adverse effects on human health and life.

Snoring is simply a breathing disorder during sleep. This could happen to anyone. For example, when you catch a cold, your throat swells and it becomes difficult to breathe. It is easy to snore at this time. Once the cold is cured, this temporary snoring will stop with the smooth breathing.

The aggravation of respiratory disorder will become "apnea"

If snoring becomes chronic for some reason, it will form a persistent breathing disorder during sleep. In the long run, chronic hypoxia will be formed, which will bring all kinds of adverse effects to our body and mind.

The most serious of these side effects is sleep apnea syndrome. We will talk about it in detail after the third chapter, which is the most serious symptom of sleep apnea, that is, apnea during sleep. Breathing will stop dozens or even hundreds of times a night, which has a very serious impact on physical and mental health. People with sleep apnea syndrome are more prone to traffic accidents and complications such as stroke and heart disease when driving fatigue. Compared with healthy people, the premature death rate is much higher.

In addition, snoring has a serious impact on women and children. Women are much more stressed than men. For children, snoring will directly affect his grades at school.

Chapter 1: Snoring can cause such a serious problem. How does snoring come about?

Upper respiratory tract stenosis is the main cause.

Why do you snore? First, let's understand the principle.

The air inhaled by people only enters the human body through a certain channel. From the nasal cavity to the throat and then to the bronchus, the only passage for air to enter the human body from the nasal cavity to the throat is called "upper respiratory tract", and the bronchus and the lower bronchus are called "lower respiratory tract". If the upper respiratory tract narrows for some reason, it will cause snoring.

When the upper respiratory tract narrows, the inhaled air will barely pass through, and the air resistance will also increase. In this way, the narrowed mucosa or secretion will vibrate or produce a rubbing sound, which is snoring.

The upper respiratory tract can not only warm and moisten the inhaled air, but also exclude foreign bodies such as dust. There are already some narrow or uneven parts in the upper respiratory tract to prevent foreign bodies such as dust from being inhaled into the lungs. If there is a slight respiratory disorder, the airway will become very narrow, leading to greater resistance, thus forming snoring.

A cold can also narrow the respiratory tract.

A cold causes a sore throat and difficulty breathing, which has happened to everyone. This is the result of the narrowing of upper respiratory tract and the increase of air resistance caused by inflammation.

When snoring, the parts that actually produce vibration and sound are: nose wing, soft palate, uvula, palatoglossal arch, palatopharyngeal arch, tongue root, epiglottis and so on. The soft palate is the most prone to vibration, and more than 70% of snoring is caused by this part.

Sleeping on your back is the cause of snoring.

Basically, everyone sleeps on their backs. Studies have shown that this posture is an important cause of snoring.

When sleeping in supine position, the soft palate, uvula and tongue root we just talked about will droop due to gravity, which will transfer to the deep throat and narrow the upper respiratory tract. In this way, the air resistance increases, leading to snoring. Moreover, due to the relaxation of the whole body during sleep, the muscles of the throat and tongue are also relaxed. Relaxed parts are prone to vibration, which is more likely to cause snoring.

Besides, you don't need as much oxygen during sleep as during the day. Parasympathetic nerve plays a role in swelling nasal mucosa and restricting air circulation. Snoring is caused by the difficulty of air circulation.

It is these reasons that cause us to snore while sleeping.

Chapter 1 Snoring can cause such serious trouble that such people are prone to snore.

People who snore generally have several similar features in their postures. You can check for yourself.

1. Obese people

When it comes to obesity, everyone used to care about appearance, weight or body fat. Now people begin to pay attention to the influence of body fat such as visceral fat on health.

The relationship between snoring and obesity is similar. Obese people not only have the characteristics of double chin in appearance, but also have a lot of fat attached to the soft palate and throat wall in the body. These causes lead to the narrowing of the upper respiratory tract. In addition, a thick tongue can also block the throat passage.

However, obese people need more oxygen than people of standard weight and try to inhale more air during sleep, so they often take deep breaths.

In this way, obese people with narrow upper respiratory tract will try to inhale more air than ordinary people, leading to easy snoring.

Obese people's body composition makes them prone to snoring, and if they are not treated in time, they will generally form chronic snoring. On the contrary, if you lose weight successfully, the symptoms of snoring will gradually disappear. There are many examples in life.

2. People with short and thick necks

There is a kind of person who doesn't look fat, but has a thick and short neck. This kind of people are generally the same as obese people, and a lot of fat is attached around the respiratory tract. This constitution snores easily.

3. People with small chins

When people with small jaws lie on their backs, the back of the tongue is more prone to droop than normal people, thus narrowing the respiratory tract and easily causing snoring.

4. People with long tongues

The soft palate is called the "real murderer" of snoring, and the uvula hangs in the middle of the soft palate. If the uvula is too long and connected with the tongue, it is difficult to ensure the unobstructed respiratory tract and it is easy to snore.

5. People in tonsil hypertrophy

Tonsils are located in the deep throat and are divided into palatal tonsils, pharyngeal tonsils and lingual tonsils. If hypertrophy of these parts leads to airway obstruction, it will become the cause of snoring. This is also a major reason why children snore.

6.crooked nose, garlic nose

The nose is the entrance for inhaling air. If this place has structural problems, it is easy to snore. For example, the nasal septum is curved with a curved nose, and the so-called "garlic nose" is accompanied by a low nose, because it is difficult for the nasal cavity to breathe air smoothly, and the alar vibrates, thus causing snoring.

Chapter 1 Snoring can cause such a serious problem. Most snorers are men.

The medical foundation is not clear.

When it comes to snorers, an image of a paunchy old man comes to mind. According to medical statistics, men account for about 20% of the total population, and women account for about 5% of the total population.

Among habitual snorers in Japan, sleep apnea syndrome is a serious symptom of snoring. The proportion of men and women suffering from this disease is about 80% and that of women is about 20%. By contrast, men are about four times as worried about snoring as women.

Why do men snore more? In fact, there is no clear explanation for this in medicine, and now there are only several statements.

One of the most powerful statements is the statement of female hormones. For example, according to statistics, most men are over 50 years old from the age when they are prone to sleep apnea syndrome, and they are full of energy at work, and then gradually decrease. For women, the number of patients began to increase after menopause at the age of 50. In addition, it has been reported that drugs containing female hormones can also temporarily inhibit snoring.

However, what kind of female hormone it is, how it works and how to inhibit snoring are still under further study.

Is it because of drinking too much or stress at work?

Why is there such a big difference in snoring ratio between men and women? Is it because of drinking too much, work pressure or social pressure? Obviously, alcohol can relax the muscles in the throat. Men like drinking more than women, so they are more likely to snore.

In addition, the work pressure of men is greater than that of women. There is also a saying that breathing disorders during sleep are caused unconsciously.

In a word, men seem to have many unavoidable difficulties on this issue.

Chapter 1 Snoring can cause such serious trouble. Snoring is a woman's distress.

Try not to let lovers know.

Although the number of women snoring is much less than that of men, once they enter this niche, it is precisely because of the small number that they are under greater pressure.

When companies travel in groups or friends travel together, two people often live in one room. The next morning, if you are a male partner, you will usually say, "The sound of your snoring last night was really scary!" " The answer is, "Really? Sorry, sorry. "Of course, it is sometimes used as a joke at breakfast.

However, if it is a female companion, it is not so easy. Once a partner points out that snoring is scary, it is equivalent to fundamentally denying her dignity as a woman. Generally speaking, she will suffer a serious mental shock. In real life, because of the trouble of snoring, whenever colleagues or friends travel together, many women have been avoiding it for some reason, although they really want to participate!

Being with your lover but afraid to sleep.

You can refuse to travel with your colleagues, but if you are with your lover, the situation will get worse! Please look at the following example:

Female a, 30 years old. Frequent dating with her soon-to-be-married boyfriend makes them very sweet and happy. A's only worry is that she is pointed out by her family to snore while sleeping. A often thinks that if her boyfriend finds himself snoring loudly, he will definitely break up with himself.

So A tried to avoid spending the night with her boyfriend, but as the relationship between them became closer and closer, she finally could not avoid that day. That night, A took this approach.

At first, A stayed up all night. Although she was dizzy and wanted to sleep, she tried to resist sleepiness and pretended to sleep soundly with her boyfriend. Fortunately, I didn't reveal the clue in the end.

However, if you do this every time, your body will definitely be overwhelmed. So from the second time, she set the alarm clock she carried with her at 1 hour before her boyfriend got up, and woke up when her boyfriend was still sleeping, just like fighting a war. A's efforts can be described as touching. Think about her own mood carefully, and no one will find it ridiculous.

Since then, A has made up her mind to receive treatment for snoring. After being cured, she married her boyfriend and lived happily ever after.

Suffer from depression due to snoring

Let me introduce another example of Ms. B (60 years old) who founded the Tea Ceremony and the Huadao School.

B is a mature woman recognized by the society, and also the object admired by many students. But one day, B's husband said to her, "Why have you started snoring recently!" " "The speaker unintentionally, the listener intentional. Her husband's words hurt B deeply.

B thinks that as a master of Japanese tea ceremony and flower pattern, you should be strict with yourself first, and then you can give gifts to others. So she thinks snoring is a mistake that can't be forgiven anyway. So, under such severe psychological pressure, she suffered from mild depression. Fortunately, on the advice of a psychologist, B received snoring treatment and recovered quickly.

Damage to the skin, affect the expression and voice.

Chronic snoring is simply chronic lack of sleep. Women know that lack of continuous sleep will lead to poor makeup effect and even serious problems such as rough skin. In this way, you can't make up in the morning, and you can't maintain your confidence from the appearance. You can't work hard all day, and you will gradually become unhappy.

In addition, snoring also has a great influence on facial expressions. Chronic sleep deprivation caused by snoring continues to develop, and no one can easily laugh it off. Naturally, the expression will become cold and bleak.

Sleepiness, headache, swollen eyes and rough skin, even the flowers in the workplace and the sun at home can't stand them.

One more thing, snoring is also closely related to sound quality.

The source of snoring is the nose and throat, which are all vocal organs. Because of long-term snoring, these organs are damaged, and the sound quality is certainly affected.

Generally speaking, the voice of women with chronic snoring is not as clear as that of ordinary women, and most of them are deep voices. So I am often mistaken for being much older than my actual age, which makes me very unhappy.

Unfortunately, most people don't know that such physical discomfort is caused by snoring. This also makes us deeply realize once again that it is very necessary to seriously understand the horror of snoring.

Treatment can eliminate the negative effects of body and mind.

In addition, there are many examples, such as blind date, which went smoothly because the woman snored and was accidentally known by the man, leading to divorce; Another example is the wedding trip, which developed into a "divorce event" because the bride snored. In these cases related to love and marriage, things often develop into serious situations that cannot be handled.

Snoring is a shameful thing for women, and it is difficult for others to mention it. No matter how generous and outgoing she is, it is impossible for her to tell her lover about her snoring before marriage.

Therefore, only from this perspective, we must also completely eradicate snoring. On the other hand, the treatment of snoring can eliminate the negative mental effects and bring gratifying results to women.

In fact, many doctors report that after curing snoring, women are as radiant and colorful as a different person. This is because they have not only been liberated mentally, but also their skin, expression and voice have been obviously improved.

Chapter 1 Snoring can cause such serious trouble. Snoring is more dangerous for children than for adults.

Long-term lack of sleep will affect children's performance and exercise.

Children's snoring is generally easy to be ignored. Perhaps it is because adults snore a lot, so even if children snore, they will generally not attract the attention of their parents.

However, you should know that if there is nothing abnormal in the child's body, he will not snore. In other words, if the child snores, it proves that his body is abnormal. In this case, we must treat this abnormality as soon as possible. If left unchecked, it will seriously hinder the healthy growth of children.

Among the adverse effects of snoring on children, chronic lack of sleep ranks first. Because snoring is a respiratory disorder during sleep, children are often in a state of hypoxia during sleep. In this way, children can't sleep, and their brains and bodies can't get enough rest.

If you can't sleep well, the secretion of growth hormone will be affected, which will have a serious adverse effect on your child's physical and mental development.

Habitual lack of sleep leads to drowsiness, inability to concentrate on lectures at school, and poor grades. I don't like sports because I am very tired. This is not an alarmist. Medical experts have come to the conclusion that "children's snoring will inevitably affect their performance and sports."

Difficult to swallow food

In addition, children's snoring is mostly caused by tonsil hypertrophy narrowing the respiratory tract. So when eating, you can't swallow food normally. In this way, children will only like to drink drinks that are easy to swallow or only eat thin and soft food, instead of adhering to healthy eating habits, which may easily lead to malnutrition or other developmental problems.

To sum up, snoring is a serious obstacle to children's development. We must fully understand this problem again and seriously think about the countermeasures for children snoring.

Children who snore generally have such characteristics.

So, what are the characteristics of children's chronic snoring? Below I have listed several features that are easy to find.

1. I often want to sleep

As mentioned earlier, snoring can lead to hypoxia, which leads to chronic sleep deprivation.

fidget

Children who have been sleeping for a long time are mentally unsatisfied and often lack patience. In addition, sleepiness caused by lack of sleep often makes children's actions blurred.