No snoring please!!!
Snoring comes in various sounds, sawing wood or cutting ‘Zees’ in the air, the sounds doors and windows make in a storm, sometimes mewing cats or growling of dogs and some percussion instruments that blare music.
Heavy snoring is no joke and it is a genuine medical disorder that needs to be checked by ENT and/or sleep specialists first thing. Sleep partners of the snorers lose almost as much sleep as snorers (remember passive smokers) affecting performance at work or home, also reason why they tend to sleep during the day. It is said 30 to 50 % snore, age increasing the susceptibility. Sleep disorders unsettle having behavioral and psychological aspects involved affect productivity and fertility of society. It is shocking about the likely connection between heavy snoring with and heart attacks/ strokes.
Causes: Snoring is the result of the movement of air breathed in and out during sleep, either from nose or mouth when it gets obstructed and produce vibrations that eventually end in sounds over tissues in the airway. One snores due to narrowing of airway in the throat caused by any one or more or all of the following:
1. Bad sleeping postures
2. Obstruction by enlarged uvula and soft palate?
2. Sleep induced weakness in the throat muscle
4. Fat tissue in the surrounding areas of throat
5. Ill positioning of lower jaw due to tension in the muscles;
6. Tongue rolled into the throat when sleeping on the back;
7...Congenitally having a narrow airway due to size & shape of head & neck.
9. Hypothyroid and other disorder and syndromes
10. Hyperacidity (cause as well as symptom)
11. Smoking (including passive smoking) and so on.
Relief: It is always safe to sleep on the side to prevent tongue going into throat due to gravity. Pillows help create more problem than comfort. A folded towel under the neck will serve better. It is better if the headboard is raised a bit for head and shoulders to rest for easy breathing. Sleeping on a full stomach should be avoided and also avoided drinks and pills before bed. Streamlining sleeping patterns and hours help.
What should worry? We know most babies and pets snore lightly. Light or primary snoring without ‘sleep apnea’ is very common. Even then consulting experts is better since these days even light snoring is viewed seriously by some doctors especially in children. Snoring also occurs when one is afflicted with cold or other allergies. And it will soon pass once the virus or allergy is behind. What should worry in my opinion is the heavy snoring accompanied by sleep apnea ( gasping for breath and waking up in the middle of the night on frequent basis. accompanied or preceded by severe sweating or being not awake and yet undergoing the symptoms as revealed by the sleep partner or observer or the tap)
Of course heavy drinkers get extra relaxation in their tongues and throat muscles, uvula and soft palate. The latter produce sounds as suffering from snoring and later a hangover. Same is with sedatives. However children should never be neglected when suffering from sleep related problems. Lest they tend to under perform in the classes maybe due to lack of sufficient oxygen in the brain, and in the long run may end up with more problems. So we need to get them checked up by specialists who see if tonsils or adenoids cause the problem and need to be removed by surgery. Those obese tend to snore more; and the culprit is the fat around the neck and throat. Even fat in stomach will act on diaphragm that leads to snoring. Snoring is a serious cause for reduced libido or sex drive.
Dangers of Sleep apnea: Some heavy snorers may have a disorder called Sleep Apnea. The sufferers wake up next morning hardly realizing they woke up off and on last night for at least hundred times each time for a brief pause lasting a few seconds to a minute. This was due to lack of free airflow in the passageway in the throat thanks to obstructions. In the case air had to be breathed with force in a jerk, snort or choke when lungs used extra pressure prompted by the brain sensing imbalances in Carbon dioxide and Oxygen levels in the blood. At the same time brain wakes up the patient briefly to make him or her take air deliberately into lungs. In 90% of cases sleep apnea patients hardly realize the whole thing happening. BP might also increase and in the long run it may lead to arteriosclerosis (in heart) and/or stroke in brain.
Surgery and devices: Apnea patients may need surgery in some cases according to the doctors when some tissue is removed from throat region. Some doctors advise recording a night’s sleep to diagnose the disorder easily and accurately. Some devices make continuous air flow possible, whereas some other appliance is used in the lower jaw to keep it intact and prevent snoring.
PS: I don’t mean to scare readers but only want to make them aware and alert those suffering and yet not knowing as I myself was a patient once who underwent some symptoms unwittingly and suffered. I advise readers to get the correct and complete advice on any specific case of sleep disorder from the physicians.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
What is in the liquor?
It has nothing to look for
but the exact opposite
for which is gone for;
it leaves some kick no doubt
but not even yummy
gives a kicking inside the tummy,
and of course some of that
in the offing from the wify
that too on the hind
sounding yappy.
Come morning she is happy
to give the scolding
that leave you more craggy.
It has nothing to look for
but the exact opposite
for which is gone for;
it leaves some kick no doubt
but not even yummy
gives a kicking inside the tummy,
and of course some of that
in the offing from the wify
that too on the hind
sounding yappy.
Come morning she is happy
to give the scolding
that leave you more craggy.
Should have been to the movies!!!
Monday, June 16, 2008
On snooozzzing ------by Seshu BSR Chamarty
I am not a sleep expert. In fact, I run a current account in overdraft at my ‘sleep bank’, technically called sleep backlog. I plan always to square off my negative balances in the sleep account or wished I could. I understand how loss of sleep accumulates over the time mostly over overtime work. In addition I had to go to the airport or railway station very early in the mornings or very late in the nights to see off or receive our family guests. Desperate to get some tips on sleep, I bought sufficient literature coincidentally at the Railway stations. There is a complaint from my wife I am losing sleep over telling about to sleep to others. Despite her I give my sleep talk as under to wake up or put to sleep a keen eye.
How much sleep one requires to stay healthy? Some experts say it is between 6 and 8 hours a night or day (also keeping in mind those on night calls). I wondered, is it not more than half of our lifetime; I included travel to my work and back. I envy a particular guy whose wife often complained to my wife, ‘My husband sleeps like a log/ baby’. Poor man, he was compared to the log or baby depending on his movements in bed or her current vibes towards him. Talking of babies, a baby sleeps for 12 to 14 hours by its 12th month, and like our adults babies too pass through up to 5 REM cycles in sleep. Besides they sleep through the day and that concerns most working mothers for reasons that they are likely to be disturbed by the wide awake baby in the dead of the night. Again, talking of sound sleep, I saw one Kumbhakarna sleeping right through a wedding function with the band in high octave (thank god --not his wedding). Many elderly people are hard to hit the sack for full stint of sleep despite they need it medically -- perhaps need to visit toilets becomes more frequent and imminent.
All said and done it is an enigma why we have to sleep in the first place. The answer given in my literature says: sleep is a must for the human body for it has to carry out its internal repairs like cleaning, getting rid of the dead cells, rejuvenating systems etc. I find some sleep with pillows stacked high under their heads or backs while some do without. My literature advised I should roll a thin towel into a convenient lump and place the same under my neck. For that matter, while asleep, I roll on my bed making different postures like in Dasavatarams. I got a helpful hint that doing so helps one not get bed sores (not bad). These days I lie on to my left side while sleeping that would do a world of good to my gas as my literature says as my stomach empties contents faster into my duodenum in small intestines in line with the gravitational pull (Must be a genius who wrote this tip, next to Newton).
In my experience, the daily siesta (the afternoon nap) works wonders to keep our mind refreshed. A catnap in the office won’t hurt and it is the answer. I see some high tech offices allowed their sleep-hungry staff to officially snooze to increase the general health of company. In other ‘normal’ offices, no wonder certain folks improvise sleeping with eyes wide open and staring blankly at the monitors or notebooks as if reading from them without registering the details. Same thing goes in meetings where except the speaker the rest are sleep arrested. On a sad note we note accidents involving motor vehicles, trains and even flights when drivers concerned (unconcerned) suffered mainly from sleep problems. In that state they are prone to get momentary lapsed into unconsciousness loosing controls at the dashboard. (I pity the average engine driver in railway trains tagged by many sleepers coaches containing sleeper passengers and himself running on stony or wooden hard sleepers misses his sleep).
Humor apart, the last chapter in sleep literature says we dream during a cycle called Rapid Eye Moment stage. As a child I used to wonder do we really dream in colors or just in the old Black and White movie version. Now it seems to be a settled matter that we see events in our dreams in multicolor (maybe that is after color TV came into the picture). Another interesting tidbit is that we get dreams mostly in early morning (most are sweet in my case). It was also mentioned we dream only during REM stage of sleep in each of 5 rounds but only could remember (vividly or vaguely) the dreams occurred during last REM, that happens when we were about to wake up. Those who had a peg or two too many, may wake up to some confusion as their gaunt and ghastly faces stare back from the bathroom mirrors. It is thanks to the lack of normal sleep cycles in their drunken dozing. What one needs therefore is some quality sleep on a light stomach maybe after some warm drink that has no caffeine or other stimulant, and optionally with moving lips that say just a prayer.
I am not a sleep expert. In fact, I run a current account in overdraft at my ‘sleep bank’, technically called sleep backlog. I plan always to square off my negative balances in the sleep account or wished I could. I understand how loss of sleep accumulates over the time mostly over overtime work. In addition I had to go to the airport or railway station very early in the mornings or very late in the nights to see off or receive our family guests. Desperate to get some tips on sleep, I bought sufficient literature coincidentally at the Railway stations. There is a complaint from my wife I am losing sleep over telling about to sleep to others. Despite her I give my sleep talk as under to wake up or put to sleep a keen eye.
How much sleep one requires to stay healthy? Some experts say it is between 6 and 8 hours a night or day (also keeping in mind those on night calls). I wondered, is it not more than half of our lifetime; I included travel to my work and back. I envy a particular guy whose wife often complained to my wife, ‘My husband sleeps like a log/ baby’. Poor man, he was compared to the log or baby depending on his movements in bed or her current vibes towards him. Talking of babies, a baby sleeps for 12 to 14 hours by its 12th month, and like our adults babies too pass through up to 5 REM cycles in sleep. Besides they sleep through the day and that concerns most working mothers for reasons that they are likely to be disturbed by the wide awake baby in the dead of the night. Again, talking of sound sleep, I saw one Kumbhakarna sleeping right through a wedding function with the band in high octave (thank god --not his wedding). Many elderly people are hard to hit the sack for full stint of sleep despite they need it medically -- perhaps need to visit toilets becomes more frequent and imminent.
All said and done it is an enigma why we have to sleep in the first place. The answer given in my literature says: sleep is a must for the human body for it has to carry out its internal repairs like cleaning, getting rid of the dead cells, rejuvenating systems etc. I find some sleep with pillows stacked high under their heads or backs while some do without. My literature advised I should roll a thin towel into a convenient lump and place the same under my neck. For that matter, while asleep, I roll on my bed making different postures like in Dasavatarams. I got a helpful hint that doing so helps one not get bed sores (not bad). These days I lie on to my left side while sleeping that would do a world of good to my gas as my literature says as my stomach empties contents faster into my duodenum in small intestines in line with the gravitational pull (Must be a genius who wrote this tip, next to Newton).
In my experience, the daily siesta (the afternoon nap) works wonders to keep our mind refreshed. A catnap in the office won’t hurt and it is the answer. I see some high tech offices allowed their sleep-hungry staff to officially snooze to increase the general health of company. In other ‘normal’ offices, no wonder certain folks improvise sleeping with eyes wide open and staring blankly at the monitors or notebooks as if reading from them without registering the details. Same thing goes in meetings where except the speaker the rest are sleep arrested. On a sad note we note accidents involving motor vehicles, trains and even flights when drivers concerned (unconcerned) suffered mainly from sleep problems. In that state they are prone to get momentary lapsed into unconsciousness loosing controls at the dashboard. (I pity the average engine driver in railway trains tagged by many sleepers coaches containing sleeper passengers and himself running on stony or wooden hard sleepers misses his sleep).
Humor apart, the last chapter in sleep literature says we dream during a cycle called Rapid Eye Moment stage. As a child I used to wonder do we really dream in colors or just in the old Black and White movie version. Now it seems to be a settled matter that we see events in our dreams in multicolor (maybe that is after color TV came into the picture). Another interesting tidbit is that we get dreams mostly in early morning (most are sweet in my case). It was also mentioned we dream only during REM stage of sleep in each of 5 rounds but only could remember (vividly or vaguely) the dreams occurred during last REM, that happens when we were about to wake up. Those who had a peg or two too many, may wake up to some confusion as their gaunt and ghastly faces stare back from the bathroom mirrors. It is thanks to the lack of normal sleep cycles in their drunken dozing. What one needs therefore is some quality sleep on a light stomach maybe after some warm drink that has no caffeine or other stimulant, and optionally with moving lips that say just a prayer.
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