Do you or someone in your household snore? More than noise could be afflicting your nights – and it could be life-threatening.
While not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, snoring is one of the primary symptoms of sleep apnea. If you or a loved one snore, the doctors at the Woodlands Dental Group would like to help diagnose and treat that potential sleep apnea so you can get the rest you deserve – for health, wellbeing, and longevity!
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea often sounds like snoring, but it is much more. The designation of sleep apnea can be applied, not when breathing is loud and raspy, but when breathing stops. That’s right, sleep apnea is a condition in which a sleeper’s breathing is suspended, sometimes hundreds of times a night. This deprives the brain of oxygen, the body goes into panic mode, and the sleeper gasps to catch their breath, usually also startling awake. This cycle of snoring, breath cessation, gasping, and waking, not only leads to a lack of oxygen, it leads to a serious lack of sleep, and that can lead to everything from acid reflux to strokes. Plus, driving while sleepy is even more dangerous than driving drunk!
Over 18 million adults in the United States suffer from this disorder – and those are just the ones who are diagnosed.
Symptoms of Sleep Apnea:
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Tiredness
- Dry mouth
- Sore throat
- Insomnia
- Inability to sleep through the night
- Restlessness during the night
- Short term memory problems
- Memory/concentration difficulties
- Intellectual deterioration
- Snoring
If you suffer from any of these symptoms, please talk to one of the doctors at the Woodlands Dental Group. We can work with a sleep center or even send you home with a sleep test to use in the comfort of your own home.
