You’ve had a long day at work. You put in some overtime. Tonight, more than anything, you just want to get some rest.

You lay your head on your pillow, and just as you are about to fall asleep … your spouse turns on the vacuum cleaner right next to you!!!

You look at your spouse for a minute then roll over. The vacuum is off.

You start to get cozy … and again, the vacuum roars to life!!!

Can you imagine if this kept up all night? You wouldn’t sleep well, and you would probably be pretty irritable in the morning.

Well … if you have sleep apnea, that’s pretty similar to what you are doing to your spouse.  One of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea is frequent snoring.

When most people snore, it’s between 60 and 80 decibels. In comparison, vacuum cleaners are about 70 decibels when they are running.

Now, you might understand why your spouse seems so tired.

That might make this a good time to contact dentist Denise DiBona, DDS in Red Bank, NJ, to discuss a treatment for your sleep apnea and a solution to your snoring problem.

You Need Quality Sleep And So Does Your Spouse

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder. It also leads to sleep deprivation because it prevents you from getting healthy, quality sleep.

When you get quality sleep, it helps your overall health. It’s also true that your health suffers when you don’t get quality sleep.

From a physical standpoint, people who are sleep deprived are more likely to experience high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. From a mental standpoint, sleep deprivation affects your emotional stability and you brain function.

Sleep apnea causes sleep deprivation because it can prevent you from reaching the stages of deep sleep.

The American Sleep Apnea Association explains the cycles of healthy sleep in its website. People who receive quality sleep go through three different stage of non-REM sleep and a stage of REM sleep. REM stands for rapid-eye movement. REM is also the stage when you are most likely to dream.

The first stage of non-REM sleep occurs as you begin to fall asleep. During the second non-REM stage, your heart rate and your breathing slow down.

This gives way to the third stage of non-REM, which is when your body starts to heal from the day’s activities, and REM sleep. One of the problems with sleep apnea is that it may be preventing you from getting to the third non-REM and REM stages.

Snoring Is Your Solution And Your Problem

Apnea comes from a Greek word that means “without breath.” Not surprisingly, people with sleep apnea have trouble breathing when they are asleep.

Snoring is part of how your body wakes you up briefly so you do keep breathing during the night. This can be so brief that you don’t realize that it’s happened. (Although, we suspect your spouse is quite aware of it.)

While snoring gets you to breathe again, it’s not fixing your real problem.

If you have obstructive sleep apnea, which is the most common form of sleep apnea, then your airways become blocked while you are asleep.

This is because the muscles around your airway become relaxed when you go to sleep. This leads to your airway becoming partially and sometimes completely blocked. That’s when your body will do something to wake you up, and you snore.

Sleep Apnea Treatment Options

One of the most common treatments for sleep apnea is a CPAP machine. This is a continuous positive airway pressure machine. It blows air into your airways to keep them open, this allows you to continue breathing throughout the night. Or, we should say, it will do that as long as you wear your CPAP mask.

Many people find the mask irritating or uncomfortable. As a result, they don’t wear it … which means they aren’t really treating their sleep apnea.

Thankfully, you have another option, and you can get it at the dentist office in Red Bank.

We can create a special mouthpiece that you wear while you sleep. This mouthguard changes the position of your jaw so that your airways stays open.

This means you can breathe.

This means you won’t snore.

This means your spouse can sleep better, too.

Do Something For Someone You Love

You married your spouse because you love him or her. We know that you wouldn’t want to do anything intentionally to keep your spouse awake at night.

If you have sleep apnea, or think that you might, please call the office of dentist Denise DiBona, DDS at 732-945-5343 or fill out our online form to make an appointment.

Together, we can treat your sleep apnea and solve your snoring problem.