It’s estimated that 45% of American adults snore occasionally and 25% snore regularly. Because snoring can do more harm than disturb your partner’s sleep, it’s important that you find out why you’re doing it.
At Stat Care Pulmonary and Sleep in St. Petersburg, Florida, our sleep specialists, Himanshu Chandarana, MD, and Ashok Tyagi, DO, CPE, offer comprehensive sleep testing services to uncover the cause of your snoring.
We can also customize a treatment plan to address sleep apnea and other conditions that affect your quality of sleep.
There are many reasons why people snore during sleep. You might snore occasionally, for example, if you have a cold, allergy, or sinus infection because of congestion in the upper respiratory system.
If your snoring is more frequent, it may be due to weight challenges or nasal issues like polyps or a deviated septum. People with chronic diseases like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may also experience snoring that disrupts their quality of sleep.
In some cases, snoring is linked to a more serious condition, sleep apnea. When you have sleep apnea, you experience pauses in your breathing while you sleep. These pauses occur because tissues in your throat relax and obstruct the flow of air.
Because sleep apnea can have serious, long-term effects on your health, you shouldn’t delay diagnostic testing to learn more about why you’re snoring.
You should schedule testing at Stat Care Pulmonary and Sleep if your partner complains about your loud snoring or if you wake up throughout the night gasping for breath.
Uncovering the root cause of your snoring is important because if left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to complications like:
The sleep deprivation that snoring can cause may also put you at risk for accidents and injuries when you can’t shake daytime sleepiness.
We offer both in-office and at-home sleep testing services to learn more about your sleep habits, so you can get the treatment you need. Based on the results of your testing, we can tailor a treatment plan to your needs to restore your quality of sleep.
Your treatment plan for snoring may start with lifestyle changes to ensure you’re getting at least eight hours of quality sleep every night. You may benefit from dietary modifications that help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
For persistent snoring, we may recommend an oral appliance that keeps your jaw in a forward position, so you can breathe easier throughout the night.
For more severe snoring, you may be a candidate for a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which delivers supplemental oxygen through a face mask you wear as you sleep.
Our physicians have extensive experience treating pulmonary conditions like asthma and COPD that interfere with your quality of sleep. We can also refer you to a specialist to treat nasal polyps or structural issues in your upper respiratory tract.
Don’t put off diagnostic testing for snoring. Call State Care Pulmonary and Sleep today or book a consultation online.
