Patients or family members often ask if snoring (commonly known as snoring) is a disease. Some people say it is not a disease, and even say that snoring is a good symbol of a sound sleep; others counter that snoring is a disease, and emphasize that people who snore a lot must seek medical attention quickly to avoid accidents in their sleep. There are different opinions on who is right, and let me give you a statement as follows. Through the two cases of snoring-induced hypertension and atherosclerotic massive cerebral hemorrhage that we rescued with great difficulty at the beginning of this year and rejected our preventive advice, and another case of snoring-induced hypertension and atherosclerotic massive myocardial infarction at 6:00 a.m. yesterday (July 9), it is necessary to give a warning to people with severe snoring (especially with frequent apnea) that they must not It is necessary to remind people with severe snoring (especially with frequent apnea) that they should not be paralyzed and take snoring seriously, but should seek medical attention and strengthen preventive measures to ensure safety. As we all know, the muscles of the pharynx (such as the soft palate, tongue and uvula) can still maintain a certain degree of tension and smoothness after a normal person falls asleep, and the air can freely and unhinderedly pass through the pharynx and enter and leave the lungs without or only with a very slight sound. Snorers, however, are different. The muscles of the pharynx become relaxed during sleep (the more mature they are, the more relaxed they become), prompting the ventilation opening of the upper airway to be narrower than normal, and when the inhaled airflow passes through the narrow upper airway pharynx, it causes the soft tissue of the pharynx to vibrate and make snoring sounds. This can also explain the reason why a normal person who is overly fatigued and a person who takes sleeping pills can have different degrees of snoring sound after a deep sleep. If snoring seriously causes the upper respiratory tract to be blocked to different degrees or even completely, the gas cannot pass through the pharynx and enter and exit the lungs adequately and normally, which will cause obstructive apnea and lead to the lack of oxygen and carbon dioxide retention in the body, and this long-term and repeated lack of oxygen will cause intermittent hypoxia to the organs of the whole body, especially to the heart, brain, kidneys and other important organs that require a lot of oxygen and are highly sensitive to hypoxia. It will not only cause and aggravate hypertension, pulmonary heart disease, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, diabetes, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, brain atrophy, dementia and other diseases after accumulation. Severe cases can also cause sudden cardiogenic or cerebral death such as the three cases we mentioned above. Therefore, long-term snoring with obstructive apnea should be regarded as a disease and should never be ignored and paralyzed. The clinical signs and symptoms of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea are non-specific, so you cannot make a diagnosis based on the following symptoms and signs alone. However, the more you have the following symptoms, the more likely you are to have the disease. 1. Daytime clinical symptoms (1) Fatigue and drowsiness: the most common symptoms. In mild cases, the symptoms are sleeplessness, excessive sleepiness, easy fatigue, and lack of concentration; in severe cases, the symptoms may occur during meals, conversations, and even while watching TV. Driving or work may also fall asleep and lead to work-related injuries or traffic accidents. (2) Wake up often feel a thousand throat bitter mouth bad breath: is also a common symptom. Due to snoring during sleep, congestion and edema in the pharynx increase, bacterial reproduction increases, and the tongue becomes yellow and greasy at the root of the tongue. (3) Dizziness and headache: There are often different degrees of dizziness and lightheadedness after waking up. The headache is the most common and can last from a few minutes to two hours, sometimes requiring painkillers for relief. (4) Personality changes: mood is often impatient, irritable and anxious, depressed and depressed. Forgetfulness, slowness of reaction, reduced ability to perform fine operations, and in severe cases, even inability to perform work. Older people are often prone to dementia. (5) Sexual dysfunction: symptoms such as decreased libido, sexual frigidity, impotence and premature ejaculation may occur. (6) Puffiness: The face is often puffy and the bulbous conjunctiva is congested and edematous when waking up in the morning, and the hands and feet are swollen and numb, and even the whole body muscles are sore. (2) Clinical symptoms at night (1) Snoring during sleep: It is the main unique symptom, the sound of snoring is sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes big and sometimes small, irregular. The alternating phenomenon of snoring-holding breath=gasping-snoring often occurs, and the average airflow interruption time is about 10-30 seconds; in severe cases, it can be more than 200 seconds, at which time the patient can show obvious symptoms of hypoxia such as cyanosis and open-mouth breathing. (2) Repeated breath-holding, waking up and frequent turning over during sleep: often the patient is pushed awake because the co-sleeper or co-sleeper is worried that the patient cannot recover breathing, and the solo sleeper is often woken up by breath-holding or by loud self-snoring. After waking up, the snoring stops and can be repeated after going to sleep. After waking up, you often feel panic, chest tightness and discomfort in the precordial area. (3) Excessive sweating and polyuria: There is an obvious increase in sweating in the head, neck and upper chest. The volume and frequency of urination increases at night (should be distinguished from the frequency and urgency of urination in prostate enlargement). (4) Insomnia and dreaminess: Some patients show difficulty in falling asleep, easy waking and early waking, dreaminess after sleep, and no relief after sleep. The diagnosis of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea should be made based on the medical history, combined with the physical examination and the examination results of multi-channel sleep monitor. 1.Monitoring by multi-channel sleep monitor: It is the gold standard for diagnosing snoring and obstructive apnea. Through the examination, not only can you be diagnosed whether you have snoring and obstructive apnea, but also can understand its condition and degree. We have now carried out a more convenient and accurate home-based remote detection technique, which reduces the need for patients to sleep through the night in the hospital. 2, blood oxygen monitoring: you can continuously monitor the situation and changes in your blood oxygen saturation and its degree of harm. More accurate for critically ill patients. 3.Electrocardiographic and electroencephalographic monitoring: it can detect whether the heart and brain are hypoxic and the degree of hypoxia at that time, which is more important for the prevention and treatment of sudden cardiac death. 4.Diagnostic criteria: The diagnosis can be confirmed if the apnea during sleep exceeds 5 times/hour and each time exceeds 10 seconds. Those with 5~15 times/hour are mild, those with 15~30 times/hour are moderate, and those with more than 30 times/hour are severe. Prevention and treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea 1.Lifestyle change Weight loss, low pillow, avoid drinking alcohol, lying alone and taking sedative sleeping pills, quit smoking and keep sleeping on the side. 2. Non-surgical treatment (1) Oral orthodontic appliance or dental pads: a variety of devices are available for patients with simple snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea. The former can cause discomfort such as mild pain in the temporomandibular joint in the morning. (2) Transnasal or oronasal continuous positive airway pressure ventilator treatment: It is the most effective, safe and reliable treatment method for patients with mild to moderate snoring and sleep apnea, and has been widely used and received good results in Europe and the United States and other countries. Since the pressure required to keep the upper airway open is different for each patient, the doctor needs to determine the specific pressure required according to the specific condition and examination of each patient. 3.Surgical treatment (1) Nasal surgery Patients with enlarged turbinates, deviated nasal septum and nasal polyps should be operated to release nasal obstruction. (2) Laser-assisted uvulopalatopharyngoplasty and radiofrequency ablation are usually only suitable for the treatment of patients with simple snoring. (3) Tonsil and adenoidectomy is suitable for children with sleep snoring and obstructive apnea caused by hyperplasia of tonsils and adenoids, and can often be cured after surgery.