Snoring while sleeping may be a common thing, but when you are told by your family or friends that you snore loudly and unevenly in your sleep, have you ever thought that this snoring may be an “indirect killer” that endangers your health! Due to the misleading traditional concepts, there are still many people in China who mistakenly believe that snoring is a good and heavy sleep. There are also people who believe that ten men nine snoring, snoring is normal, and not a disease, will not affect health. In fact, snoring in bed is actually a sleep problem of great concern, especially those who not only snore, but also accompanied by repeated whistling pauses, snoring will not only prevent others from resting, but also seriously endanger their health, and even stroke, sudden death events. 1, snoring is also divided into benign and malignant snoring is during sleep, the upper whistle airflow through the impact of the pharynx mucosal edge and mucosal surface secretions caused by vibration and the sound. Normal people may also experience temporary snoring after exertion or alcohol consumption. When snoring persists and seriously affects the rest of others, it is called snoring disorder. Snoring can be divided into two categories: simple snoring and malignant snoring. The first category is simple snoring, with a more even snoring sound after sleeping or occasional whistling, which has no obvious adverse effects on one’s body except for disturbing the sleep of others around, also known as benign snoring. The second type of malignant snoring, snoring after sleep not only loud, and always intermittent whistling pause, after a dozen seconds or dozens of seconds, only with a very large whistling and snoring, snoring after a few whistles and “breath-holding” phenomenon that occurred a short time ago, and so on repeatedly, often attracting serious consequences for me. So called “malignant snoring”, medically called sleep apnea syndrome. 2, the diagnosis of sleep apnea syndrome sleep apnea syndrome is mainly clinical manifestations of snoring during sleep, repeated whistling pauses is sleep apnea, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, morning headache, dizziness, increased night urination, irritability, memory loss, inattention, etc.. It is recommended that people with these symptoms should seek medical attention as soon as possible. If the examination reveals that there is upper airway stenosis, the diagnosis can be confirmed by polysomnography for all-night sleep monitoring, which reveals that oral and nasal airflow stops repeatedly for more than 10 seconds and more than 5 times/hour during sleep, the intensity of whistling airflow decreases by more than 50% compared with the basic level, and the blood oxygen saturation decreases by ≥4% compared with the basic level. A special reminder to some older people who snore during sleep, when you find yourself especially wanting to sleep during the day, memory is not as good as before, do not arbitrarily think that these are the cause of old age, it is best to go to the hospital to rule out the presence of sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep apnea syndrome is mostly seen in obese people, men, older people, people with familial snoring, people with facial structural abnormalities (small jaw deformity), enlarged uvula, enlarged tonsils, soft palate and tongue root hypertrophy. The following factors tend to cause or aggravate the occurrence of sleep apnea syndrome: (1) Obesity: people who are overweight, especially those with neck obesity, upper body obesity or central obesity. (2) Excessive alcohol consumption: Alcohol consumption increases resistance in the nose and pharynx and induces sleep apnea. (3) Smoking: Smoking can lead to increased airway inflammation and sleep instability. (4) nasal mucosa congestion: nasal mucosa congestion (nasal congestion) can lead to increased negative pressure in the thorax during inspiration, so that the airway tends to collapse, which in turn triggers sleep apnea. (5) Menopause: The prevalence of sleep apnea is higher in men than in women due to sex hormone differences in men and women. The prevalence of postmenopausal women is basically the same as that of men. 3, sleep apnea syndrome on the body’s hazards Today, many people know that “snoring like thunder” does not mean “sleep well, sleep deeply” is a good thing, which may be lurking some kind of adverse health factors. However, what exactly are the health hazards of sleep apnea? (1) Hypertension: Sleep apnea can cause transient blood pressure fluctuations, resulting in an increase in mean arterial pressure of 30 mm Hg or higher. If oxygen deprivation occurs every night due to sleep apnea, it can lead to a persistent increase in blood pressure. The patient’s blood pressure mostly peaks in the morning, with significant headache symptoms, and is less effective when treated with medication alone. Treatment of sleep apnea syndrome is followed by treatment to help lower blood pressure. (3) Cerebrovascular disease: Sleep apnea increases the incidence of cerebrovascular disease, especially the incidence of stroke and mortality. There is growing evidence that snoring and whistling pauses have a direct relationship to the occurrence and exacerbation of cerebrovascular accidents. (4) Arrhythmia: Almost half of patients with sleep apnea will have abnormal heart rhythms during sleep, mostly sinus tachycardia or short bursts of atrial or ventricular tachycardia; slow heartbeat, heart block, or even cardiac arrest, and often angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. (5) Impaired renal function: sleep apnea causing long-term, continuous hypoxia can damage renal function, often manifested early as increased nocturnal urination. (6) excessive drowsiness: frequent awakenings caused by breath-holding can disrupt the quality of sleep of patients, serious patients have less or even no deep sleep, patients in this sleep-deprived state for a long time, daytime sleepiness, drowsiness, reduced thinking ability, seriously affect work, learning, life, some patients fall asleep while eating and walking. In the case of car drivers, the risk of being involved in a car accident is 2 to 3 times higher than normal people, mostly due to fatigue. It is caused by falling asleep with the steering wheel or inattentiveness. (7) Mental and psychological hazards: Sleep apnea patients commonly have diminished intelligence, abnormal personality and behavior, and poor relationships with family members and colleagues; they are not motivated and show mental symptoms such as depression; there may also be a relationship with the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, some patients can also have symptoms such as decreased libido or sexual impotence and obesity. It has been reported abroad that patients with sleep apnea syndrome have a 2 to 12 times higher risk of traffic accidents than healthy people. Canada has been screening for the disease in coach drivers since the 1980s to reduce the occurrence of traffic accidents. 4, the prevention and treatment of sleep apnea syndrome Sleep apnea is a particularly easy to be ignored disease, not only patients do not understand it, non-specialist doctors do not necessarily understand it. Clinically, we can often encounter some patients with hypertension, heart disease in the cardiology department for a long time, but the results are very poor, and finally found that the sleep apnea in the back of the “ghost”. After giving inhalation treatment, these patients’ hypertension and heart disease all cleared up. To treat sleep apnea, the main thing is to release the resistance of the upper airway. Once the resistance is lifted, the airflow is smooth, snoring is gone, and the inhalation pause will disappear. At present, the treatment of sleep apnea syndrome emphasizes comprehensive treatment, which can be broadly divided into three main categories: (1) lifestyle changes. This includes losing weight, quitting smoking, quitting drinking, and sleeping on your side as much as possible; 2) Whistling treatment. That is, wearing a continuous positive pressure ventilation (CPAP) whistle machine at bedtime to increase the pressure in the pharyngeal airway to prevent airway collapse, the general patient use the night that can receive significant results; (3) surgical treatment. That is, surgical methods to remove the factors that cause upper airway narrowing, such as removal of enlarged tonsils, collapsed soft palate, anterior displacement of the lower jaw, etc.. According to data from the United States, whistling treatment is superior to surgical treatment. In conclusion, once diagnosed with whistling apnea syndrome, it is best to undergo targeted treatment under the guidance of a physician.