3. You Have to Breathe Well to Sleep Well

Do you think that there’s any chance that you have a full-blown medical sleep disorder? Has anyone ever told you that you snore? If you snore, you have a sleep disorder. Snoring results when your airway partially shuts down during sleep. Airway shut down creates air turbulence, and this turbulence produces the sound of a snore. Snoring is, without a doubt, obnoxious to anyone who may be sleeping with you, and a serious impediment to their getting a good night’s sleep. But it invariably interferes with the quality of the snorer’s sleep as well.

Whenever you snore, it means that your lungs aren’t getting enough oxygen. Lack of adequate oxygen (called “hypoxia”) is a serious stress on your body, especially on your heart. Low oxygen levels during sleep can actually damage organs. In addition, hypoxia sends off alarm signals in your body which result in the release of stress hormones, including cortisol. Since cortisol always wakes your body up, the stress from snoring induced hypoxia makes it impossible for you to sleep deeply.

Snoring has been found to be strongly correlated with heart disease, diabetes, and even obesity. Of course, being overweight tends to make people snore (excess fat pulls down on the throat, closing the air way), but the relationship works both ways. Snoring ruins sleep quality, and quality sleep is critical to maintaining a healthy body weight. Snoring is easy to treat. Many people’s snoring can be relieved by a combination of clearing up the sinuses (Sinus health is intimately related to gut health, see Dealing with Food Allergies and Dealing with Candida for more), adjusting sleep position (sleeping on your side is best) and weight loss (sign up for your free ReEvolution Health and Fitness Action Plan to get started). If none of these steps yield results, talk to your doctor. Effective therapies for snoring, like minor surgery and something called CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) are usually remarkably effective. People are amazed at how much better they feel when they deal with snoring and start sleeping more deeply. If you are a snorer, do yourself (and your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, or roommate) a favor, and commit to finding a solution.