Sleep apnoea
Some medical doctors refer to obstructive sleep apnoea by its more descriptive name of sleep suffocation.
This is a disorder that happens during sleep where the muscles of the tongue and throat relax during sleep and block the airway making is difficult or impossible to inhale.
Think of it this way: If you hold your hand over a vacuum cleaner hose while the vacuum is running, you notice the strained sound of the motor trying to pull air through the hose.
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Snoring
In susceptible people, when enough muscle relaxation occurs, the tongue presses on the soft floppy tissue at the back of the throat and the airway starts to collapse.
The air rushes through this narrowed airway space and the increased air turbulence causes the flabby tissue to flap back and forth causing the annoying sound we know as snoring.
“Simple” or nuisance snoring is harmless unless it bothers the sleep of the bed partner. If the bed partner’s sleep is affected by this snoring, their health can truly be altered and relationships can become strained.
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