Snoring: The Suffering Spouse
The Source: The Sleep Disorders Center at Rush University Medical Center
The Study: You don't need a medical journal to tell you that the other person in bed with a snorer is often the one who suffers the most—the snorer remaining oblivious to the din. But ongoing research at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago is attempting to measure just how bad the noisy nights get for the partner.
In the Married Couples Sleep Study, Rush researchers bring suffering pairs in for a night of on-site sleeping in a room equipped with a queen-sized bed and instruments to monitor such functions as eye motion, brain activity and respiratory and heart rates during sleep. Before they turn in for the night, the couple also complete surveys measuring their sleepiness level during the day, their general marital satisfaction and their overall quality of life.
In early results the researchers say they've found that the non-snoring partner actually slept for only 73% of the night (an average person's so-called sleep efficiency is 90%) and had low measures of quality of life and marital satisfaction and high measures of daytime sleepiness.
What It Means: Disruptive snoring is usually caused by sleep apnea, a condition in which tissue in the back of the throat blocks the airway. It is most common in middle-aged, overweight men, and increases the risk of hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular problems. Sleep masks which use pumped air to keep breathing passages open can significantly reduce the problem.
Subjects in the Rush study are sent home so the snorer can try out the breathing machine for two weeks, then brought back for reevaluation. In one couple's case, the wife's sleep efficiency rose to 82% when her husband started using the mask; her quality of life jumped from 1.2 to 7 on the researchers' scale; her marital satisfaction rose from 3 to 5.8 and her daytime sleepiness fell from 12 to 6. Sleep masks are the quickest way to cut down on snoring, but losing weight, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, and sleeping on the side instead of the back help too. All of these simple steps mean both longer lives and happier marriages, valuable dividends from a quiet night's sleep. yhyu