More Than Just a Nuisance, It's a Health Problem - Snoring Women
By Milos Pesic
While majority of the world's population are led to think that snoring is a problem exclusively of men, recent studies show that 19% of women snore. In addition, a snoring woman is just as susceptible as developing similar complications experienced by men, including sleep apnea. Sleep apnea results in sleepiness and fatigue during daytime.
A snoring woman is associated with developing high blood pressure and other cardio-vascular disease. Snoring during pregnancy is also related to high blood pressure. At this period, a snoring woman is at risk of developing a more serious problem called pre-eclampsia. A snoring woman with pre-eclampsia develops swelling of and elevated blood pressure as well as having protein in the urine during pregnancy. Obstetricians and gynecologists usually order urinalysis to be performed during the stages in pregnancy to detect if protein is present in the urine.
Additionally, other elements contribute to high blood pressure in women that result to snoring. The rise of women smokers, weight, sleeping on backs, high cholesterol, hormones, and oral contraceptives are some of the known suspects. If snoring becomes excessive in women, medical advice should be sought. Hypertension and heart disease may complicate as a result to the reduction of oxygen in the blood.
Medical attention is necessary especially for pregnant women. High blood pressure usually occurs during pregnancy because women at this stage generally put up some weight to compensate the growth of the fetus. More so, breathing during pregnancy is affected by the pressure taken on the diaphragm as the uterus enlarges to accommodate the growing baby. The reduced oxygen in the blood in pregnant women may be damaging to the fetus' development especially the nervous system. Oxygen is an extremely vital to the developing baby and a lack of it may be one of the causes of growth retardation or even mortality. A snoring woman tended to give birth to infants with lower birth weights and Apgar (heart rate, breathing, muscle tone, reflex, and color) scores.
Another study, on the other hand, concluded that a snoring woman is associated with having a high body mass index (BMI) and also depended on her age. Depending on the BMI, other risk factors include alcohol dependence in lean women who reportedly snored as well as physical inactivity. This study showed the heavier a woman is, the more she becomes a snoring woman. Moreover, the study concluded that snoring in women peaked between the ages 50-59.
A snoring woman is more than just a nuisance, health problems could already be involved so that it's best to visit a health professional early on.
Milos Pesic is an expert in the field of Snoring and runs a highly popular and comprehensive Snoring web site. For more articles and resources on Snoring related topics, Snoring Causes and Treaments, Natural Snoring Remedies and much more visit his site at:
