What about snoring? I mean, come on, really? Almost everybody snores at least some nights, right? Well, that's true about 40% of us or the age of 40 snore. The problem lies in that about 70% of those people have some degree of sleep apnea in about 87% 87 million Americans are at risk for sleep apnea, which is a huge, huge problem. Sleep Apnea increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, weight gain, hormone problems, fatigue, car accidents, the list goes on and on and on about the negative effects of sleep apnea.

And so what causes snoring This is a common question. And it really boils down to structure and function. The size of the upper jaw, the maxilla has a big impact on that whether it's too narrow in the tongue doesn't fit in there, or it's too short that has a huge impact on whether a person might snore the position of the teeth people with a really bad teeth, or an overbite or underbite. That also has an impact on the world. Whether or not they might snore, and the tongue size, one of the clues that we can look for when determining the effect of the tongue on sleeping in potentially snoring is if the tongue is scalped or separated on the sides. That's often a clue that the tongue is maybe a little bit larger than the jaw allows and results in people grinding or biting the tongue and results in the scalping or chronic scar and the uvula, the little punching bag that hangs down the middle of the back of the throat that comes in all shapes and sizes, and some are tiny and some are huge and floppy in flip down into the airway and cause snoring and choking and gagging at night, there are procedures to deal with that.

And that's just one of it. What about boxing, a lot of people grind their teeth to tap their teeth. And this is important to understand it can be a sign of sleep apnea. If your teeth are wearing down rapidly for no reason at all. That could be a sign that you have sleep apnea and you really should see your dentist and talk about some options not only to protect your teeth, but also to broach the subject of sleep apnea. I understand it's people grind their teeth in all different directions.

If you're busting off pieces of your teeth at night or you have some parts of your teeth that look way different than other parts, there's a problem here. Don't ignore it. lifestyle huge, huge player in the snoring realm. We all know about alcohol if you drink too much alcohol person has a tendency to snore more. But what about sleep aids? Unfortunately, insomnia affects about 60 million Americans and probably 150 million people worldwide at best guests.

And at least in the western United States, Western world, sleep aids are commonly prescribed to people take a drug get relaxed, the soft tissues relax, they tend to snore, they have sleep apnea, their sleep quality is poor. They go back to their doctor, the doctor prescribes a different drug or a higher strength of the drug or a sedative and the vicious cycle repeats itself. positioning is also a problem depending on the size of a person's neck and their body habitus. Very large people in obese people, there's a lot of extra weight on the chest and this compression As the chest and the lungs it makes it difficult for people to get adequate air exchange and contributes to not only snoring but also sleep apnea. So a few options some of these are nothing glamorous the old tennis ball trick selling a tennis ball to the back of the shirt trying to keep a person from rolling on their back.

There are more elegant solutions which involve low dose electrical current or shock. These are not supposed to wake a person up but as a person rolls on their back it triggers a sensor gives them a little jolt and causes them to reposition themselves. So just a way to help minimize snoring, potentially sleep apnea. And your partner is certainly gonna thank you for it. Strategic strategic pillar placement, you know using some ergonomics just like you would in an office setting with your monitor your desk or stand up desk. Same thing applies for your back and spine and your neck, getting in a proper position.

Using some extra pillows or small pills to brace yourself support the knees and the neck really goes a long way in helping minimize the impact of snoring. Other options like the nasal strips, we're all familiar with those can help And Senior dentist, dentists can fashion a splint that helps reposition the jaw in the tongue a bit. And that can also help with soaring. Some of these are actually improved by insurance. So you may want to check with your insurance provider about snoring. Some might want you to have a sleep test, some might not.

But the bottom line is that sleep is critical to our health and our longevity. And if you snore, or your partner snores, it's really something that you shouldn't ignore. And it's possible to have just snoring without sleep apnea. But a lot of times as I alluded to in the first slide, those go hand in hand and have a whole host of negative health consequences. Hope you found this helpful. There's a lot more in the course encourage you to check this out and we'll talk to you soon