Have you ever slept next to a snoring partner and woken up feeling stressed, unfocused or forgetful the next day? As snoring is relatively common, it is often left untreated and dismissed as a harmless irritation. But according to experts, sleeping next to a snorer could be impacting your health.
Snoring is caused by the vibration of the soft tissues in our upper airways during sleep, explains Dr Clare Simon, a dentist with a special interest in dental sleep medicine. About 40% of the UK adult population snores, with the issue affecting more men than women, says the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association (BSSAA). And 75% of people with a snoring partner say they have had their sleep impacted, according to a US survey by the Sleep Foundation.
Here's what you need to know about the impact on partners - and what you can do about it. Prof Ama Johal, a consultant orthodontist and sleep expert at Aerox Health, explains that the partner of a snorer can become "so impacted upon that it's almost a last-ditch effort on their part to get up and go sleep in a separate room because they have to sleep". He adds: "As humans we physically can't function without that necessity." During the night, we cycle through different stages of sleep in repeating patterns, usually every 90 minutes.
The deeper stages of this cycle are important for physical restoration. If sleep is frequently disrupted, you may spend less time in the restorative stages, meaning you can wake up feeling tired, even if you've spent a lot of time in bed, the BSSAA explains. Your brain processes and stores information from the day during sleep.
Fragmented sleep - which can happen if you're waking up due to a snoring partner - can interrupt this process, impacting your focus and memory. Disrupted sleep can also impact hormone regulation, which affects your energy levels and motivation. Sleep also plays a role in regulating the brain systems involved in stress and emotional response.
When it is disrupted, these systems can become less balanced, which may make you feel more irritable and less able to cope with stress. This is something Meg Warren, 29, experienced when her former partner's snoring would keep her up. She says: "Without fail, after a snoring-induced wake up I would feel on incredibly high alert." Meg, a charity media officer, would prod him throughout the night and try to coax him from his back to his side.
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