Living With A Sleep Apnea Sufferer

tried for many years to convince my husband to seek medical treatment, watching his tiredness, depression and mental exhaustion grow each and every month, sleeping in separate rooms, dreading holidays and hotel stays

Of course, the snorer’s sleep partner also suffers.  In many cases, the “innocent bystander” is the more adversely impacted of the two parties. 

He or she must suffer through sleepless nights, unable to slumber due to the noise produced by the snorer. 

It can be very difficult to sleep through snoring.  In fact, snoring scores higher on the decibel scale for loudness than a normal adult conversation and may actually exceed the noise associated with a busy city street. 

The loudest snorers among us can occasionally reach seventy to ninety decibels in volume.  When you compare that to the sixty decibels or a bustling city or the one hundred and ten decibels of a jet plane in flight, you get a good idea of why so many partners of snorers never seem to get a good night’s rest.

Those sleepless nights of noise can take a serious toll on even the strongest relationship. 

A Canadian study of married couples discovered that more than a third of respondents would prefer to live with a good sleeper than a talented lover!  Snoring is obviously more than a mere inconvenience.

A heavy snorer may wake his or her partner over twenty times within a single hour.  That is right, loud snorers can prevent a partner from getting more than three solid minutes of sleep at a time.

Those disruptions may not always be consciously recognized, but they do prevent one from experiencing the real rest necessary for proper health and energy. 

We’ll discuss the way that can affect one on a medical level later, but it is important to note here that the exhaustion associated with sleeping alongside a snorer often leads to relationship problems.

In an effort to secure quality sleep, a snorer’s partner may seek asylum in another room of the house in order to find some restful quiet.  Obviously, that can have a real impact on the dynamics of a relationship. 

The impact on both conversational and physical intimacy can lead to feelings of isolation and frustration that can be destructive in any relationship.

A recent British case shows just how extreme these problems can become.  In 2006, an English woman was jailed after becoming so frustrated with her husband that she attempted to pour bleach down his throat to put an end to the snoring. 

She grew so angry with his high-volume snoring that she stabbed him, as well.

Obviously, that is an egregious example of how snoring can hurt a relationship.  Even most very loud snorers don’t need to worry about physical attacks due to their volume.  However, problem snorers due often experience relationship problems as a result of the problem. 

The combination of exhaustion, frustration and concern about health creates a potent source of argument and friction.