Snoring can mess with your head in a number of ways. If you are not getting good, quality sleep, you can experience a diminished ability to concentrate throughout the day. Even a small degree of sleep deprivation can leave you with less energy and lower mental capacity to get through your day.
People who snore sometimes experience what is called “daytime sleepiness”. We all get that feeling at some point, either because we didn’t get enough sleep the night before, because we ate a very large meal, or because we’re sitting someplace warm, quiet and comfortable. If you snore, you may experience this feeling much more often than someone who doesn’t.
The issue is deceiving because you can start to attribute the problem to something else and really cause yourself some trouble. If you start having problems at your job because you can’t concentrate, it’s very easy to start pinning the blame on the wrong things:
- My boss is an idiot.
- I hate my job.
- I’d feel better working somewhere else.
- This work schedule is affecting my health.
- This job is too difficult.
All the while, you are simply not getting a good night’s sleep. If you were to change your sleeping habits and improve the quality of your sleep by breathing more easily at night and getting rid of your snoring problem, you might find you have the energy to tackle more of life’s daily challenges. Ten times easier than finding a new job, by the way.
What else suffers when you can’t concentrate?
- Decision making ability
- Time needed to complete a task
- Driving skills
- Problem solving skills
- Interest in hobbies
- Quality time with your family
As these problems continue, stress builds and you seek solutions to these symptoms instead of to the underlying issue. Now, you’re fighting a flood instead of the trickle that started it.
Maybe you figure your father snored and he managed his way through life just fine. Snoring is just inherited, a fact of life and I don’t need to change. If he managed, so can I.
But – if you could sleep better and get through life more easily, with just a simple change to your lifestyle, why wouldn’t you try?
When you sleep, your respiratory system works to bring in air rich in oxygen. That oxygen is used to feed critical components of your body – your heart, your brain, your blood. If you struggle to breath, especially if you have sleep apnea, your body has to work harder to get that oxygen benefit. Working harder puts stress on those systems that need that pump that oxygen. You don’t get to do that for too long without suffering some consequences. Your head can become easily muddled throughout the day, you feel as if you haven’t had enough sleep, and you feel drained and incapable of doing as much as you used to do.
If you think, or have been told, that you snore, try to fix the problem and see if it doesn’t also improve the quality of your life.
