The Huffington Post | By Sarah Klein
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If there's one thing we think it's safe to say is almost always a bummer in the bedroom, it's snoring.
According to a new survey from the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM), 39 percent of American adults agree: When the opposite sex snores, it's a turn-off.
Luckily for the snorers among us, it's not a total deal-breaker -- 83 percent of the 1,009 people surveyed by telephone said they had had a snoring bed partner, but only 26 percent said all that log sawing made them angry or annoyed and just 9 percent said snoring has had a negative impact on a romantic relationship.
"Because it can be embarrassing, snoring can often be the elephant in the room when it comes to addressing relationship frustrations and health concerns," Kathleen Bennett, DDS, president of the AADSM, said in a statement. "But it's important that your significant other is made aware of their snoring -- and the effects it has on you, your relationship and their personal health -- so they can begin taking steps to remedy it."
Long thought to be simply an annoyance to a bed partner and not much more, snoring is now understood to carry some pretty substantial health risks. "When you are snoring, you're spending too much energy to breathe," Dr. M. Safwan Badr, past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, previously told HuffPost. "Snoring is like fever for a general internist -- it tells you somethig is going on, but it doesn't tell you what."
Snoring could be a sign of sleep apnea or other sleep-disordered breathing, which has been linked to increased risk of hearing loss, osteoporosis, depression and more. Understandably, 43 percent of the AADSM survey respondents said they worried about the health of their snoring bed partners.
Sleep apnea is typically treated with continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, which is delivered by a bedside machine that can be, let's just say, a little cumbersome. The AADSM advocates for another option called oral appliance therapy, or OAT, a mouthguard-like device that, while not exactly sexy, may at least be a little sexier.
For snorers who don't have sleep apnea, experts recommend sleeping on your side, avoiding alcohol too close to bedtime and shedding excess weight. Your bed partner will thank you for the Valentine's Day gift of a quieter night's rest.
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