Snoring is an extremely common condition that could indicate the presence of an underlying medical ailment (e.g., obstructive sleep apnea).
While most people associate snoring with non-refreshing sleep, it could have other consequences, especially on your social and professional life>
For instance, if you snore or have a partner who does, it often means that both of you are not sleeping well.
As a result, snoring can put a strain on the relationship by leading to tiredness, daytime sleepiness, and frustration. Eventually, the feeling of resentment will develop, which interferes with the couple’s sexual and emotional life.
Fun Fact:
It is often found that couples who suffer from consequences of snoring sleep in separate bedrooms.
To make matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic mandated that millions of people work from home, which increased the crankiness and irritation in the house.
In the next sections, we will dive into more details about the consequences of snoring on social relationships, then cover some helpful tips to prevent this from happening.
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Snoring and social relationships
As you may know, snoring interferes with the quality and duration of your sleep; however, when you are in a relationship, this effect extends to affect your partner as well.
Consequently, you will have to deal with morning crankiness, poor judgment, and diminished thinking skills. You will also be irritated, short-tempered, and lose the ability to manage conflicts.
According to researchers, lack of sleep also leads to less appreciation between couples, which means both partners will become more selfish.
Over time, this can become a focal point of frustration, blame, and shame in the relationship. Even more, the person who’s kept awake because of snoring may develop feelings of resentment toward their partner. Conversely, the snorer will be filled with feelings of guilt, shame, and helplessness.
All of these negative feelings could eventually push the couple to sleep in separate bedrooms to avoid affecting each other. While some couples don’t mind sleeping in separate bedrooms, others find this habit to be extremely damaging. After all, this means diminished sexual and emotional intimacy.
Snoring, COVID-19, and research
While millions of people have to deal with snoring and its associated problems, COVID-19 may have just exacerbated the situation (/lockdown-covid-19-and-snoring).
Now that most people have to work from home, the crankiness and feelings of resentment have only increased.
In the past, going to work and leaving the house served as a breather from all those negative feelings of shame, irritability, and blame. Today, you will have to deal with your partner all day, which may precipitate further gaps in the relationship.
For this reason, you need to be ready for steps that improve your sleep quality, prevent snoring, and slowly heal your relationship.
To make matters worse, a study conducted by Rush University Medical Center found that couples with one snoring partner argued more often than those without the snoring issue.
One participant from this study woke up 8 times during the night because of her husband’s snoring. This severely impacted her ability to function during the next day.
The study also noted that couples with a snoring partner had higher rates of divorce.
According to Rosalind Cartwright, Ph.D., founder of the Sleep Disorders Center at the Medical Center, the lack of sleep creates a hostile environment that puts a strain on the marriage.
In another study by Paracelsus Private Medical University, researchers found that dealing with sleep disorders is often linked to more trouble in the relationship. Consequently, the chances of conflict the very next day of a sleepless night are quite high.
Fun Fact:
There is no point in being ashamed of snoring; this condition is extremely common, with numerous available treatment options.
How to prevent snoring from hurting your relationships
Today, there are numerous therapeutic options to reduce the frequency and severity of your snoring.
Eventually, this will help you maintain a healthier relationship with your partner and prevent interruption in intimacy.
One effective treatment option for snoring is the mandibular advancement device (MAD) like SnoRemover™, which stabilizes the jaw articulation to increase the size of the pharyngeal space.
Typically, people use CPAP to treat advanced cases of snoring and OSA; however, the low compliance of patients can be problematic. For this reason, a MAD is thought to eliminate the compliance issue since placing the device is as simple as wearing your glasses. It will also eliminate the problem of intimacy when sleeping with your partner.
In addition to wearing a mandibular advancement device, you can try to improve your lifestyle habits by cutting down on alcohol, avoiding big meals before bed, lowering the number of cigarettes you smoke, and exercising more regularly.
Learning about this topic will help you become less sensitive when your partner mentions the issue of snoring; this will serve as an opportunity to address the elephant in the room.
Takeaway message:
Snoring is a chronic condition that predisposes people to several diseases and interferes with their personal and professional lives. We hope that this article managed to address the importance of controlling snoring to prevent social problems.
If you still have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comment section below or reach out to us.
