A snoring partner or family member may keep you awake at night, but they could be doing more damage to their health that to your sleeping habits.
Researchers have found that snoring may put you at greater risk of having thickening or abnormalities in the artery that takes oxygenated blood to the head.
In fact, snorers may be at more risk than people who are overweight, who smoke or have high cholesterol levels.
A thickening in the lining of the carotid artery is an indication of the onset of atherosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries, which is responsible for many vascular diseases.
A study carried out at Henry Ford Hospital in the United States showed that there were changes in the carotid artery among snorers. They put this down to the inflammation or trauma caused by the vibrations of snoring.
Obstructive sleep apnoea, sleep disorder which causes a person snores loudly with periodic pauses in their breathing due to the collapse of the airway during sleep, is linked to cardiovascular disease and other health issues.
But the study in America has found that the risk of cardiovascular disease could actually begin with snoring, before it develops into obstructive sleep apnoea.
Researchers looked at the records of 913 patients who had been evaluated at the hospital’s sleep centre.
None of the patients, aged between 18 and 50, had sleep apnoea.
A total of 54 patients completed a survey about their snoring habits and underwent an ultrasound to determine the thickness of the walls of their carotid artery.
The thickness of the walls is the first sign of carotid artery disease.
In the patients that snored, the walls of the carotid artery were thicker than in those who didn’t snore.
It was also found there were no significant differences in the thickness of the artery walls in those people who smoked, had diabetes, hypertension or hypercholesterolemia.
Another study is being planned by the researchers to determine more people who snore have cardiovascular events, such as a heart attack.
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