Snoring

Many factors contribute to snoring, including the anatomy of your mouth and sinuses, your weight, and your health and lifestyle. The partial blocking of the airway causes the rushing air and the snoring.

As you age, your tongue, which is a muscle, loses muscle tone. With that loss of tone, your tongue falls backward and blocks all but a tiny portion of the airway, causing apnea episodes. When your airway is blocked, 80% or 90% of the air coming in picks up speed and rushes through the small opening. The harsh, snorting sound of snoring comes from rushing air passing over loose tissue in the back of your throat.

Snoring is also a sign of sleep apnea, which occurs when your tongue or other soft tissue in your mouth fully obstructs your airway. No oxygen getting to the body for 10 seconds to 90 seconds is an apneic event. This becomes problematic when it occurs from five times an hour to 100 or more times an hour.

Apneic events lessen the amount of oxygen your body receives, clinically known as hypoxemia, which contributes to cancer, infectious bacteria, viruses, and acidity.

At the Full Breath Center of Beverly Hills, Dr. Keropian performs sleep studies to identify the cause of your snoring and diagnose sleep apnea. He offers in-office sleep studies or can have equipment sent to your home.

A polysomnogram (PSG) is the gold standard of sleep tests. Your respiration, heart rate, and brain activity are monitored while you sleep. The PSG provides information about how many times you stop breathing each hour and how it impacts the amount of oxygen in your body. This information helps diagnose the cause and severity of the condition causing your snoring.

Dr. Keropian is a national leader in treating snoring and sleep apnea. After your sleep study, he provides customized treatment to help you breathe more easily and sleep throughout the night without disruption.

He has designed innovative mouthpieces that prevent your tongue from relaxing into your airway while you sleep. The adjustable wire tail at the back of the mouthpiece fits your mouth precisely, depressing the tongue and opening the airway eliminates snoring.

If snoring is interfering with your sleep or overall wellness, call the Full Breath Center of Beverly Hills, or make an appointment online.