Snoring - a sign of the patient's heart

If someone close to you snore heavily, the first thing to do - to see a doctor. By virtue of damage to the body, researchers have equated night snorting to smoking, obesity and diabetes.

Snoring was first named by scientists sign of high risk for heart disease and blood vessels. It used to be that the only dangerous apnea - a serious disorder in which there are sleep apnea, causing oxygen starvation of the brain. The result of this process may be a myocardial infarction, and stroke.

However, researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit came to the conclusion that it is not necessarily suffer from pauses in breathing during sleep, to suffer. In snorers, in their opinion, it can be a very weak heart and the poor condition of the vessels.

In a study of 913 Americans attended by people aged 18 to 50 years, and none of the participants did not have obstructive sleep apnea. All subjects interviewed about whether they snore during sleep (in some cases, to improve the reliability of the information requested and loved ones).

Then, the test was conducted ultrasound - scanning the cardiovascular system. It showed that people who snore at night, the inner membrane of the carotid arteries (intima-media) is noticeably thicker than those who sleep quietly. Such thickening, experts say, arises from the accumulation in the arteries of cholesterol-rich membrane of cells. It increases the risk of ischemic stroke and is observed in the majority of smokers, patients with type 2 diabetes and in those suffering from hypertension. Also thickening may be a harbinger of incipient atherosclerosis.

"If your spouse snore at night - this is primarily an excuse to take him or her to the doctor and not to relocate the night in another room," - recommends that the head of the study Professor Robert Diib.

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