Ever watched a sitcom where the wife tosses and turns for hours while her husband sleeps like a baby despite his loud snoring? First, she tries to put a pillow over her ears to block the sound. Then, she tries to smother him with her pillow to muffle the awful sound. It’s funny on television, but if your husband suffers from a sleep disorder, it’s not as funny in real life. What has become a common occurrence taking place each night in many households doesn’t have to be anymore. There is a cause and a cure for such sleep disorders and a doctor should be consulted.

If you continually resort to sleeping on the sofa just to avoid your husband’s loud, grating snoring, there may be help. Recent studies have shown that snoring and other sleep disorders can lead to marital breakdowns. Instead of getting mad at your husband for keeping you awake at night, contact a doctor to schedule a sleep study to determine the cause of his deafening snoring.

“I receive countless phone calls from wives that can’t handle their husbands snoring anymore. Many times they are at their breaking point because they want to fall asleep with their husband but their loud sleeping habits often prohibit that. More importantly, they wake up to a busy day and feel lethargic and drained because of lack of deep sleep night after night. They’ve tried everything from ear plugs and over-the-counter sleep aids for themselves to rolling their husbands over mid-snore and they come to me as a last resort,” said Dr. Colleen Lance, Medical Director of the Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Sleep Disorders Center. “Women are often encouraged to find out that their spouse’s sleep apnea is very treatable. It usually takes 1-2 nights in the sleep lab to diagnose and start treatment followed by a few follow-up visits in the Sleep Clinic to ‘tweak’ the therapy and get the patient comfortable.”

Numerous studies revealed that couples who suffer from sleep apnea have a high divorce rate. A sleep study at the Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Sleep Disorders Center can provide many benefits for both parties affected by sleep apnea. A sleep study is one of the most comprehensive medical tests available. It measures brain waves, eye movements, muscle tone around the chin, airflow from the nose and mouth, snoring, heart rate and rhythm, chest and abdominal movement, leg movements and oxygen levels. Sleep apnea is a disease, and should be treated as one because it can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, memory problems, depression, and impotence.

Sleep apnea affects millions of Americans of all ages, both male and female, but the most prevalent cases occur in middle-aged men. Common signs of sleep apnea are snoring, pauses in breathing, daytime sleepiness, difficulty with memory and concentration, teeth grinding, and impotence. Treatment options for sleep apnea include CPAP, dental appliances, weight loss and surgical correction of any airway abnormalities. These treatments are not mutually exclusive.

Getting back to a peaceful night’s sleep with your spouse is important and finding relief is easy. Most insurance plans cover sleep studies, as they often prevent further health problems that would cost the insurance company much more in the long run. If you have an HMO, contact your Primary Care Physician to get a referral to a sleep lab or call the Memorial Hermann Sleep Disorders Center at 281-725-5930 for a consultation.