Sleep Apnea and Marital Breakdown

Article by George Venables

Sleep apnea is a disorder usually linked to snoring where breathing stops during sleep causing disturbance to the sufferer. A study recently conducted which polled people from five Nordic European countries found a high level of marital breakdown and single parents amongst insomniacs suffering from disorders such sleep apnea and severe snoring.

In the UK the survey suggested that two out of three people suffered from insomnia with women suffering more than men, in many cases the causes are linked to stress, financial worries, health concerns and relationship worries.This trend seems set to continue as fears over the sub prime market affecting both global financial markets and house prices in the UK.

The poll showed that Sweden was the worse affected with at least 75% of the population suffering, the Germans showed the lowest number of insomniacs with 45% of the population affected.

Children affected

It seems poor performance at school may have its roots in sleep disorders in children is causing under performance due to fatigue, recent research in the US showed that one in five underachieving children suffered from sleep apnea, with the percentage of children with bad grades suffering from sleep apnea was 6-9 times higher than that found in the overall child population.

Causes

Many experts in the medical profession believe stress, depression, smoking, alcohol abuse, substance abuse and the increases in obesity and general lack of fitness in the population are the major causes of sleep apnea.

Treatments

Recent studies in the US have demonstrated that an effective exercise program and change of life style can dramatically improve sleep apnea, otherwise surgery is the only other effective treatment currently available.