Are Women Snoring Too? And More Serious Than Men!

In fact, women snore too, and in good numbers.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine analyzed the sleep of 1,913 adults and showed that 88% of the female subjects snored, but only 72% of the women in the questionnaire admitted that they snored.
According to a recent survey by the Daily Mail, women snored more than men for the first time in the 25-34 age group (31% of British men snore heavily three times a week, compared to 34% of women).

Since the number of women snoring is not small, why are people rarely heard of it?
For a long time, sleep apnea syndrome was seen as a male disorder. In some studies, the ratio of men to women who suffer from snoring has been estimated to be between 3:1 and 5:1 in the general population, but in some large clinical studies, the ratio of men to women was as high as 8:1 to 10:1.

On the one hand, due to the differences in anatomy and hormone levels between men and women, male patients will report more typical symptoms such as snoring and holding awake, while women will report more symptoms such as insomnia, headache, fatigue and depression, which are easily confused with other diseases and therefore may be under-diagnosed. On the other hand, there are also some female patients who think snoring appears inelegant and therefore are reluctant to report it.

What types of women are prone to snoring?
One study found that snoring in women is mostly concentrated in two groups: postmenopausal women and women during pregnancy.
Women between the ages of 50 and 59 (mostly menopausal women) have the highest incidence of OSAHS. Through further studies, scientists found that there were large differences in the levels of various estrogens, especially estradiol, between snoring women (observation group) and normal women (control group).
Because of the presence of estradiol receptors in the respiratory muscles, there is a protective mechanism for the chin and tongue muscles. The chin-lingual muscle is the muscle that pulls the tongue forward, which opens the respiratory passage at the back of the tongue, which improves ventilation and eliminates or reduces snoring. In snoring women, the estrogen level is reduced and the effect of the chin and tongue muscle is weakened, which is the reason why postmenopausal women and pregnant women are prone to snoring.

Snoring in women is more harmful
Compared with men, women's blood vessels are generally smaller and more prone to blockage, especially postmenopausal women, because of the reduction of estrogen level, they lose the protection of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, and at this time, the elasticity of blood vessels decreases, so they are more likely to suffer from high blood lipid, diabetes, hypertension and other diseases.
A study conducted by the University of California showed that the degree of brain damage caused by snoring is more severe in women compared with men, which is related to the fact that women are easily misdiagnosed. In addition, women are also more likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and stroke, which are related to snoring.
For women, the main hazards of snoring are as follows:
01 Endocrine disorder
Women's snoring will cause the flow of Qi and blood and reduce the ability of blood to transport oxygen, and also cause diseases or symptoms such as irregular menstruation and dysmenorrhea, and in serious cases, they may even enter menopause 3 to 5 years earlier.
02 Appearance change
Women who snore are likely to have big bags under their eyes and dark circles under their eyes due to the decrease of sleep quality, and their body will also have corresponding symptoms, such as yellowish face, loose skin, obesity and bloating, which will have a great impact on women's appearance.
03 Impact on pregnancy
It is worth mentioning that women snoring during pregnancy may cause the fetus to lack oxygen, which will seriously affect the growth and intelligence of the fetus and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in the fetus.
04 Causes other diseases
Severe snoring accompanied by hypoventilation and sleep disorders can seriously affect all vital activities of the organism, especially when it progresses to OSAHS, which can easily increase the risk of hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease and other diseases in patients, or even threaten their lives.