Sucking on a dummy stops snoring
ADEVICE that resembles a baby’s dummy could help tackle snoring. It works by pulling the tongue forward during sleep so that the airways are kept clear.
Before going to sleep, the patient sticks the tip of their tongue to a suction pad on the part of the dummy that sits inside the mouth.
A large plastic cover sits over the front of the teeth and holds it in place during sleep — just the same as a baby’s pacifier.
In the middle is a hollow ‘bulb’ which protrudes through the lips. The patient squeezes the bulb so that the air escapes and it creates a vacuum, and pops the tip of their tongue inside.
When they let go, this seals the tip of the tongue in the bulb, so that the tongue stays pulled forward when they go to sleep.
Holding the tongue in a forward position means the airway does not get blocked when all the muscles around the throat relax during sleep, which is what causes heavy snoring.
The device, which costs £70 and is the same size as a normal baby’s dummy, could help many of the estimated three million people in Britain who suffer with the snoring condition sleep apnoea.
As sleep begins, the muscles in the airway relax and drop down towards the tongue. For most people this does not pose a problem, but in sleep apnoea it leads to a complete collapse which shuts off breathing for at least ten seconds.
It also triggers the sound of snoring as air vibrates against the soft tissue that stands in its way.
Once the brain realises breathing has stopped it sends out a signal for the airway muscles to contract again. This opens the airway and the sufferer normally wakes with a jolt.
Sufferers can feel exhausted during the day, putting them at increased risk of accidents.
Left untreated, sleep apnoea can raise the risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks. For over 25 years, the most common form of treatment has been Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, or CPAP, a therapy which involves wearing a mask over the nose and mouth during sleep.
The mask is attached to a machine that pumps air into the nose and mouth, keeping the airways open. But some people find the mask cumbersome and it must be worn every night.
RESEARCHsuggests nearly a third of CPAP patients never use the device, or abandon it within 12 to 15 months.
The dummy device, called the Good Morning Snore Solution, could be a more convenient alternative. In a Canadian study, a group of 32 chronic snorers were given the dummy for one night. The results, published in the Journal of Sleep and Breathing, showed that in more than a third of volunteers the number of times they woke due to disturbed breathing fell by more than half, compared with when they did not use the device. The number of times they snored also fell, by an average of around 40 per cent.
At the end of the study, more than 70 per cent of the volunteers said they would like to continue using the mouthpiece.
However, Dr Adrian Williams, from the London Sleep Centre, said that more studies are needed to prove the effectiveness of the dummy, and cautioned that similar devices are ‘not tolerated very well by patients’.
MEANWHILE, U.S. scientists have revealed that women who suffer from sleep apnoea suffer more damage to their brains than men with the condition.
Researchers at the University of California studied the amount of white matter in men and women with sleep apnoea. White matter represents the wiring of the brain and connects cells to each other.
The study of 80 people, published in the journal Sleep, noted that women with sleep apnoea had less white matter in the areas of the brain that control decision-making and mood.
Previous studies have shown that women with the condition are more prone to depression.
The team are still unclear of the relationship between these brain changes and the condition.
They say: ‘What we don’t yet know is did sleep apnoea cause the brain damage, did the brain damage lead to the sleep disorders, or do the other factors, such as depression or cardiovascular issues, cause the brain damage, which in turn leads to sleep apnoea.’