I’m happily married but my husband’s snoring makes my life hell
Q MY HUSBAND’S snoring wakes me up at night and the lack of sleep is making my life hell, as I’m so tired and irritable the next day.
Even though I’ve recorded his snoring, he denies that he does it.
I thought I’d found the perfect solution in ear plugs and was getting the most wonderful deep sleep — until I developed painful blocked sinuses and my pharmacist said the ear plugs were to blame and to stop using them.
I’m desperate for sleep, but please don’t suggest I move into the spare bedroom, as I love my husband dearly and fear this would ruin an otherwise very happy marriage. Name and address supplied.
A YOU’RE far from alone in this. Many readers will be trying to deal with this problem, too, and, even when the one who snores seeks help, it’s not always possible to resolve the symptom.
This leaves the sleeping partner having to reduce their sleep deprivation by some other means.
I question the advice given by your pharmacist because it doesn’t reflect the actual anatomy.
The external ear canal — where you insert the plugs — is separated from the middle ear by a partition, the eardrum.
Although there is direct communication between the middle ear and the sinuses (the air-filled cavities in the head) via the eustachian tube, there is no reason why blocking the external canal with ear plugs should have any effect on pressure on the other side of the eardrum, the middle ear cavity, that would cause sinus pains.
You say using ear plugs was remarkably effective. An alternative way of achieving this without plugging the ear canals would be to wear comfortable, over- ear headphones. These can obliterate sound equally as well.
even better would be to use noisecancelling headphones. rather than simply blocking the noise, these use a technology that produces specific tones that cancel out external sound.
With some headphones, you can hear these tones, but with others, you don’t.
This soundwave effectively breaks down those from outside, making them useful on trains or planes when you need to sleep, read or concentrate.
There are two disadvantages. one is the cost: these headphones are more expensive than ear plugs, though most are affordable.
More important is the problem of comfort because the use of these would preclude sleeping on your side.
Therefore, in the first instance, I would recommend that you revert to ear plugs, as I believe there must have been a different reason for your episode of sinus pain and it’s just a coincidence that the pain occurred when you were using ear plugs.
Q I’M 75 and have atrial fibrillation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The other day, I read that this combination could increase the likelihood of premature death.
Furthermore, ten days a month, I work night shifts, which, again, can apparently shorten your lifespan. What should I do? Stop work? Hibernate? Alan Pearson, Glasgow.
A THIS is a good question to ask, given your medical history, but there is much you can do to ensure a positive outcome.
There is no doubt that life is often shortened by the coexistence of several risk factors.
each one alone might seem trivial, however it’s the combination that causes a stroke, heart attack or cascade of events that shortens life.
At the age of 75, you must pull every string you can to live as long and healthy a life as possible, which means paying attention to each of your risk factors in turn.
Atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm, affects many people in your age group — around 70 per cent of people with AF are between the ages of 65 and 85.
The biggest risk is the formation of blood clots in the heart: these can travel to the brain, causing a stroke.
strict, lifelong adherence to anticoagulation medication, such as warfarin, or one of the newer ‘novel’ anticoagulants, such as apixaban or rivaroxaban, which reduce the tendency of the blood to clot, is vital to prevent strokes. And with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CoPD), the question is whether the cause in your case has been tackled.
smoking is the most common factor in CoPD and I hope that you are a non-smoker.
With this condition, it’s essential that you have the influenza vaccine every autumn and that you’re also vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia (a one-off jab is offered on the nhs to those aged 65 and over).
As for the night shifts, it is true that research has shown there’s an increased risk of some types of cancer, heart disease and other health problems in those who work night shifts.
This is because it disturbs your natural sleep rhythms, which, in turn, disrupts the body’s normal physiology (such as production of the sleep hormone melatonin) and immune defence mechanisms.
It’s impossible to assess how significant this is with part-time night work like you do.
however, given your other health problems, I would suggest while it is both noble and impressive that you’re working so hard at this age, if you can afford to do so financially, now is the time to retire from the additional stress of night shift work.
In addition, try to get eight hours’ sleep every night by developing and maintaining a healthy sleep pattern, take 20 minutes of exercise at least three times week (within the limits that are imposed by your respiratory problems), eat at least five portions of fruit and fresh vegetables every day and minimise your salt intake. There may be other factors to consider, such as your weight, alcohol intake and other aspects of your medical history upon which it is not possible to speculate here.
however, I wish you well and recommend that you start making plans for your 90th birthday in 15 years’ time. reach for the sky.
WRITE TO DR SCURR
WRITE to Dr Scurr at Good Health, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email drmartin@dailymail.co. uk — include your contact details. Dr Scurr cannot enter into personal correspondence. Replies should be taken in a general context. Always consult your own GP with any health worries.