Does your partner's snoring keep you up? It could be impacting your health — SkimNews
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- The British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association reports that about 40% of UK adults snore, with men affected more than women, and a US Sleep Foundation survey finds 75% of people with a snoring partner say their sleep is impacted.
- Dr Clare Simon explains that snoring is caused by vibration of soft tissues in the upper airways, and warns that quieting a snorer without checking for underlying sleep apnoea risks missing a serious breathing disorder.
- Fragmented sleep from a snoring partner reduces time spent in restorative sleep stages, which the BSSAA says can impair memory, focus, hormone regulation, and stress response — leaving listeners feeling tired, irritable, or "hungover," as 29-year-old Meg Warren described.
- Prof Ama Johal, a consultant orthodontist at Aerox Health, says some partners are driven to sleep in a separate room as a "last-ditch effort" to get rest, a step 52-year-old Anna-Louise Dearden takes when her partner's snoring is severe.
- Signs of obstructive sleep apnoea — pauses in breathing, choking at night, frequent waking, and morning headaches — may call for a CPAP machine or surgery, while simple snoring can be eased by weight loss, reducing alcohol, quitting smoking, side-sleeping, or a custom mouthguard that advances the lower jaw.
Why it matters: With roughly two in five UK adults snoring and three in four co-sleepers reporting disrupted rest, the piece reframes snoring as a two-person health problem rather than a private nuisance — and Johal's warning that couples "put up with snoring for too long" points to underused GP referrals, lifestyle fixes, and dental devices that could restore both partners' sleep.
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