Sunday 2 January 2011

Snoring and the Aging Process

Even though it is impossible to stop the aging process, some things can definitely cause you to age faster. In particular, there is a growing body of evidence to indicate a significant relationship between snoring and various health conditions. Unfortunately, even if you appear to be healthy in every other way, the tendency to snore will still disrupt various cycles tied to the sleep-wake processes. As this toll builds up over the years, it may cause you to look and feel older than your actual age.

Late Onset Diabetes and Disrupted Sleep Cycles

As researchers learn more about the role of melatonin in the body, they are also finding that sleep/waking cycles are also tied to the ebbs and flows of insulin production and carbohydrate digestion. For example, even though you may not be aware of it, blood sugar levels rise naturally during the early morning hours in order to prepare your body for awakening. It is also important to realize that staying up late, or having the lights on during the evening hours will actually prevent your body from producing adequate amounts of melatonin. Over time, this may disrupt a complex system of organs and hormones, to the point where your body will no longer be able to send adequate signals to ensure proper carbohydrate digestion.

Cancer and Snoring

While your mind and body may appear to be at rest, a number of physiological reactions occur while you are sleeping. This includes carrying out all kinds of complex repairs at the cellular level. Because many of these repairs are also tied to melatonin production, disrupted sleep cycles also prevent these processes from being carried out. At the same time, if snoring prevents you from reaching deeper stages of sleep, it may cause even more damage to processes that were designed to help your body cope with the stresses of daily activities.

Stress, Anxiety, and Snoring

Chances are, if something upsets you during the day, you will find it hard to sleep at night. In addition, if you have stressors that last longer than the course of a single day, it is bound to reduce your ability to sleep properly. As you lose more and more hours of sleep, you will become more stressed, because your body is unable to repair itself and rejuvenate during appropriate time intervals.

Needless to say, if you do not find some way to halt this vicious cycle, it can cause all kinds of problems in every part of your life. At the very least, if you notice increased stress levels, you should make it a point to engage in mediation, or some other form of relaxation that will enable you to sleep properly.

Over the years, many people tend to arrive to the conclusion that lack of proper sleep can lead to accelerated aging. As researchers work towards understanding the chemical and biological pathways that, either, prove or disprove this conclusion, doctors and patients are looking for ways to improve sleep efficiency and duration. Without question, if you snore or notice that you tend to feel tired or stressed, it will be of some help to determine if you have a specific sleep disorder.

This is even more important if your blood sugar levels seem to be increasing, or if you have a family history of cancer. While sleeping properly may not cure these diseases, it may just mitigate them to a point where you can enjoy a long and full life.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_Alpers