You know what snoring sounds like. It has probably kept you awake. You may be amongst the one-third who snore, and you may not even know it. Treated by physicians for centuries as a nuisance, doctors are coming to realize that snoring poses serious health risks. Loud snorers have a 40 percent greater risk of suffering from high blood pressure, a 34 percent greater chance of having a heart attack and a 67 percent greater risk of having a stroke.

But what exactly is snoring? Snoring is a sign of stress. The breathing airway has become partially blocked and the snore we hear is the sound of air being forced through the blockage by a person struggling for air. Snoring happens when we lie down because when we stand upright, the soft tissues in the back of the tongue and throat remain clear of the airway. But when we lie down and relax, those tissues can fall back and obstruct the breathing passage.

For some people, snoring is even more dangerous. When these people lie down, their airways do not just partially obstruct; they become completely blocked. They simply stop breathing, often for as long as several minutes. And, they can do that several hundred times each night. The condition is called obstructive sleep apnea, and the damage can be severe, leading to a host of problems, including death.
 
The body is repaired and replenished during sleep. Because the sleep of apnea sufferers is so disturbed, they are denied the healing benefits of rest. Sleep modulates every function of the body and when that rest is denied, every physical axis of the body is upset. We have all had sleepless nights. Remember how rough you felt the next day? For sleep apneics, that becomes a way of life. Apneics suffer from a host of symptoms like memory loss, headache, depression, impotence and debilitating exhaustion. Their exhaustion limits life, interferes with work performance and can lead to injury and death from accidents.

Now here comes the really good part: because affected individuals are asleep and typically unaware of their breathing problems, AND because many of their symptoms are not directly related to sleep stress or sleep deprivation AND can occur for a host of other reasons AND because the condition cannot be diagnosed during routine physician office visits, eighty percent of people with sleep-disordered breathing problems never get diagnosed.

Generally, men are three times more likely to be apneics than women, but after menopause, the odds are equal.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can create a host of many health related issues for you.  Addressing your PTSD can assist in a better night sleep when you address the emotional cause of the stress.  Stress should not be swept under the carpet and one of those things that you say one day I'll address it when I get a round tuit.  Now is the time to get a round tuit.  No one can do it for you when it comes to your health.  You are worth the personal growth, you have nothing to lose but every thing to gain.