Do People Who Suffer From Headache Snore More?

Studies show that there is an actual connection between chronic headache sufferers and snorers. Is there a connection in their triggers? Everybody is aware of the fact that there are foods, drinks, and other things one does that can all but guarantee a person to become prone to snoring like a symphony throughout the night. These include having a late large meal, drinking milk before bedtime, consuming alcohol, and intake of any type of dairy food late into the evening.

The same holds true for headache sufferers. They also have their fair share of foods, drinks, and actions that are known to trigger headaches which can only be alleviated by staying in a dark and quiet room until the headache subsides. These almost always include chocolate, red wine, and anything that contains caffeine.

Recently it has come to the attention of researchers and physicians alike that people suffering from daily headaches are about twice as likely as those who suffer from headaches only once in a while to also be snorers.

A study was conducted to compare people who suffered the temple pounding pain of headaches at least fifteen times a month and a control group of people who do not frequently suffer from headaches. Twenty-four percent of those who averaged a headache every other day were chronic snorers. The control group averaged fourteen percent of nightly snorers.

One of the questions here is that if you control the headaches will you be able to control the snoring or is it the other way around? Do you have to control the snoring to help banish the headache?

It has all the signs of a vicious circle. People who suffer from headache take pain medications to curb their pain. The problem here is that pain relievers are known to increase the possibility of snoring to occur.

Snoring has serious effects on how the individual sleeps. It can actually wake up the snorer several times during the night that can result to a poor night’s rest. The lack of sleep can, in turn, cause headaches.

Another consideration is that individuals having difficulty in sleeping may hold on to carbon dioxide at night which can trigger headaches.

The most popular and current thought in the field of sleep research is to conduct additional studies that can help determine the relationship between headaches and snoring. For example, are the headaches caused by the snoring noise the individual is making? If yes, then this could explain the headaches in the morning.

Another possibility is that the snoring is caused by a type of constriction related to the neck that occurred during a bout of headache, which leads to the individual snoring.

The only way to study this properly is to have the subjects go through major changes in their lifestyle while keeping a diary that will take note of the snoring and headache episodes. Only time and additional research will be able to tell what the reasons behind everything are, but for now there is no doubt that the two afflictions are related.

Tagged with: headaches • snorer

Filed under: Snoring