Why do pregnant women snore often in their sleep? How to treat snoring in a pregnant woman? In what cases snoring during pregnancy is dangerous for the expectant mother and child
Anything can be forgiven for a pregnant woman. Desire to eat condensed milk sausage, laughter through tears, pathological forgetfulness and even loud nocturnal snoring. However, the latter must be treated with attention, because snoring during pregnancy can be a harbinger of preeclampsia and greatly harm the baby. Among the complications that can be caused by snoring are fetal hypoxia and developmental delay. Find out when to sound the alarm and take "anti-snoring" measures.
Why pregnant women snore: 4 main reasons
One of the causes of nighttime snoring is rhinitis during pregnancy / istockphoto.com
Intermittent snoring and even regular night trills during pregnancy occur in many women. You do not need to be ashamed of this, even if you slept absolutely silently before conceiving a child. Often, nocturnal snoring while carrying a baby is due to physiological reasons beyond the woman's control. The most common ones are:
- Nasal obstruction or rhinitis of pregnancy. This problem, according to statistics, occurs in every fifth pregnant woman: most often in the 1-2 trimester, but it can accompany it throughout pregnancy. Due to an increase in the level of the hormones estrogen and progesterone, as well as an increase in the volume and rate of blood circulation, the most common edema forms on the nasal mucosa. Sometimes it can be accompanied by a runny nose, but more often it just makes breathing difficult. Moreover, in the daytime - due to the fact that the woman moves and is in an upright position, such an obstruction may practically not bother her. But at night, when a woman is at rest, edema makes it difficult for the free passage of air through the respiratory tract. This is what causes snoring.
- Displacement of the diaphragm during pregnancy. This cause of snoring, on the contrary, is relevant for later stages of pregnancy and most often provokes nasal roulades in the 3rd trimester. Under the pressure of the growth of the uterus, the diaphragm shifts upward and occupies the so-called "high position". This process "takes" from the lungs at least a quarter of the volume. During the day, this becomes one of the reasons for rapid fatigue and shortness of breath. But at night (when the lung volume, in principle, becomes smaller in all people), such a position of the diaphragm makes it difficult for air to enter the lungs.
- Swelling during pregnancy. Another problem typical for the end of the 2nd and only 3rd trimesters is the physiological edema of pregnant women. They arise due to two parallel processes: on the one hand, during pregnancy, there is an increased need for fluid (and the woman drinks more), on the other hand, due to the release of placental hormones in the body, sodium is retained (and this interferes with the excretion liquid). Most often, the limbs swell, but at the same time, fluid can accumulate in soft tissues: for example, on the mucous membrane of the nose and throat. This, in turn, reduces the airway lumen.
- Being overweight during pregnancy. This is perhaps the only reason for snoring, which is more or less subject to a woman. Excessive (more than 10-15 kg) weight gain during pregnancy not only leads to gestational diabetes or late toxicosis. Fat tends to be deposited, for example, on the neck, thereby narrowing the lumen of the pharynx. And besides the "external" fat there is also "internal", visceral, which is usually located between the organs of the abdominal cavity, but in excess can also "get" to the lungs and impair their ventilation.
How can snoring during pregnancy be treated?
When sleeping, try to raise your head higher / istockphoto.com
As a rule, all these reasons (except, perhaps, only excess weight) cause mild periodic snoring in pregnant women. It does not cause much discomfort to a woman, but you can try to reduce its manifestations. So, for example, if you are worried about pregnancy rhinitis, you need to raise the pillow higher during sleep, regularly rinse your nose with saline, put a humidifier in the bedroom and, if possible, remove potential allergens that can further aggravate the swelling (dust, perfume, cigarette smoke). Also, at night, you can use special strips to expand the nasal passages (sold in pharmacies).
If snoring occurs due to general swelling of the body, monitor the amount of fluid you consume throughout the day. Fine pregnant women need to drink no more than 1.5 liters of liquid per day, starting from the 20th week. Also try to minimize everything salty in your diet: remember that salt provokes even greater fluid retention.
Snoring caused by extra pounds can be corrected with a special diet. However, in no case starve: in case of obesity during pregnancy, the diet and weight gain schedule should be under the strict supervision of a doctor. In this case, it is also possible to reduce the manifestations of snoring with the help of strips to expand the nasal passages.
When snoring during pregnancy can be dangerous
Apnea of pregnancy can be a harbinger of preeclampsia / istockphoto.com
If snoring in a pregnant woman is accompanied by a holding of breath, this is an alarming symptom with which you need to go to the doctor. This is called obstructive sleep apnea, but it looks from the outside as if a woman in a dream periodically forgets to breathe. Usually there is a snoring, then a pause of breathing for 10-15 seconds, and then a new, louder snoring. In total, such episodes of respiratory arrest per night can be one and a half to two hours - this is the time that the body of the expectant mother spent without air.
Not only that, after such a dream, a woman wakes up broken, during the day she feels lethargic and suffers from headaches. Obstructive sleep apnea provokes hypertension, and this is already a symptom of a more serious condition, such as preeclampsia or gestosis of pregnant women. It occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but at risk of women at all stages. The main complications of gestosis for the unborn child are poor blood circulation in the placenta, which leads to fetal hypoxia, which, in turn, causes irreversible developmental delays.
Obstructive sleep apnea is treated only under the supervision of a doctor. Most likely, you will be offered a special examination: cardiorespiratory monitoring. To do this, a woman needs to wear a special monitor throughout the day, which will record the heartbeat, pressure, breathing, blood oxygen saturation and physical activity. Based on the monitoring results, the doctor will determine the severity of the apnea and offer you treatment options. In severe cases, CPAP therapy will be indicated: connecting during sleep to a compressor, which provides additional air supply to the nasal passages.
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