Silent Night
I am one nocturnal creature… I can’t fall asleep easily. I’ve been trying to change my clock lately because my Julia seems to adjust to my pattern and I believe, it lowers our immunity. Last night, I did not watch tv (ok, just until 12mn), turned my notebook off and tried to sleep. Sadly, my mind kept wandering from one thought to another… what will be my itinerary tomorrow? What will be my menu for this week? What time will I wash Julia’s bottles, etc, etc. All of a sudden, I heard my hubby snoring and I remembered him asking me to record it so he can listen to it (sorry bunch, you’re secret is not safe anymore… don’t worry, a lot of men snore and besides, I find it adorable and it has become music to my ears! hehe…). Yes, my hubby’s snoring has been a delight to me… I know that’s strange but it’s because it assures me that he is completely asleep and rested. He’s as nocturnal as I am even if he works 15hrs a day on the average… can you imagine how he can manage?? His excuse: watching TV relaxes him… what?!
It led me wondering at 2am, why do men snore more than women do? I’ve done a little research and this is what I found out:
1- When men put on weight they tend to put it on around the neck area whereas women put on weight around the hips. The fatty tissue around the neck literally squeezes the airway closed so air can’t pass through smoothly. It tends to hit the structures within the throat and vibrate them which causes the noise we know as snoring.
2- Women have a slightly different airway anatomy to men. They have a wider airway (as in circumference) so if there is any obstruction there’s a chance the air passing through will not be as likely to hit the structures as it would in a man. Additionally, a woman’s airway is less prone to collapse than a man’s airway and it works in her favour as far as snoring is concerned.
3- In general, women tend not to smoke and drink as much as men and therefore don’t suffer the snoring consequences.
4- Pregnant women tend to snore because the blood flow around the nasal area can increase, which causes the lining of the nose and throat to swell. This makes breathing more difficult so there would be a tendency to sleep with the mouth open giving rise to snoring.
This clearly explains why women snore less, poor men… tsk, tsk!
See, sleeping late is not entirely that bad… my mind gets to think ; )
*** No photos for this blog, my hubby will kill me if I post his pix while he was asleep (though I would love to), hehe…
June 27th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
hi tin, thanks. i learned a lot, very informative. maybe that’s the reason why my hubby does not snore so much (he does when he is very stressed from work), because he is so thin. hopefully you find your sleep well. we have one thing in common when we go to bed, that is thinking about what meal to cook the next day, hehe.