Q: My husband snores just about every night. I will do just about anything to get him to a doctor. I have even thought about sleeping in another room, but I am scared it will affect our relationship and our ability to be sexually spontaneous in the middle of the night. What can I do?
A: You are not alone in your problem. A recent Mayo Clinic study followed 800 men for 14 years and found that 70 percent were moderate snorers, 20 percent had a heavy snoring problem and only 10 percent were either mild snorers or had no snoring problems. They found that the snorers were more than twice as likely to have low sexual satisfaction.
Interestingly, the snoring did not affect sexual desire or the strength of erections. The obvious explanation is that snoring may affect their partner's quality of life, creating increased problems associated with sleep deprivation such as insomnia, headache, sleepiness and fatigue. If a partner's response is to sleep in a different room, that certainly could affect sexual spontaneity and lead to feelings of resentment for both individuals.
I am not a sleep doctor, but I do know there are some simple lifestyle changes and medical approaches that can counter snoring. My guess is that once your husband knows his snoring can negatively affect his sexual relationship with you, he will lose little time in finding his way to a doctor to cure to his snoring problems.
Dr. Marc Gittelman is a board certified urologist.
