Snoring in Behavior and Attention – Embraer 2019

I was invited to give a lecture at EMBRAER about the influence of snoring on behavior and attention. Snoring, despite being unanimous in terms of “disrupting other people's sleep”, many people do not know that it not only disrupts the sleep of their partner but also that of the snorer himself. How? It can evolve into a sleep disorder called Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Hypopnea Syndrome, better known as OSAHS, which will also affect your health.

OSAHS is characterized by noises and interruptions in breathing that are repeated at least five times within a period of one hour. The nocturnal noise is punctuated by choking, which the individual often does not even notice while sleeping. These small pauses in air intake reduce the concentration of oxygen in the blood and can lead to more serious consequences of the disorder.

The reduction in oxygen overactivates the nervous system, which increases the heart rate and stimulates the contraction of blood vessels. And, over time, this continues throughout the day. Hence the fact that it is considered a risk factor for high blood pressure and cardiac arrhythmia.

Furthermore, the condition favors the accumulation of abdominal fat and resistance to insulin (the hormone that allows glucose to enter cells and generate energy), conditions that contribute to the emergence of type 2 diabetes.

To make matters worse, tiredness, drowsiness and irritation are constant companions of those who snore and choke at night, because sleep like this is far from restful. As a result, the risk of work and traffic accidents is 2 to 3 times higher than that of the normal population. Accidents occur more frequently in these people because they tend to have a greater tendency to involuntary “naps” during the day, in addition to having impaired cognitive functions such as attention deficit, memory difficulties and difficulty concentrating.