Unexpected NSV: Snoring!

SanjiSun
SanjiSun Posts: 69 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi all,

so, I've been overweight for most of my adult life ... more or less since 2000 with a short 9 month break in 2005.
I have been a heavy snorer for the last decade or so. The girlfriend I had for the most time of the last decade didn't mind it, so it wasn't really an issue. After we broke up, I didn't date at all for a while, just too busy with work and generally not interested.

In 2010 I went on a trip to South Africa with a girl, and my snoring made the trip a lot less enjoyable than it could have been.
She couldn't fall asleep or was woken up due to my very loud snoring, so she woke me up, complaint (rightfully), and I tried to stay awake until she fell asleep. Getting pissed of myself because I was not getting my sleep. That routine repeated itself several times during the night.. all nights.. so we both had a lack of sleep and were ticked off every morning. You can imagine that didn't necessarily improve the trip.

As I had a similar experience with other sleepovers , the snoring topic soon was constantly on my mind whenever the possibility came up to share a bed or a room with someone over a night. I even cut some dates short because of that.

Fast forward to 7 weeks ago.. just a couple of days before I started my weight loss journey. I had a new friend sleep over for the time. Guess what, she complained about the snoring and that she didn't get any sleep because of it.

I knew that a lot of the snoring came obviously from me being obese, so I figured that would get better once I reach my target weight. But 2 weeks ago, just 4 weeks in to my weight loss program , when she was sleeping over again, she said the snoring was a lot less.
And two days ago she said either I didn't snore at all or it was so minimal that she didn't notice it at all. She slept like a baby.

I know, the sample size is pretty small, but it seems that the weight loss has a considerable impact, already now, after only 6 weeks.
I figure that by the time I reach my target weight, I will be very silent while sleeping =)

Snoring had nothing to do with my motivation to lose weight, so this comes as a very pleasant surprise and unexpected NSV :D

Replies

  • zealousmissjj_wechange
    zealousmissjj_wechange Posts: 445
    Now that's an awesome NSV!!! Yaaayyy!!!
  • penniemh
    penniemh Posts: 124 Member
    Cool! congratulations, keep going.
  • Dawn_is_getting_healthy
    Dawn_is_getting_healthy Posts: 245
    Congrats!!! I spent almost TWO YEARS sleeping in the guest bedroom so I wouldn't have the same issues with my husband that you were having with girlfriends. Even on VACATION....I slept on the couch. Not any more! It feels great, and you're right....the snoring subsided considerably within just a month or two of starting my weight loss. Keep up the great work!!
  • ls_66
    ls_66 Posts: 395 Member
    have you had a sleep study? it could save your life... talk to your doctor about it... I did and I'm glad.... even with weight loss sleep apnea can be an issue
  • chaabounij
    chaabounij Posts: 10
    :happy: Wow, I hope it all works out for you. My husband and dad were both horrible snorers and neither was ever overweight so there was no reasonable fix. Poor mom and I never felt rested until we each started sleeping in separate rooms from our men. Suddenly the world seemed much brighter. Sleep is so important!! Both partners need to be well rested to have the best relationships possible. If you are not snoring, you are probably sleeping better, too. GOOD JOB!! Keep up the good work!
  • samblanken
    samblanken Posts: 369 Member
    From what you described I was thinking you had sleep apnea. But it sounds like your weight loss has cured the snoring - and that is AWESOME! Because how much you sleep and the quality of your sleep affects your metabolism. If you sleep badly, you crave bad food, you metabolize it differently etc. So glad to hear you are sleeping well, and NOT snoring.
  • samblanken
    samblanken Posts: 369 Member
    :happy: Wow, I hope it all works out for you. My husband and dad were both horrible snorers and neither was ever overweight so there was no reasonable fix. Poor mom and I never felt rested until we each started sleeping in separate rooms from our men. Suddenly the world seemed much brighter. Sleep is so important!! Both partners need to be well rested to have the best relationships possible. If you are not snoring, you are probably sleeping better, too. GOOD JOB!! Keep up the good work!

    If your spouse and father snore badly and are not overweight, they probably have sleep apnea. They need to be tested and they need treatment. Untreated sleep apnea leads to high blood pressure, heart disease, and a myriad of other problems,
  • SanjiSun
    SanjiSun Posts: 69 Member
    re the apnea posts: I was thinking about that when I heard about it.
    This spring I have been in Thailand with a friend. We shared the same hotel room, and as our sleeping patterns were completely different ( he went to bed at 10-11 p.m. and got up at 6-7 a.m., while I went to bed at 6 a.m. most of the days, I asked him to specifically hear for signs of apnea. He didn't spot any. I know that he knows what to listen for as he wrote about ppl he shared a hostel room with showing the characteristic signs when he did his around the world trip.

    also, I generally sleep very well and am energized in the morning (unless someone wakes me up to complain about the snoring ;)).

    And thanks for the congrats everyone =)
  • samblanken
    samblanken Posts: 369 Member
    People who snore very badly, 99% of them have sleep apnea. My dad was so bad his nickname when I was a kid was chainsaw man. And then there's people like me, I barely snored - but I too have sleep apnea. There's more to it then just snoring, but the snoring is a HUGE indicator of a problem. How do you feel in the mornings? I always felt hungover, had a headache, and many days I could just not think straight - i Just felt like I was in a fog all day. I am an engineer and there were days when I couldn't not do simple math like 2+2=4. I swear it was a factor in getting laid off because the quality of my work was poor.
  • SanjiSun
    SanjiSun Posts: 69 Member
    IIRC it is when you actually stop breathing for a longer period during sleeping that is a very telling sign, right? And I didn't do any of that, according to him. Sample size was 14 days.

    I feel good when getting up, never have a headache (really, maybe a slight one every year, that's it, I never got a headache from being hung over either), and typically I work 10-12 hours a day, with high concentration.

    Any case, I figure, getting it checked out won't do any harm. Just put it on my to do list. But will wait till I have my target weight.
  • junodog1
    junodog1 Posts: 4,792 Member
    Snoring is a motivator for me to lose weight. I snore myself awake and I have no idea how my husband sleeps with me. I do not snore all the time and I dont have sleep apnea, but I have not been able to sleep on my back for years.

    So I've been using MFP for about two months. Noticed to other morning that my morning dry mouth hadn't been all that bad lately. So I asked the man "how's my snoring been lately?". He is brutally honest and bless his little heart if he didn't say "What snoring?"

    After only two months and 14 pounds. This is a NSV for us!

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