Impact of snoring, lack of rest on your health

Experts say snoring and not having a good night’s sleep can have lifelong consequences for Pacific communities.

As we approach World Sleep Day, Dr Alex Bartle, clinical director of the Sleepwell Clinic, says poor sleep quality is a significant underlying factor for many health conditions.

“Everybody I see in my GP clinic could have had some degree of either insomnia, which is not enough sleep, or sleep apnoea, which is poor quality of sleep.

“When you're tired, you will tend to want to snack, and you'll do less exercise because you're exhausted, so with less exercise and increased snacking, it's very hard to lose weight.”

With 25 years of experience in sleep medicine, Bartle says Pacific communities are twice as likely to suffer from sleep disorders, many of which remain undiagnosed.

“A loud snorer will nearly always have some sleep apnoea,” Bartle says.

“It's where the tongue is sucked back to the back of the throat to obstruct and that obstruction needs to last for at least 10 seconds, usually followed by a gasp, and that's when the oxygen level goes back up again.

“Every time you do that, it causes an arousal in the brain. You're strangling yourself, and therefore the body's panicking.”

Bartle says this can happen more than a hundred times in one night, preventing a person from achieving deep, restorative sleep.

“They may have slept a number of hours, but they feel tired in the day, despite that, because the quality of sleep is not good.”

He estimates that up to one in three Pacific men have sleep apnoea, with similar rates seen among women after menopause.

“Women tend to have more heart attacks and strokes post-menopausally than they would pre-menopausally, so it does seem to escalate, just as you lose that protection of the oestrogen.”

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Bartle says sleep apnoea can also affect children and their behaviour, often linked to ADHD-like symptoms, which might be improved by removing the tonsils.

“About five per cent of children have sleep apnoea, and that's very strongly associated with ADHD behaviour and erratic behaviour, because they're tired children.”

A family issue

A study on sleep duration among Pacific youth found that only 58.6 per cent of Pacific people get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night, compared to 80.6 per cent of New Zealand Europeans.

Dr Amio Matenga-Ikihele, general manager of Moana Connect, says the direct impact of sleep on the wellbeing of entire families is a “currency that we often sacrifice when we have busy lives”.

“Whether it's through family, through church or studies, and often we would stay up late and wake up early.”

The study also revealed that almost 10 per cent of respondents had no or only one night of sleep lasting at least eight hours over the previous week.

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In multi-generational Pacific households, Matenga-Ikihele says that establishing sleep routines should be a collective responsibility.

“Despite sleep recommendations, Māori and Pacific children in Aotearoa New Zealand do not meet the recommended sleep hours.

“Incorporating or learning to incorporate traditional and cultural methods, such as lullabies, storytelling, massage, and prayer, into sleep routines is essential.”

Diagnosis and treatment

Bartle says diagnosing sleep apnoea can be done through a home study.

“The kit is just a thing on your finger, an oximeter, and sometimes we do a little band around the forehead that measures your brain waves.”

The cost of an overnight study at a private clinic is around $600, but Bartle says funding is available for extreme cases.

“If you're very, very sleepy, and especially if you're a truck driver or in some sort of safety critical job, you can usually get it done through the hospital, but you have to be very severe.”

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Treatment options vary, including lifestyle changes such as weight loss and reducing alcohol intake, to medical interventions such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines, which are worn as face masks.

Despite the widespread impact of sleep apnoea, public funding for its treatment remains limited, Bartle says, advocating for increased support.

"I've tried for the last 10, 15 years without a lot of success, but as you know, there are many, many people wanting more funding for medical issues."