打鼾的人爲什麼不會吵醒自己?
如果你有過和打鼾者共睡一室的經歷，你一定有這樣的感受：看着那個發出巨響的傢伙幸福地睡着是多麼的讓人惱怒。
Loud snorers can wake themselves up with their own log-sawing sounds, but only for a few seconds. That's why they may not be able to recall the sleep disturbance when they wake up the following morning, according to "Sleep: The Mysteries, The Problems, and The Solutions" (Penguin, 2007).
打鼾者有時會被自己拉鋸般的響聲弄醒，但一般也就幾秒鐘。按照《神祕的睡眠：問題和答案》（企鵝出版社2007年出版）的說法，這就是爲什麼他們第二天一早起來並不會想起自己睡眠受過有什麼打擾。
Snoring is caused by breathing in air through a partially blocked airway, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). When that happens, air vibrates as it flows past the tissues in the back of the throat, which produces the snoring sound.
美國睡眠醫學院認爲，打鼾是由呼吸氣道中的局部堵塞造成的。當堵塞發生時，空氣流經咽喉的後部會引發振動，從而發出鼾聲。
The AASM estimates that approximately 24 percent of women and 40 percent of men are habitual snorers. Snoring is more common in those that are overweight because they tend to have more fat tissue in the back of the throat, which increases vibration.
睡眠學院估計大約24%的女性和40%的男性有打鼾習慣。體胖者更易發生打鼾，因爲他們咽喉後部更大，所以振動更大。
Loud snoring may also be a sign of an underlying problem such as sleep apnea, which is a chronic form of snoring that is characterized by the blockage of the air passage at the back of the mouth during sleep. Sleep apnea can cause a person to stop breathing for about 10 to 30 seconds, although some stop breathing for up to two minutes before their brain sets off the "arousal trigger" and wakes the person up, according to the book "Sleep."
打鼾也許是一種潛在問題的信號，如睡眠窒息，它打鼾病的一種表現形式，特徵爲睡覺時口腔後部氣道堵塞。按照《睡覺》一書的說法，在大腦觸發“覺醒板機”之前，睡眠窒息可能會造成10秒到30秒的呼吸停止，有的會長達兩分鐘之久。
Blocked air passages can cause those with sleep apnea to stop breathing and wake up hundreds of times throughout the course of a night, and they are usually unable to recall doing so the next morning. Besides preventing a person from feeling well-rested, the poor sleep quality caused by loud, chronic snoring can lead to cardiovascular problems, an increased chance of having metabolic syndrome and accidents associated with sleep deprivation.
氣道堵塞除了會造成睡眠窒息之外，還會造成一夜之中幾百次因呼吸停止而醒來。除了感覺休息不好之外，嚴重而長期的打鼾者還因睡眠質量不佳而患上心血管病，並且增加患新陳代謝綜合症和因睡眠不足而發生事故的機率。
