Women don't just lie about age and weight, they also lie about snoring

Dhwani Vora | Apr 25, 2019, 13:39 IST
There are three things that you should absolutely refrain yourself from asking a woman - her weight, age and whether she snores.

Well, at least that's what the new study says about women who lie when they know that the snore while they're in deep sleep. This study was done on 1,913 people who suffered from sleep disorders. The study’s principal investigator, Dr. Nimrod Maimon, professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and head internist at Soroka University Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, Israel said, “We found that although no difference in snoring intensity was found between genders, women tend to underreport the fact that they snore and … underestimate the loudness of their snoring.”

In the study, people of average 49 years of age were given a survey where they were asked to assess their own snoring. They were also observed by researchers overnight for their snoring. Out of 675 women who participated, 88% copped to it. And men on the other hand were over-reporting their snoring. 93% said they sawed wood but the scientists found out that out of these 92.6% were actually doing so.

Even though women were generally younger than men in the participants, they were still the ones who snored as loudly as men. The device that scaled the snoring ranked them into four levels: mild (40 to 45 decibels), moderate (46 to 55), severe (56 to 60) and very severe (more than 60 decibels).

Where men's snoring scored 51.7 decibels, women weren't too far behind and scored a 50. According to the survey, at least 49% of the women have severe and highly severe snoring issues, but only 40% rated their snoring at that level.

Snoring is not just a disturbance for someone who's sleeping besides you but is actually quite unhealthy for yourself. It can result in sleep apnea and can also increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Not just that, it is also associated with illnesses like type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's. Now, researchers worry if the negative stigma is associated with snoring, it might prevent women fro agreeing to participate in a sleep study at all. Doctors should find out signs in women like daytime fatigue that can indicate towards sleep apnea.

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