Wearing stockings could help stop you snoring - study

Thursday 12th July 2012

Wearing tight stockings through the day may be a new way to deal with snoring at night according to a new study. Compression stockings are widely used to treat varicose veins and prevent blood clots in the legs during long-haul flights and after surgery. They are now being given to people who suffer from sleep apnea

Sleep apnea occurs when the soft tissue in the throat collapses repeatedly at night, which blocks the airflow into the longs. This causes the sufferer to experience pauses in breath that can last up to a few minutes and can reoccur through the night. This process is accompanied by a loud snore and gasp. It is estimated that sleep apnea affects one in 25 adults.

It has been shown through a small study of 12 patients that symptoms are reduced by a third when they wore the knee-length stockings. This is due to the stocking helping the collapsing tissue by tackling fluid build-up in the body.

Normally, the leg muscles help pump fluid back up to the body, but this flow is slowed down in those with poor circulation or who are sat down constantly. The people suffering from the most severe sleep apnea tend to be overweight and therefore more likely to have poor circulation. Experts believe a build up of this fluid can flow back towards the head when the patient lies down at night. This fluid then accumulates around the throat, squeezes the tissue and triggering sleep apnoea. The idea behind the stockings is that they prevent tissue fluid, pooling in the legs during the day. The theory is that wearing the stockings during the day will squeeze the veins and help the muscles push the fluid back up to the rest of the body and disperse it more evenly.

In a new trial involving 50 patients, at Toronto University in Canada, half of the participants will wear knee-length stockings during the day for two weeks and the other half will not. Doctors are set to evaluate the overnight change in leg and neck fluid volumes, levels of daytime sleepiness and alertness, plus overall quality of life. Once this study has been carried out it may be possible to determine whether the fluid does flow up to the neck when we sleep and if the stockings can counteract this process.

Tags: Sleep study sleep apnea snoring

Category: Sleep Research

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