Excessive snoring may signal health risk

I'm leaving for Seattle in a few hours, prepped and ready to shoot a corporate bit for Pepsi. At any rate, part of the travel arrangements involve sharing a room with a guy that I've been forewarned about: He Snores. Great. There goes the possibility of getting any sleep. But, inasmuch as his snoring may be a single-night sleep disruption for me, it may signal a bigger health problem for him (and, no, I don't mean that it may cause me to kill him in his sleep).

According to an article published in the current issue of Women's Health, snoring may lead to chronic bronchitis for a good number of people. The article references a study featured in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, which found that snoring places a great deal of stress on the airways, thus increasing inflammation. In fact, researchers discovered that people who reported snoring six or seven nights per week were 68-percent more likely to develop chronic bronchitis than silent sleepers.

The article also presents a potential solution: Placing nasal strips on a snorer's nose. This may help widen the nasal passage and reduce the nighttime ruckus. Note to self: Buy a pack of nasal strips at the airport and offer them as a "gift" to my traveling companion.