A small study in the journal Circulation revealed that almost 60 percent of pacemaker patients also had undiagnosed sleep apnea. The researchers involved in the study posit that patients' sleep apnea could possibly contribute to their heart problems.

What is sleep apnea? Here's the Cliff Notes description: it's a sleep disorder characterized by 30 or more periods of interrupted breathing each hour during sleep. Usually, a person suffering from sleep apnea may wake-up or at least partially wake-up during these breathing interruptions. Considering the importance that sound sleep plays in cardiovascular health, it is quite clear that sleep patterns of this kind are dangerous.

As for the above mentioned study, researchers looked at 98 British, French and Belgian pacemaker patients and noted that thirty-six of of them had sinus node disease, in which a heart chamber pumps too slow or too fast. Furthering the connection, it is known that abnormally slow heart rhythms (known as Bradycardic rhythm disorders) are common among patients with obstructive sleep apnea. The tricky part is that the researchers could not determine if the sleep apnea came before the pacemaker, or if it developed after the pacemaker therapy began.

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Some of us sleep up to a third of our life away, which seems wasteful to many. It isn't, and a new study out of the UK says that too little sleep -- and even too much of it -- can double the risk of death from heart disease.

Yikes -- sounds serious, right? It's pretty well known that those of us not getting enough sleep see a marked decrease in how alert and productive we are when awake. But, heart disease?

The study involved 10,000 participants and looked at the amount of sleep each received correlated against the mortality rare of the group after adjusting for all kinds of factors, like age, race and sex. Conclusion: get in your required seven hours of sleep every day.

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People suffering from sleep apnea may soon have another option for getting better sleep. A new two-piece device called the Thornton Adjustable Positioner II (TAP II) is designed to hold the lower jaw forward while a person sleeps and has had positive results in reducing major snoring events per hour and also in helping to keep patients from running low on oxygen during the night.

There are more than 300 devices out there designed for this very purpose, but why not add one more? Snoring is an ongoing problem for as many as 45% of adults, so obviously there's always room for new and better treatments. Let's just hope this one doesn't become "random device number 301," and that it actually has a big impact and helps a lot of people.

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This week is National Sleep Awareness Week, and to celebrate the Loyola University Health System's Center for Sleep Disorders is encouraging all people who have any kind of sleep disturbance (snoring, gasping for air, waking up still tired, etc) be checked out for possible sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea affects more than 18 million people across the U.S., and although it's easily treatable it is also very serious when left undiagnosed. Risks increase for heart attack and stroke, not to mention all the negative effects from sleep deprivation.

So take some time this week to talk to your doctor if you think you may be at risk -- your heart will thank you.

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All the jokes and sitcom situations making light of couples fighting over one or the other's snoring habit may not be so funny after all: a recent study suggests that snoring not only interferes with getting enough sleep, for all people involved, but can also tear relationships apart. And sadly, the two play off each other -- lack of sleep making both parties tired, irritable, and less likely to be interested in intimacy.

There are treatments for chronic snoring, including everything from simple earplugs to more drastic measures like surgery. Experts warn that splitting into separate bedrooms should be viewed as a temporary fix for a problem like this one, and both should agree on a clear "plan of attack" for returning to a shared situation as soon as possible. For many couples, the time spent catching up on the day and visiting with each other while getting into bed is some of the only "alone time" they get all day.

So if this is something you're dealing with, be proactive! Don't let a little snoring action ruin your relationship.

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