| SNORING-It evidently takes place during the sleep phase through loss of basic muscle tension (muscle tone) in the musculature of the tongue and jaw. Snoring is most likely to occur if the sleeper is lying on his back, which causes the jaw to drop down and back and the tongue to slide back. Sometimes the snorer even wakes him self up with his own snoring. In addition to the sound, which acts as an arousal stimulus, the snorer is awakened due to a lack of oxygen or shortness of breath. Snoring dependably wakes up the lightly sleeping partner and can even trigger a genuine wakefulness mechanism, since both persons become tense from the process of self-observation both of their own sleep and the sleep of the partner. But even the snoring sleeper can do something to help the situation. He should in any case lie on his side before falling asleep and should constantly drum into his consciousness, ’I am lying on my side, I am going to continue lying on my side’. With steady practice and in the course of time, this works like a well-learned resolution. It is effective and carries over into sleep. TOOTH GRINDING- The habit of tooth grinding during sleep, bruxism, is disturbing to the person doing it and to others in the vicinity. For some unknown reason, with few exceptions the habit only occurs among girls and women. Readings measuring the rhythmic activity of the chewing muscles during sleep confirm the presence of the habit. The practice occurs in all phases of sleep and is most frequent in the intermediate and deep stages of synchronic sleep. Since the chewing muscles involved in tooth grinding are very strong, noctural grinding is by no means harmless. It can result in the significant wearing away of the teeth and eventually in deformation of the jawbones. For this reason, anyone having this habit should consult a dentist immediately. It is most important that he see about the possibility of learning autogenic training, which is quite effective in dealing with this problem. It can even be learned by older children, who are likely to be motivated to do so if they suffer from the habit. SLEEP-TALKING- Sleep-talking is a form of intensive dreaming and therefore occurs in most instances during the asynchronic sleep phases. It occurs more frequently among children and young people than among adults. It has no particular significance. |
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