DAILY SPRINGS: Snoring And Relationship - Easy Remedies

By Emmanuel Chiedu SB

My neighbour Okon who just got married two months ago had a huge fight with his wife. It was their first fight indeed. On getting close to the couple, I discovered that the cause of the problem was simply snoring. The wife complained about how loud her husband snores which usually prevents her from sleeping well at night unless on few occasions when she slept before him. Okon on the other hand said his wife was making him sleep on the floor because of something beyond his control. He argued he was done sleeping on the floor.

Snoring have strained so many relationships till date. No matter how much you love each other, snoring can put a strain on your relationship. If you’re the one lying awake at night as your partner snores away, it’s easy to start feeling resentful. And if you’re the snorer, you may feel helpless, guilty, or even irritated with your partner for harping on something you can’t consciously control. If you value your relationship, make it your priority to find a snoring cure so you can both sleep soundly. Working together to stop snoring can even be an opportunity to improve the quality of your bond and become more deeply connected. "Snoring can create real problems in a marriage," says Daniel P. Slaughter, MD, an otolaryngologist and snoring expert at Capital Otolaryngology in Austin, Texas in US.

Before I talk about solutions, let's first look at causes of this problem. Snoring is caused by the flow of air rushing across relaxed muscles in the mouth and throat during sleep. When your muscles relax, they collapse back into the throat which narrows and obstructs the airway. As air tries to pass through this obstructed airway, it causes an audible vibration, which is referred to as snoring! 

Common causes of snoring may include being overweight or out of shape, age, sleep posture, the way you are built (Mostly men), nasal and sinus problems, blocked airways or a stuffy nose, alcohol, smoking, and medications.

It's sometimes possible to treat snoring by making lifestyle changes. Try the following;

° Maintain a healthy weight and diet. Being overweight by just a few kilograms can lead to snoring. Fatty tissue around your neck squeezes the airway and prevents air from flowing in and out freely.

° Exercise can also help to stop snoring. As well aiding weight loss, exercising your arms, legs, and abs, for example, also leads to toning the muscles in your throat, which in turn can lead to less snoring. There are also specific exercises you can do to strengthen the muscles in your throat.

° Try to sleep on your side rather than your back. While sleeping on your back, your tongue, chin and any excess fatty tissue under your chin can relax and squash your airway. Sleeping on your side prevents this.

° Quit smoking. Quitting is easier said than done, but smoking irritates the membranes in the nose and throat which can block the airways and cause snoring. If the nasal passages become congested, it's difficult to breathe through your nose because the airflow is decreased. Get help with quitting here.

° Avoid alcohol, sleeping pills, and sedatives before going to bed. Alcohol causes the muscles to relax more than usual during a normal night's sleep. This added relaxation of the muscles makes the back of the throat collapse more readily, which then causes snoring.

° Change your sleeping position. Elevating your head four inches may ease breathing and encourage your tongue and jaw to move forward. There are specially designed pillows available to help prevent snoring by making sure your neck muscles are not crimped.

° Clear nasal passages. Keep your nasal passages clear, so that you breathe in through your nose rather than your mouth. If you have a stuffy nose, rinse sinuses with saline before bed. Using a Neti pot, nasal decongestant, or nasal strips can also help you breathe more easily while sleeping. If you have allergies, reduce dust mites and pet dander in your bedroom or use an allergy medication.

° Establish regular sleep patterns. Create a healthy bedtime ritual with your partner and stick to it. Hitting the sack in a routine way together can help you sleep better and often minimize snoring.

° Keep bedroom air moist. Dry air can irritate membranes in the nose and throat, so if swollen nasal tissues are the problem, a humidifier may help.

  NOTE: If you snore loudly and heavily and are tired during the day or you stop breathing, gasp, or choke during sleep, or you fall asleep at inappropriate times, such as during a conversation or a meal then you must visit a doctor. Snoring can sometimes be a warning sign of a more serious problem. A doctor should evaluate a snorer for any underlying medical conditions, other sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea, or any sleep-related breathing problems. If you or your sleep partner notice any of the following signs please visit your doctor... Good luck.

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STAY ALERT! These are Signs that Your Relationship is Holding You Back in Life...Run Away Now

Relationships are good but if your relationship is not healthy, then you need to get out of it immediately. These are signs of an unhealthy union.

I recently had a conversation with a colleague who’d grown frustrated with his wife because she refused to relocate with him for a job promotion. It was a heartbreaking thing to listen to and observe, as my colleague, who’d invested more than 20 years of his life in advancing his career, decided to cut ties with his wife of seven years to pursue his career goals.

It was a bitter-sweet decision because he obviously loved his wife but having dedicated more time to his career than his relationship, he felt it would be remiss of him to pass up the one thing in life he’d been consistently working towards for what seemed like a lifetime to him. He was devastated to learn that his wife did not revere the advancement in his career as a win for their relationship. She’d complained of the location the promotion landed him and the tireless hours he’d have to dedicate to the job versus the time he’d be allowed to spend with her. I believe her concerns were valid, but they were not aligned with his vision; and therein lies the problem.

When choosing someone to spend the rest of our lives with, we must be very careful not to align ourselves with someone whose visions and goals are not malleable and/or closely aligned with our own. This will cause you to be held back in life.
Here are three signs to look for in a relationship that is holding you back in life:

1. Your career goals are completely opposite.

If your significant other does not have career goals and/or is not willing to support you 100 percent with your career goals, you may find yourself living in a pool of regrets when you pass up one opportunity after another to save the relationship. If your career goals are time consuming, it’s only fair to your spouse to communicate that early on in the relationship. It’s difficult to have a demanding career and spouse. If your career takes up a lot of your time, your spouse should and must find something to preoccupy his/her time.

2. Your outlook on life is completely different.

If you have an extroverted personality and are very ambitious, you’ll probably have a hard time settling down with someone who is introverted and satisfied with remaining on one, stable track in life. The only way a relationship of this nature can last is if the parties involved are fully supportive of each other’s differences. But if you’re extroverted, who will you travel with? Who will you spend your time trying new restaurants with? Spending those “special” moments with someone else could lead to some complications in your relationship in the long term.

3. Your viewpoints on family are completely different.

There are some people who only want to live near their family. If you’re not a product of a close-knit family and/or you are ok with moving away from family and making new friends in other cities/states/countries, you may have a hard time convincing your significant other to live anywhere that isn’t close to his/her family. Furthermore, it will be difficult to have a lasting relationship when one person desperately wants several children and the other does not. Children are expensive and consume a lot of parents’ time and energy. Not seeing eye to eye in this area could lead to frustration and many regrets.

- IDateDaily

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Coping With The ‘In Sickness And In Health’ Of Your Marriage Vows

By Bunmi Sofola

Did it ever occur to you that when you stood at the altar and promised to love your husband ‘in sickness and in health,’ that one day you’d be forced to confront the reality of those vows? You ought to. This is life. We’re all going to get old. Some of us may suffer long-term or terminal illness or have accidents that leave us unable to look after ourselves. When accidents happen, would you be able to look after your sick spouse unconditionally? Would your husband do it for you? More to the point, would you want him to?

“I’m not the kind of person who copes very well with illness or stress, “ confessed Kate. “I’ve only been married for two years. If he suffered a long-term illness now, I would probably walk away. I am young and I have my whole life ahead of me. However, if it was something short-term, I would stay and care for him. I would also do this if I was in my 50s, or 60s, and still with the same man I’m with now”, concludes the 30-year-old dentist.

Eight years ago, Solape’s husband was away on business when two of his colleagues called at the house. They told her that Bruce, her husband, was involved in a car accident and had been hospitalised. “I was distraught,” Solape said. “We’d been married for 14 years and with three growing children, I needed the support of a healthy partner. When his colleagues refused to tell me the extent of his injuries, I was really scared.

“It was when I got to the hospital that I found out he was in a coma where he remained for almost two weeks. He eventually regained consciousness but he had suffered some injuries to his brain and would need constant care. It didn’t ever cross my mind not to be there for him. He was the father of my kids. But would he do the same for me if the roles were reversed? I was thinking of this seriously when a female colleague of his visited. She said she was away on transfer when the accident happened. I was friendly with her and she commended me on my staying with him when I knew there was another woman with my husband in the car when he had the accident. She was the woman he was rumoured to be having an affair with and which he had vehemently denied.

“When she realised 1 hadn’t heard of the mistress until she told me, she felt guilty and embarrassed. I assured her she’d done me a favour. I was at breaking point when this happened. I knew my marriage ended with the accident and now I can relieve myself of the caring job fate thrusted upon me. I couldn’t take care of the children properly and my business was suffering. In the end I had to tell him I knew about the woman he had with him when he had the car accident and that I was leaving with the children. We had a right to live a healthy life - he’d already chosen the path he wanted to walk. He’d obviously betrayed me and our marriage vows before the accident - no one would judge me negatively if I left, so I did. I made sure his relatives knew what my decision was and that they would have to take over caring for him. “

“Twelve years ago when I got married, the ‘in sickness and in health’ part was very meaningful to both of us,” said Tolu, a nursing sister. “Although neither of us is sick or injured, my husband is a high ranking policeman and I know that there is a possibility he could come home a different person - it could be with fewer limbs or even a psychological problem. When you marry a person, you marry them for a reason - it doesn’t matter how much you have to do for them or how much strain there is. There are many reasons why you might walk away from a marriage, but illness and injury should not be one of them.”

“When you are committed to someone, it becomes automatic, no matter how unpleasant it is for you to care for them “in sickness or in health,” said Evi.an educationist. “I looked after my husband when he had kidney cancer. The cancer spread to his bones and he was virtually bed-ridden. We were told the illness was terminal.

“He wouldn’t let anyone else look after him. Even when he was in hospital, I was there 12 or 14 hours every day, washing and feeding him and helping him to the toilet. I had a good job, but had to resign because I was away for too long, thankfully, money wasn’t really a problem. For me, there was no choice. My husband was dying and I wanted to be with him every waking moment. I knew I would have plenty of time to sort out my career and get my life back on track once he had gone. 1 was 41, and he was 54. The months we spent together were amazing. We talked about me re-marrying and about what it might be like to be dead.

“The biggest difficulty was not knowing how he felt. He was the one with the disease and I constantly worried about his pain levels, both physical and emotional. When he eventually died, the hole that he left was enormous. I am not in any way ashamed to say that there was also some relief. Relief that he was out of pain, and relief that I could get some rest. But there was also contentment knowing that I had done whatever was needed. I had cared for him until the last day.”

And you can yourself a doctor? (Humour)

Joe is being plagued by terrible headaches. One day, after years of suffering, he decided to see a migraine specialist. The doctor tells Joe to strip, inspects him all over, and announces that he’s found the cause of his problem. “Your testicles are pressing against the base of your spine,” says the medic. “The pressure builds up, and you get an excruciating headache.” Joe is appalled. “Tell me doctor, is there anything I can do about it?” he asks. “I’m afraid I have bad news. The only answer is to get rid of the testicles,” says the doctor.

Joe considers the pros and cons of a life without balls and sex - but then he thinks about the agony of his daily headaches, and without too much difficulty decides to go for the snip. He comes round from the operation and leaves the hospital. Walking along the street, he smiles as he realises that the pain has completely disappeared. To celebrate he decides to treat himself to some new clothes, so he makes his way to a top tailor to get fitted. Inside the tailor’s, he asks to see a pair of trousers. The tailor looks at Joe and says, “You’ll need a 36- inch waist, 33-inch inside leg.” Joe is amazed at the accuracy of the tailor’s eyes, and asks for a shirt. “That’ ll be a 42-inch chest, 16- inch neck,” the tailor says, and Joe is once again stunned by his accuracy.

Finally, all that is left is a pair of underpants. “36” guesses the tailor incorrectly. “No, sorry, I’m a 34,” says Joe. “I’ve worn 34 since I was 18.” “This is not possible,” frowns the tailor. “If a man of your size wore a size 34, the pants would press his testicles into the base of his spine, causing the most horrific headaches.”

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COULD THIS BE YOU ON VALENTINE'S DAY?! GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY WITH THE BOSS' DAUGHTER!

Could this be you on Valentine’s day?! Getting down and dirty with the boss’ daughter!

 It’s a known fact that every man has a treasured possession,” said Julius. (Mine is my newly acquired jeep), Seyi, my best friend loves his state-of-the art music equipment with his vast CD collection and our managing director adores his daughter, Juwon.