GARCHES  –  Snoring and breathing pauses during the night may not only lead to non-restorative sleep and daytime sleepiness but also interfere with the sleep quality of one’s partner.

As many as two-thirds of people whose bed partners snore report poor sleep due to the snoring and restlessness of their bed-fellow.

But the seemingly straightforward solution of sleeping in different rooms does not really help matters, according to French researchers reporting in the European Respiratory Journal`s November issue.

While as many as 30% of partners complaining of sleep problems suffer from disturbed sleep due to their own unrecognised snoring, even those who don’t snore might not sleep any better alone, suggests a small study.

The prospective study initially included 23 women whose partners snored with volume and intensity enough to be described as “bothersome”. Two independent sleep studies were conducted, one while the woman was sleeping in the bedroom with her partner and the other while she slept alone in the same room.

The polysomnographic recordings of the women confirmed that sharing the bed with a “snorer” decreases sleep quality and disrupts sleep. While the study surprisingly recorded some previously unrecognised snoring in the participating women (with three women having had even longer snoring periods than their partners and with seven women being excluded from the study because of substantial snoring for longer than 10% of the total sleep time), no significant objective improvement of sleep quality was demonstrated when partners were separated.

“Sleeping alone for one night may not be sufficient to allow recovery of sleep in individuals who are chronically exposed to noise at night” may be one explanation for the findings, writes Dr Marc Blumen of the Sleep Unit at the Raymond Poincaré Hospital in Garches, France.

Among the 16 men included in the study, nine fulfilled the criteria of sleep apnoea syndrome, according to their apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI), a measurement of the severity of sleep-disordered breathing.

Instead of sleeping alone, and especially when dealing with sleep apnoeas, a better approach may lie in treating the underlying condition - particularly in view of the serious comorbidities associated with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

The syndrome, a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, is a highly treatable condition, provided that the right patient is identified.

Sleep specialists should be aware that sometimes the one who complains about being disturbed during sleep is in fact the one in need of attention, concludes Dr Blumen.

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