Your husband’s BMI is 33.9 (kg/m2), at the second level of obesity. Overweight and obesity can affect lung function, increase the risk of respiratory diseases such as asthma, and disrupt sleep quality.
Your husband’s symptoms of loud snoring and waking up many times at night may be due to sleep apnea syndrome. This is a condition in which the patient has short pauses in breathing, usually lasting more than 10 seconds, occurring many times throughout the night.
This syndrome is divided into two types: obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. In particular, obstructive sleep apnea is often found in people who are overweight, obese, and have short necks due to the large amount of fat distributed around the upper respiratory tract. The risk of this syndrome increases proportionally with weight.
People who are obese or exercise too little lead to fat accumulation in the upper respiratory tract, narrowing the airways, causing difficulty breathing. Too little muscle activity reduces muscle tone. The amount of fat concentrated in the chest and abdomen causes reduced lung capacity and increased oxygen demand. Obesity is also a cause of hypoventilation syndrome (Pickwick syndrome). Breathing disorders increase CO2 in the blood, lack of oxygen in the blood, affecting the heart and lungs.
Polysomnography helps diagnose and evaluate the severity of sleep apnea. Image: Tam Anh General Hospital
Clinical manifestations of sleep apnea are unclear and often overlooked. Common symptoms of sleep apnea are loud snoring, daytime drowsiness, and fatigue. Some other symptoms include headaches, dry mouth or sore throat, waking up frequently to urinate at night, waking up due to choking or gasping for air, not sleeping well, feeling unfocused, or forgetful.
Your husband should go to a specialized medical facility or an obesity and ENT treatment center to be properly diagnosed and treated.