SCOTLAND has more snorers than anywhere else in the UK a recent sleep study has found.
The study was conducted by Ergoflex UK- a memory foam mattress company- who have created a map highlighting the regions with the most snores.
A total of 2,438 Britons aged 18 and over, all of whom stated that they were in a co-habiting relationship were quizzed about their sleeping patterns, habits and those of their partner.
Scotland topped the list of snorers with 61% saying either they or their partner snored. The East of England was second with 55%, West Midlands third with 52% and North East was the least snoring region with 9%.
The respondents were asked a series of questions such as: ‘Does your partner ever wake you up in the night?’ Almost three quarters of respondents, 72%, stated ‘yes’, with ‘their snoring’ (42%) and ‘moving around’ (26%) topping the list of ways they did so.
The study also found that 13% of respondents admitted that at one point or another they had woken themselves up snoring.
Mr Michael Oko FRCS(ORL-HNS), Consultant ENT Surgeon of 150 Harley Street, commented: “Sleep takes up between a quarter and a third of our lives and serves to refresh and restore our bodies, yet snoring is damaging for so many.
“Severe snoring is not only socially disruptive to partners, often leading to couples being forced to sleep in separate rooms at night, it can also signal more severe sleep disorders such as Obstructive Sleep Apnoea with which patients stop breathing periodically at night, waking up grumpy and tired with early morning headaches.
“If you or your partner snore so badly that you cannot even share the same room, you need to see your doctor and get it checked out.”
Jed MacEwan, Managing Director of Ergoflex said: “Snoring is commonly seen as amusing, but in reality it’s anything but funny.
“Living with a partner who regularly snores of course jeopardises your own sleep quality, and experiencing disrupted sleep over a sustained period of time isn’t ideal for your health and wellbeing.
“For the snorer themselves it could well be a symptom of more serious problems, so simply ‘accepting’ the condition could be a dangerous decision.
“We’d implore anyone who suffers from snoring to take it very seriously, for their own good as well as their partner’s.”
