Sleep health disorders that affect normal breathing of a person are always as dangerous as they sound. Catathrenia is one such sleep-related breathing disorder, which is characterized by groaning during the process of exhalation. Such sounds usually occur during REM sleep stages and are frequently preceded by a form of extremely slow breathing called “bradypnea”.

How Catathrenia Differs to Snoring and Sleep Apnea

While groaning happens during exhalation, snoring happens during inhalation. Although groaning sounds may cause irritation to a bedfellow, the sleep-related breathing disorder is not linked to any serious health conditions. While a person experiences catathrenia, there is no reduction in oxygen saturation of blood, which is common in Sleep Apnea.

Catathrenia patients seldom experience fragmented sleep or excessive sleepiness during the daytime, which is one of the symptoms of apnea. Most catathrenia patients get normal and adequate sleep each night and wake up feeling rested.

Can Catathrenia Be Detrimental to Sleep

While those who suffer from the sleep-related breathing disorder seldom notice symptoms and do not reveal daytime fatigue, groaning noises can still cause sleep disturbances to a bedmate. This is similar to how snoring causes an irritation to a bedmate. If groaning is frequent, it is recommended to treat your bedmate’s catathrenia to improve your sleep quality.

For the improvement of that, it is as much a bed partner’s need to treat the health condition in someone close; the same goes for Sleep Apnea and snoring too.

Remedies for Catathrenia

Sleep Apnea patients are recommended to use snore stop remedies for the betterment of sleep. Likewise, this sleep-related breathing disorder is not without treatments. One of the treatment options for catathrenia is continuous positive airway therapy, also known as CPAP. Other remedies for the health condition comprise wearing an oral appliance and undergoing a surgical procedure, depending on the underlying cause.

Besides, it is important to make groaning noises less audible to a bedmate. For that, you can tell them to wear earplugs during sleep or rely on a fan’s white noise to mask the sounds. Sleeping separately may be the last resort, depending on how comfortable you are sleeping with a catathrenia patient.

In case your sleep is disturbed, it is important to get a diagnosis to know what is going on with your partner’s sleep. Insufficient sleep cause lapses in concentration, reduce cognitive capabilities, and affect mood. Treatment is important since these things are all down to his or her sleep quality and they intervene with daily activities.