Obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, is a sleep disorder that involves blocked airways during sleep that interfere with breathing. About 84 million American adults experience OSA. One of the most obvious symptoms of this condition is snoring, which can be frequent and loud.
Romantic Relationships
Living with OSA can have a significant impact on social life and strain relationships. This can happen because of snoring that keeps others awake at night, or because of being sleepy from not getting enough oxygen to the brain, leading to poor quality sleep.
In addition to the person who experiences obstructive sleep apnea, romantic partners are affected, too. Snoring negatively affects the well-being of 77% of those sharing a bed with someone who snores.
Snoring may cause a partner to:
- Struggle to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get quality sleep.
- Feel sleepy during the day.
- Experience anxiety, depression, or mood challenges.
- Have difficulty concentrating.
- Experience decreased energy.
Additionally, OSA and snoring can negatively affect the dynamics of romantic relationships.
OSA Effects
- Not getting enough quality sleep
- Daytime sleepiness
- Decreased memory and performance
- Headaches in the morning
- Irritability and mood challenges
- Physical health risks
Roommates
Loud snoring can reach 80-90 decibels. This is about the same volume as heavy traffic with a motorcycle or a food blender. With snoring that loud, it doesn’t even have to be in the same room to disrupt sleep. Roommates can be impacted as well.
Tension between roommates can negatively affect not only their relationship but also the relationships of other members of the shared social circle.
Sleepiness and Social Life
Regularly feeling overly tired makes it difficult to find motivation for social activities. This can affect existing relationships and make it difficult to form new ones, leading to loneliness and isolation.
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
Obstructive sleep apnea decreases the total amount of quality sleep. For some, that means waking up in the middle of the night or early in the morning, unable to sleep. Others think they are getting enough sleep because they are unaware of how much snoring affects their sleep quality. They tend to sleep more hours as the body attempts to compensate for low-quality sleep.
Fifty-eight percent of people with OSA also experience excessive daytime sleepiness, especially when the OSA is left untreated or ineffectively treated. Not getting enough quality sleep can have serious negative effects and pose a safety concern.
Drowsy Driving
The legal limit for blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, is 0.05% to 0.08% in the U.S. Not getting enough quality sleep can lead to impaired hand-eye coordination and reaction time that is equivalent to a BAC of 0.05% to 0.1% and drowsy driving leads to about 6,400 fatal car crashes each year. This can happen even before getting to the point of falling asleep behind the wheel.
Friendships and Family Relationships
Research has shown that higher-quality sleep is linked to more supportive, positive social relationships. Being well-rested can help with memory function, punctuality, stabilized mood, effective communication, and other qualities that contribute to healthy relationships. Conversely, not getting enough quality sleep can lead to not returning friends’ calls or texts and to being too tired to socialize.
Professional Relationships
Getting enough quality sleep is essential for optimal workplace performance.
Sleep loss can lead to:
- Missing days of work.
- Being at work but not fully functional in the role.
- Accidents and injuries.
- Decreased productivity and increased errors.
When a member of a professional team fails to fulfil their responsibilities, it places additional strain on the other members of the team. This can increase the risk of compromised working relationships. Since professional and social circles often overlap, it can also affect personal relationships.
Career Stability and Growth
People with sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea, are more likely to be unemployed, and those who are employed have lower incomes on average. Social relationships and career are linked. Friendships can help to make connections and support opportunities that lead to career advancement. Similarly, professional relationships can lead to friendships. OSA can make both social life and career challenging at the same time, further amplifying the negative effects.
Support for Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea is highly treatable with options such as:
The most effective treatment depends on the person and their unique needs. Talk to your healthcare provider, such as a sleep specialist, for support.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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