This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
Loud snoring can be a problem -- and not just for other people trying to sleep with the noise. It can also be a sign of sleep apnea. People with this condition repeatedly stop breathing while they sleep, and may not even know it.
打鼾可能是一个问题，这不仅仅是对想在鼾声中入睡的其他人来说。打鼾也可能是睡眠窒息症的迹象，有这种病症的人们在睡觉时会多次出现呼吸暂停，而本人却可能一无所知。
Doctor David Gross is a lung specialist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital of Washington.
大卫·格罗斯医生（David Gross）是华盛顿国立康复医院的肺病专家。
DAVIS GROSS: "Sleep apnea means that the airway, the upper airway, cuts off at night. So the person, while he's breathing normally in the daytime, when he goes to sleep, the muscles get all relaxed and cut off and this can happen over and over again, sixty to one hundred times an hour."
格罗斯：“睡眠窒息症是指气管、上呼吸道在夜间被阻塞。这类人白天呼吸正常，当他们进入睡眠状态，（舌头和软腭的）肌肉完全松弛下来并阻塞气管和上呼吸道，这种情况不断重复发生，每小时大约出现60-100次。”
Most people who snore do not have sleep apnea. But doctors say most people with sleep apnea do snore. Sleep apnea not only reduces sleep quality and makes people feel tired during the day. More and more studies show that it can also lead to strokes and heart attacks.
多数打鼾者并未患睡眠窒息症。但医生表示，多数睡眠窒息患者会打鼾。睡眠窒息症不仅降低了睡眠质量，使人们在白天感觉疲倦。越来越多的研究表明，它还可能导致中风和心脏病发作。
Dr. Michael Twery of the National Institutes of Health explains why.
美国国立卫生研究院的Michael Twery医生解释了原因。
MICHAEL TWERY: "Whenever we run out of enough air to breathe, it sends alerting signals to our minds. It raises the level of stress hormones. It tells our heart to work harder."
MICHAEL TWERY：“每当我们呼吸缺氧时，就会给我们大脑发出警报，这会提升应激激素水平，告诉心脏更加努力工作。”
When a person stops breathing, oxygen levels in the blood decrease. This happens again and again with sleep apnea.
当人的呼吸暂停时，血液中的含氧量会降低。睡眠窒息症患者会不断发生这种情况。
MICHAEL TWERY: "And it's constantly exposing us, night after night, to periods of insufficient oxygen. The level of oxygen in our blood will actually decrease to levels that would be considered a medical emergency."
Michael Twery：“这会导致我们整晚暴露在缺氧环境中。血液含氧量可能会下降到被认为需要紧急救护的水平。”
Dr. Twery compares the effect of sleep apnea to racing a car engine for long periods of time.
Twery医生将睡眠窒息症的影响比作长时间不断空转汽车引擎。
MICHAEL TWERY: "Our heart becomes overworked and we become more vulnerable to heart attack."
MICHAEL TWERY：“我们的心脏会过度劳累，也就变得越容易心脏病发作。”
And also strokes. Dr. Twery led a study of about nine thousand people who had sleep apnea but no history of heart disease. The researchers followed their progress for nine years.
此外还有中风。TWERY医生主持了一项关于9000名没有心脏病史的睡眠窒息症患者的研究。研究人员对他们进行了长达九年的跟踪调查。
MICHAEL TWERY: "They found that men can experience up to a three-fold increased risk of stroke, and that risk seemed to be well correlated with the severity of sleep apnea."
MICHAEL TWERY：“研究人员发现，这些睡眠窒息症患者中风的风险提高了三倍。而且这种风险似乎与睡眠窒息症的严重程度紧密相联。”
In other words, the more severe the sleep apnea, the greater the chance of a stroke.
换句话说，睡眠窒息症越严重，中风的风险越大。
The next step will involve sleep apnea patients who have already had a stroke or heart attack. Researchers will study whether patients can reduce the risk of a second one with a machine called a CPAP. CPAP is continuous positive airway pressure. It provides a continuous flow of air into the throat and lungs while the person sleeps.
研究的下一步将涉及已经中风或心脏病发作的睡眠窒息症患者。研究人员将研究CPAP呼吸机是否可以降低这2者的风险。CPAP是指持续气道正压。当病人入睡后，它向病人的喉部和肺部提供持续气流。
Sleep apnea seems to be more common in men than in women, and it becomes more common as people get older. The most common form is called obstructive sleep apnea. People who have it are often overweight or have it in their family, but it can affect anyone. In children, for example, enlarged tonsils in the throat can interfere with breathing as they sleep.
睡眠窒息症似乎在男性中更为常见，而且年龄越大越普遍。最常见的是阻塞性睡眠窒息症，这类患者通常体重超标，或有家族病史。但这种病会波及任何人。例如在儿童中，扁桃体肿大会在儿童睡眠时阻碍他们的呼吸。