This column was originally published in the Hamilton County Herald on June 15, 2012.
I have snored all of my life. When I was young, it was reported that I snored when I was very tired. When I was in college, my roommates complained that I often snored loudly after a long night out on the town “studying.” About a year ago, I was snoring so badly that I was not able to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. I was so tired during the day that I had to turn off the lights in my office and take a nap after lunch.
I have always had a problem with my weight. I like to blame the problem on a slow metabolism. In reality, the fact that I love fatty and rich foods in abundance is probably closer to the root of the problem. Five years ago, I lost a large amount of weight and got myself into shape and found that my snoring had stopped. That meant that Patti and I were both sleeping better.
As luck would have it, I was involved in a golf cart accident that led me to lie around and take pain pills for a couple of weeks. During this two week period, I started eating like the days of old and did not exercise. After the two weeks, I kept eating and did not work out. It was only a matter of months until the weight started climbing and my physical activity became non-existent. You can probably guess what started to come back – the snoring.
I know quite a few people that have sleep apnea and use a breathing machine. I have seen people sleep with a breathing machine, and they sleep like they are in a coma. I decided that it was time for me to have a sleep study done and maybe start to use a breathing machine. To make a long story short, during the test, I was not breathing or sleeping well, and they tried to put one of the machines on me. I freaked out, refused the machine and stopped the test. I ended up driving home in the middle of the night with the goop in my hair from the sensors they had put on me.
Next, I rented a machine to see if I could learn to use it at home. It was not meant to be. I can’t stand that thing on my face, and just thinking about it upsets me. I told Patti one night I had decided that I would rather die than have to live the rest of my life sleeping with that thing. She listened to me and then simply reminded me that after I had lost the weight, I had also lost the snoring. As always, Patti was correct. I started to diet and exercise the next day. I have not lost all of the weight, but I have again stopped snoring.
It is funny how so many of the problems in life can be fixed by a change in attitude and/or direction. Problems can not always be solved as easily as changing your diet and a trip to the gym. On the other hand, sometimes they are even easier than that to fix. We often look to outside sources for help with our problems when the place we should be looking is in the mirror. When you look in the mirror, you will often find the source of your problems. The mirror is the only place you will find the one person that can truly control the way you feel, think and act.
The one thing you can be sure of about the person in the mirror is that if you help him, he will help you. We can all use a little help, even the kind that comes from within. That is especially true for those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Ark. His primary area of practice is criminal defense. He can be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com