万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-09-29&09-30, 鼾声不再（在线收听）

Peter and Britt Poole have been happily married for a little over a year, despite Peter's snoring that so bad, he couldn't sleep at night and was tired all day.

You come home from work, you sleep, you get back to work. You know, that's not life, (Yeah) you know, for, for any of us.

Turns out, Peter, like maybe four percent of all middle-aged men, according to sleep experts, suffers from obstructive sleep apnea. That's a narrowing of the airway so tight as a sleep study video shows that you snore, eventually you stop breathing, and then your body shakes itself to reopen the airways.

I just thought I was supposed to be constantly tired. You know that's just nature, that's part of being an adult.

Three months ago, Peter's doctor gave him this high-tech mask. It forces pressurized air through the mouth and nose, Peter says, greatly reducing his apnea.

......so I mean, it looks a bit Hannibal Lector, but it's actually really quite comfy…

Comfortable but not cheap. Peter's mask costs about 800 dollars and Britain's state-run health care system paid for it. Now the country's health watchdog says it may recommend that the national health care service foot the bill for these masks for the thousands of British snorers who need them.

That may generate flack from those who say the health service, constantly criticized for inefficiency, could better spend its public money. One of the country's top sleep experts disagrees.

You can have a hip replacement that's paid for by the NHS. This is a disease like any other. It can transform people's lives.

Peter and Britt Poole joke that the mask has transformed their life and saved their marriage. When Britt wants to make an apple pie now, Peter is awake enough to help in the kitchen instead of snoring on the couch. Alphonso Van Marsh CNN, London