IT'S-NORE joke. Your partner kept you awake for two hours last night because he was snoring. You wake up tired, grumpy and feeling as though you could sleep for a week.

Well, according to a new survey, over the average course of marriage, you could lose more than two years' worth of shut-eye!

The British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association reveals that more than 15 million long-suffering Britons (34 per cent of the population) have a partner who snores.

Out of 1,000 people questioned, more than eight out of 10 said the issue was damaging their relationship and affecting their sex life.

Dr Shelley Carter, based at The Providence Surgery in Bournemouth, who spent two years in a hospital's ear, nose and throat department, said it's not a matter to be taken lightly.

"Sleep deprivation can place a huge strain on personal relationships and careers and it can also lead to people falling asleep at the wheel," she said.

"There are some simple solutions, such as sewing a tennis ball on to the back of your partner's pyjamas to prevent them from sleeping on their back, or wearing ear plugs.

"But very often the best solution is to lose weight, because that tends to be the most common cause. If the problem is getting worse though, it's definitely worth getting it checked out."

Association co-founder Marianne Davey agreed that the condition is far from the joke it's sometimes made out to be.

"Our survey reveals that snoring has a disastrous effect on people's lives - both the snorers and their partners - affecting relationships, sex lives and sometimes their jobs if people are sleep-deprived and find it hard coping at work."

Around three-quarters of snorers are male - 10.4 million compared to 4.5 million women - and typically the average snorer is "a middle-aged, overweight man who drinks and smokes", Davey says.

"It's a sad fact that snoring is often a result of over-indulgence in life's pleasures."

For a small number of snorers, the consequences can be life-threatening, warns Dr John Shneerson.

He's director of Britain's largest sleep clinic at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, which treats chronic snorers and features in the BBC series Sleep Clinic.

He says: "Snoring's normally a noise problem and a social nuisance, but for around five per cent of people it can be a potentially dangerous condition.

"It may be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnoea - where someone literally stops breathing for around 10-second intervals regularly throughout the night.

"This causes severe lack of oxygen and forces the body to continually wake up to kickstart breathing again.

"This can lead to raised blood pressure and leave people at increased risk of strokes and heart attacks. It needs medical treatment."