Shaquille O’Neal and sleep apnea

Apparently Shaquille O'Neal snores. We probably could have guessed that. But who knew that snoring would be a danger to the big man's health?

Anyone who's ever been hit (or, as they call it, "lightly nudged") by their better half in the middle of the night knows that snoring can be pretty frustrating for the person who isn't the actual snorer. And anyone who's ever done the hitting (I don't "lightly nudge," dangit, because I've got sleep to catch on) can tell you that it is about as high on the annoyance list as annoyances get.

But most tend to get over it, as their pretty little bird tweets away deep into dreamland. That said, not everyone has to share chambers with Shaquille O'Neal, all 7-1 and 300-pound whatever of him. If your better half sounds like a hummingbird, then this guy has to come off like a full blown diesel semi-engine.

That's why his girlfriend, TV's (they tell me) Nikki "Hoopz" Alexander, asked him to take part in a sleep apnea study sponsored by Harvard University. Because, jokes aside, it must be more than a little scary when those snores briefly turn into outright silence, which apparently has happened to Shaq a few times recently.