CHECKUP: DO YOU SAW LOGS? WIN SNORING CONTEST, THEN GET HELP.

Watch your z's. They could spell trouble.

That wandering alphabet trail, that ``zzzzzz'' drifting from your mouth during the night, that audible snore, could signify a problem with your health.

But it can also make you a big winner.

The third annual Snoring Contest, held this month by Glendale Adventist Medical Center, spotlights the noisy nighttime habit and hopes to help people eliminate it. Contestants can send audio- or videotapes of their noctural grunts and snorts, which will be judged on loudness and vibration.

``Some people snore this nice sweet little thing, and some people rattle the window,'' says Kathy Cavander, coordinator of the hospital's sleep disorders clinic. ``We had one last year that sounded like a Kawasaki.''

Of course, she says, being a winner means that you might have a serious health problem, something called sleep apnea. Snores are often loud calls for oxygen and signal collapsing airways in the throat. This can cause you to stop breathing, wake up for a short second, gasp, snore and fall back asleep.

The contest is meant as a middle-of-the-night shove, a call to quit making so much noise, and the winner gets a free overnight evaluation at the sleep clinic. A few techniques, from simple to surgical, can help those with sleep apnea.

Send tapes of snoring (no acting, please) by May 30 to Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Sleep Disorders Center, 1509 Wilson Terrace, Glendale, Calif. 91206.

Recreational hazard: Adolescent baseball pitchers with elbow pain could be showing signs of a serious elbow injury called ``Little League elbow,'' according to a new report.

In the May issue of the Penn State Sports Medicine Newsletter, a sports medicine expert warns that without a few simple but necessary precautions, Little League elbow can lead to permanent arm injury.

``Whenever young ballplayers develop pain in the elbow, they should get medical attention early to prevent further damage,'' said Dr. Gary A. Levengood, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hughston Clinic in Atlanta. Red flags: swelling, inability to move the elbow and pain that lasts several hours.

To prevent the elbow injury, Levengood recommends the following:

Young pitchers should warm up by throwing the ball at short distances for at least 15 minutes before the start of practice or a game. And they should not pitch entire games.

Those under 15 years old should be instructed not to throw curve balls, since the rotation of the forearm performed in this pitch can stretch ligaments and tendons on the outside of the elbow.

Pitchers should wear a neoprene (synthetic rubber) sleeve to keep the elbow warm and the muscles loose.