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Are you or your partner losing sleep due to snoring? Snoring occurs when the muscles of the nasal passage relax too much while you sleep, causing the inner walls of the throat and nose to vibrate, creating the sound of snoring. Snoring can also be an indication of respiratory problems, heart issues, and more. The good news is that there are several ways to prevent or reduce snoring.
To reduce snoring, try clearing your nasal passages before bed by rinsing with a saltwater solution. Additionally, try throat exercises such as repeating vowels, moving your tongue and jaw, and moving your uvula up and down. Weight loss can also help as excess fatty tissue in the throat narrows the airway. Avoiding alcohol can also help as it decreases the resting tone of throat muscles.
Other tips include changing sleep position and avoiding sleeping on your back, using a humidifier, avoiding sedatives before bed, and using an anti-snoring mouthpiece. Snoring can negatively impact your health and your partner’s, so it’s important to try different remedies until you find one that works for you.
What’s snoring all about?
Snoring is a health issue which occurs when the muscles of the nasal passage relax too much when you sleep at night.
The soft tissue and the palate inside the mouth cause the inner walls of the throat to vibrate and inside the nose, which in turn causes you to snore.
Snoring affects the soft tissue at the back of the throat, the tonsils which are two small glands that are at the end of the tongue, and uvula which is a small cone-shaped tissue which hangs from the soft layer of tissue that is between the tonsils.
While you are sleeping at night, the passages through which the air flows in your head and around the neck relaxes which causes them to become narrow. The narrow nasal passaged leads to increase the speed of your breathing and affects the pressure of air inside the body. This causes the throat to mildly or partially block the air passages.
According to various researches and studies, the snoring gets worse with age.
If you have a grade one snoring problem and you do not seek treatment, you will suffer from grade two or even grade three snoring problems within a few years.
The vibration that occurs while snoring also causes damage to the blood vessels in your body which supplies the muscles in the head and the neck. Long years of snoring problem can also lead to weakening the muscles of your body.
Different types of snoring
- Closed-mouth snoring: If you snore with your mouth closed then it indicates that you have an issue with either your tongue or with the nasal passage through which the air flows. The sound of the snoring will come from within the nasal passageway.
- Open-mouth snoring: If you snore at night with your mouth open then it means that the tissues of the throat cause you to snore. The throat partially blocks the airflow into the body which leads to suffering from grade two snoring problem.
- Snoring when sleeping on your back: If you sleep on your back, the effects of gravity work on your body. The gravitational force enables your tongue and the soft layer of tissue in the mouth to fall back inside the throat and thus it narrows down the path of airflow. This causes the throat to block the flow of air leading you to go through some breathing abnormalities.
- Snoring in all sleep positions: No matter whichever position you sleep at night, whether you sleep on your stomach, on your back, on either right or left side or even when you place two to three pillows under your head, and you still snore loudly, it is time for you to seek medical treatment. This may happen due to some serious respiratory problems, heart issues and much more.
Snoring can be quite a frustrating and irritating issue for you and also for your bed partner (or even people sitting next to you on the train or airplane if you sleep on those).
Along with disrupting both of your sleep cycles, it also causes various health issues which include:
- Nose Congestion
- Headache
- Insomnia
- Body Weight Gain
- Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
- Arrhythmias
- Coronary Artery Disease
- Heart Stroke
- High Blood Pressure
- and much more.
In order reduce or to completely get rid of your snoring problem, check out the following tips I have listed only for you.
How to stop snoring in 9 different ways
1) Clear your nasal passages
In order to prevent snoring, you must clean your sinuses every night before you go to sleep. Take a warm glass of water and add one teaspoon of salt to it. Stir the mixture well and gently use it to clean your nose.
2) Try out throat exercises
Sometimes, throat exercises can also help you to reduce your snoring problem. After waking up in the morning and freshening yourself up, try these exercises.
- Repeat the vowels a, e, i, o, u loudly and clearly for about 30 to 40 times.
- Next, place the tip of the tongue on your front teeth and gently move your tongue backward. Repeat this several times.
- Keep your mouth open for about 30 seconds and move your jaw to the right and then to the left.
- Keep your mouth closed for 30 seconds and pucker your lips.
- Keep your mouth open and try to move your uvula up and down for 30 seconds.
3) Weight loss
If you are overweight then it is one of the primary reason for your snoring problem. If you lose your weight, more than 60 per cent of your snoring problem will decrease immediately. Losing your weight will also reduce the fatty tissue inside your throat. The fatty tissue narrows down the passage through which the air flows and this also causes you to suffer from breathing issues when you sleep at night.
4) Avoid Alcohol
Whether you drink alcohol occasionally or regularly, it decreases the resting tone of the muscles inside your throat which in turn causes you to snore when you sleep at night. According to various medical experts and doctors, if you drink alcohol for more than three to four hours, it makes your snoring problem even worse. This will eventually cause you to suffer from grade three snoring problem. It causes a pressure on the midsection of the body and the muscles of your chest so that it can open the path of air flow which is blocked and pull the air into the lungs. Drinking alcohol regularly also causes you to experience some breathing problems which will cause you to either jerk your body, give out a loud gasp or you snort while sleeping at night.
5) Stop smoking
Tobacco causes major risk to your health. The chemical in the tobacco known as nicotine is an addictive substance which causes lung cancer, provides low supply for blood to the body, clotting of blood, high blood pressure, loss of sight, gum and teeth problems, heart attack, and much more. Smoking causes you to suffer from grade three snoring problem. It retains the fluid from the body and narrows down the nasal passage through which the air flows. People who smoke about 8 to 9 cigarettes per day, along with snoring problem, they also suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. The nicotine in the cigarette also causes disruptions in the sleep cycle.
6) Balanced diet
Good food and a balanced diet enable you to take control of your snoring issue and you can enjoy a peaceful and amazing sleep at night. These are some of the food that helps you to cure snoring.
Fish and white meat
While red meat contains fat that increases the cholesterol level in your body and causes spasms in the arteries. But fish and white meat provide you with a high amount of nutrients that prevents blockage in the throat and helps you to breathe properly at night.
Soy Milk
Soy milk is one of the most important ingredients to cure your snoring problem. People who are sensitive to lactose and opt for soy milk. Regular cow milk contains a particular type of proteins which causes allergic reactions in the body. These allergic reactions increase the inner walls of the nasal passage and block the path of air flow, which leads to snoring while sleeping at night. But soy milk enables to keep your nose and throat free of mucus and it also helps to cure other respiratory problems.
Tea
A warm and steaming cup of tea can easily decrease your snoring problem. It enables to decrease the congestion and phlegm inside your nose. Upon inhalation of the steam, it soothes the nasal passages and along with that it also reduces the thinning of the mucus and enhances the nasal drainage. If you are tired of drinking the same tea every day then you can drink chamomile tea which consists of honey and lemon, ginger tea, white tea, black tea with lemon and green tea.
Honey
Honey is known to have various health benefits. It is anti- inflammatory and also anti- microbial. Honey enables you to decrease the swell inside your throat which in turn allows the inner walls of the throat to widen, enabling enough passage for the air to flow. Honey causes you to relax your throat and prevents dust particles to enter the larynx.
Turmeric
Sometimes inflammation in your throat causes you to snore at night when you sleep. Turmeric contains anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and antibiotic properties. If you are suffering from grade three snoring issue then you must drink one glass of warm milk mixed with half teaspoon of turmeric every night be before you go to sleep. You can also add almonds and cardamom to the glass of milk.
Onions
Onions are known to have a rich source of antioxidant and anti- inflammatory properties. Onions decrease the phlegm in the nose and clear the nasal passage in order to allow the air to flow eventually preventing snoring. You must regularly intake an onion with your diet every day.
7. Change your pillows
At times dust mites which are microscopic creatures that reside in your bed and carpets and feed on the skin, these microscopic creatures can cause allergies which in turns causes you to snore at night when you sleep. In order to know how to stop snoring, you need to change the covers of your pillows at least once every week and also replace the pillow every six months. This will prevent the buildup of dust mites in your home and eventually it will decrease your snoring.
8) Remain hydrated
Always drink plenty of water and before you go to sleep at night, keep a bottle of water near your bed. The excretions inside your nose and in the soft layer tissue becomes sticky when you are dehydrated. This leads you to snore loudly at night. According to various medical experts and doctors, men should intake a minimum of 16 to 18 cups of water every day while women must drink 10 to 11 cups of water every day. Dehydration causes the mucus and the phlegm inside your nose, throat and in your mouth to become more adherent. This leads to blockage in your throat which narrows down the nasal passage and prevents the air to flow.
9) Mouth guards
There are two types of mouth guards available – a mandibular advancement device and a tongue stabilizing the device. The mandibular advancement device is set in the lower jaw of the mouth in such a way that the tongue falls in the back of the throat which enables you to breathe properly and preventing you to snore while you sleeping. The tongue stabilizing device enables to hold your tongue in place in order to either decrease the intensity of snoring or completely stop the snoring problem.
In order to use the mandibular advancement device, you will need to first place it in a bowl of warm water. After cooling it off, place it between the jaw and your teeth and firmly bite onto it. The material is soft and malleable letting you to gently mold the gums and teeth into it. This is called the bite and boil procedure. The device is quite effective and it can also be custom molded in your mouth. After 8 to 10 minutes, take off the device, place it in a cool water and store it safely.
In order to use the tongue stabilizing device, it contains a bulb which is placed either between the outer teeth and inner lips or on the outside of the lips. You will need to squeeze the bulb so that it creates suction and the tongue is inside the device.
One of the best things about the mouth guards is that the devices have a long life span of about one to two years. While life expectancy depends on many factors which include the amount of time you sleep, the intensity of your snoring and much more.
