The quality of your sleep is one of the most important aspects of life, so disorders and disruptions in sleep, like snoring, are incredibly disruptive to day-to-day activities. Snoring happens every time air can’t easily flow through our mouth or nose. When this happens, soft tissues inside your mouth, nose, and throat bump into one another because air is forced through an obstructed area, causing everything to vibrate. These vibrations create a rattling, snorting, or gurgling sound.
Snoring can significantly interrupt sleep. Those loud, long-term, or chronic snoring can already be a sign of a severe disorder known as obstructive sleep apnea. However, a wide array of surgical and nonsurgical treatments can help stop or reduce ones. Let’s go ahead and know the basics.
Facts About Snoring
Remember that if you snore, you are not alone. Around half of the population of adults in America snore. Snoring happens when there is airflow through the throat when we breathe in our sleep. This occurrence causes vibration of the relaxed tissues in your throat that causes that harsh, irritating sound we hear when snoring happens.
Snoring can disrupt your sleep, that of your partner, family, and friends. Even if it is not that bothersome to you or your loved ones, it is not a condition to ignore. Snoring may be a sign and indicate having some serious health condition, including:
- obstructive sleep apnea (blocked airways)
- obesity and weight issues
- mouth, nose, or throat structure issue
- sleep deprivation
In other instances, snoring may be caused by sleeping on your back or drinking too much alcohol before bedtime.
Snoring: Who is More Likely to Experience It?
Almost all of us snore every once in a while, including infants, children, and adults. However, some people are more likely to snore than others. Risk factors of snoring include:
- Heredity and bloodline – may is inherited genetically and can run in your bloodline. Having one or both of your parents who snore increases the likelihood of you snoring, too.
- Anatomy – If you either have a long soft palate or the back of the roof of your mouth, large tongue, tonsils, or enlarged adenoids, chances are, you experience also. These factors can make airflow hard through your nose and mouth. In addition, if you have deviated septum or displaced cartilage in your nose, this can also block airflow.
- Weight – Snoring and other breathing disorders related to sleep are more common in overweight and obese individuals.
- Age – As we age, snoring becomes more common due to the decrease in our muscle tone that causes constriction of our airways.
- Gender – Statistically, men are more prone to experience snoring than women.
- Overall Wellness and Health – Allergies bring about stuffiness in your nasal region, and the common cold is also a common factor that blocks airflow through your mouth and nose. Due to the hormonal changes and weight gain they experience.
- Alcohol and sedatives – Alcoholic beverages and certain medications can relax muscles, restricting airflow in the mouth, nose, and throat regions.
15 Remedies for Snoring
Snoring, in some cases, may already indicate underlying conditions we might not be aware of yet. So, it is crucial to seek the help and care of your doctor or a professional expert in the field. These people can get the medical treatment you need and address any underlying condition you might also have. Some cases caused by benign factors like sleep positioning can be treated with some simple home remedies. Here are 15 of these commonly used remedies in treating your snoring problems and their various causes:
1. Lose weight, especially if you are obese or overweight.
Losing weight will help reduce the number of throat tissues you have that might be the reason for your snoring. Lose weight by eating fewer portions and healthier food, reducing your overall caloric intake. Get regular exercise daily as much as possible. Consider the help of your doctor or a nutritionist, too.
2. Try sleeping sideways.
Sleeping on our backs can sometimes cause our tongues to move backward of the throat, which can partly block airflow through our throats. Sleeping sideways can be different since it allows the air to flow quickly, reducing and eventually stopping your snoring.
3. Elevate the head of your bed.
Raising your bed’s head region four inches upward may help lessen your snoring by keeping your airways open.
4. Use an external nasal dilator or nasal strips.
There are available stick-on nasal strips placed on your nose bridge that help add more space to your nasal passage. With this, breathing becomes more effective, and snoring is reduced or eliminated.
Trying a nasal dilator can also help reduce snoring. This dilator is an adhesive strip, stiffened, applied on top of your nose across the nostrils. With this, the airflow resistance is decreased, making you breathe easier.
5. Seek treatment for chronic allergies.
Allergies can lessen the flow of air through your nose and force you to use your mouth for breathing. This reaction increases the likelihood of you. It is best to consult your doctor about the kind of allergy medications, either over-the-counter or prescription, that may help improve your condition.
6. Fix problems in the structure of your nose.
Some people have inborn or had injuries before that gave them a deviated septum. This deformity occurs when the wall separating both sides of the nose is misaligned, resulting in airflow restriction. It results in mouth breathing during sleep, which leads to snoring. Getting surgery to correct this condition is reasonably necessary. Consult your doctor first before anything else.
7. Have little to no alcohol before sleeping.
As much as possible, avoid consuming alcohol at least two hours before you sleep. Alcohol can relax your throat muscles, eventually causing you to snore.
8. Don’t take sedatives before bed.
If you want to take sedatives as a remedy for your snoring, talk to your doctor first to see the best options for you. It may ease your snoring when you avoid sedatives before going to bed.
9. Quit smoking.
Already an unhealthy habit, smoking can also worsen your snoring. Ask your doctor about therapies, like gum or patches, as alternatives that can help you stop.
10. Have as much sleep as possible.
It is recommended to have at least seven to eight hours each night. So, make sure to have enough sleep to help reduce the chances of you snoring.
11. Try out oral appliances against your snoring.
“Oral appliances” are dental mouthpieces that can help with your air passages. Apparatuses like this help keep them open for easier breathing and prevent snoring. See your dentist first and have one of these devices made.
12. Try out a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine, too.
You can also wear a pressurized air mask over your nose and help keep your airway open while you sleep. If medically appropriate, this treatment can be a recommendation in treating obstructive sleep apnea.
13. Wear palatal implants.
Known as the “pillar procedure,” this treatment injects braided polyester filament strands into your mouth’s soft palate. As a result, your soft palate stiffens, reducing your snoring.
14. Get UPPP (uvulopalatopharyngoplasty).
UPPP is a surgery that tightens throat tissues hoping to reduce snoring. Laser-assisted uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (LAUPPP) is also available and is more effective than UPPP.
15. Try using somnoplasty or radiofrequency tissue ablation.
Somnoplasty is a new treatment that uses low-intensity radio waves in shrinking tissues on your soft palate and helps reduce snoring.
Coping with Snoring
Snoring can be a hassle with the disruption it can cause to your sleep and your loved ones. Besides it being annoying, it can indicate having a severe health condition. The best thing to do, after everything said today, is to see your doctor, have consultations, and try one or more of the above remedies and options that can help you get your sleep under control.
Take action towards recovery from snoring today. The key to a healthier you is here, and our great friends from Cache Valley ENT are experts and the best people who can help you fight your snoring problems. Visit them now! https://cachevalleyent.com/
