If you snore at night, it is an indication that needs your attention. Snoring can be a sign of something serious like obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep disorder in which continuous pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing occur while sleeping.
Consult your doctor if you are continuously getting headaches, difficulty focusing, tiredness, shortness of breath, and heavy snoring. The main reason behind snoring is the obstructive movement of air through our nose, throat, or mouth.
Why Do We Snore?
During sleep, the muscles in the throat and upper respiratory tract naturally relax. This relaxation can cause the soft tissues of the palate, throat, and tongue to become more flaccid, potentially leading to the tongue falling backward into the throat.
When the tongue obstructs the airway in this way, it can contribute to snoring and, in more severe cases, obstructive sleep apnea. These conditions are the result of the partial or complete blockage of the airway during sleep due to relaxed throat muscles and the displacement of soft tissues.
As the airway narrows airflow becomes more forceful, due to air pressure and increased resistance, soft tissues in the upper airway cause rattling or vibration. This is how a reverberating harsh breathing sound is produced during sleep which is called snoring.
Is Snoring Normal?
People who snore may not be aware of the sound they are producing but the person who is sleeping in the same house or room will surely be annoyed and feel uncomfortable due to the continuous loud hoarse sound.
Though snoring is very common and anyone can snore irrespective of gender or age, problems occur when your snoring starts to disturb others, it disrupts your sleep and creates more serious health problems.
Snoring is annoying for your partner, harmful to your health and it demands medical attention if it is characterized by interrupted breathing throughout the night.
But is it Possible to Stop Snoring?
Let’s find some easy fixes.
1. Lose Weight
Excessive amounts of body weight increase the risk of diseases and health problems like heart attack, hypertension, diabetes, and many more.
One of the serious conditions that can affect your health is obstructive sleep apnea which can be a result of excess fat collected near the neck and abdomen. Due to high fat near the neck, it compresses the upper airway (Upper airway obstruction is defined as the narrowing of the airways leading to decreased ability to move air).
Similarly, airflow can be obstructed while sleeping due to high abdominal fat. A fatty abdomen may push your diaphragm up and compress the rib cage while putting pressure on the lungs.
Snoring itself can promote weight gain, as snoring disrupts sleep quality, making you lethargic and dull every time. Due to constant fatigue, you may not feel encouraged to do exercise but always feel hungry, leading to excess calorie intake and weight gain.
2. Toning the Muscles
There are certain types of mouth exercises called Oropharyngeal exercises including soft palate, tongue, and facial muscle, if performed regularly will strengthen your upper airway muscles and can stop mild snoring.
Singing – Singing is a workout for the throat and increases muscle control in the throat and soft palate. Singing exercises performed every day will definitely improve your singing with the extra benefit of lower snoring.
Breathing – Promote breathing through the nose, inhale & exhale through your nose. Breathing from the nose makes our respiratory tract more efficient, and treats nasal congestion or obstruction by raising the airflow.
Stretching – Stretching helps in toning the muscles of your throat, this in turn can lead to less snoring. Stretch your throat by pushing your chin forward and backward, similarly, push your tongue forward upward and inward every day for 5 to 10 minutes.
Neck stretch – People with a thicker neck may have a narrower airway, which makes it more difficult for air to pass through their throat and to the lungs. Neck stretching and strengthening can help lower your snoring.
3. Regular Exercise
Aerobic exercises like running, swimming, walking, jogging, and cycling are great ways to increase the lung’s capacity, clear the respiratory tract, and get more oxygen through breathing. Aerobic exercises performed 30 minutes a day can help you in fat loss, weight management, and toning the body too, ultimately benefiting you with a reduction in snoring.
Similarly, anaerobic exercises like weightlifting will help you strengthen your muscles and muscle building, more muscles in the body equals less fat storage in the body. Fat is a hindrance that affects optimal health, obese people tend to snore more because of high levels of fat storage in the neck and abdominal area.
4. Sleep on Your Side
Lying on your back mimic’s gravity effect making the base of your tongue and soft palate collapse to the back wall of your throat, restricting or narrowing respiratory passage, the main reason that initiates snoring.
Sleep position affects your snoring dramatically, snoring is typically the most frequent and loudest when sleeping on the back.
Side sleeping is the best sleep position for snoring as side sleeping reduces the compression of your airways. Positioning yourself on your side can help the airways stay open to reduce snoring and provide relief in sleep apnea.
5. Elevating One's Head
By raising your head you can release the pressure applied on your neck and throat. Elevated head posture encourages your tongue and jaw to move in the forward position. Opening the throat and neck muscles ease breathing allowing nasal passages to open up and relieving upper airway obstruction.
Specifically designed pillows also called anti-snore pillows are also available to help prevent snoring by making sure your neck muscles are not cramped and you have a good neck posture.
6. Opening Nasal Passages
Nasal congestion due to colds and allergies can make breathing difficult, and make your nights restless because mucous membranes and blood vessels in the sinuses get swollen with excess fluid. By using a nasal dilator, saline spray, breathing strips, or a nasal irrigation system (neti pot) you can open the nasal airways allowing you to breathe easily.
All these treatments are inexpensive and effective ways to flush your nasal passages and to help you with snoring caused by allergies, colds, and congestion. Taking steam, a warm water bath, salt water gargling or simply rinsing out your nostrils with water can be an effective relief also.
7. Quitting Smoking
Tobacco smoke is an irritant to the lungs, throat, and esophagus. Smoking contributes to sleep apnea by increasing inflammation and mucus retention in your throat, upper airway, and lower airway. Mucus is naturally formed in the body to clear out bacteria, viruses, irritants, or pollutants from the body, but regular smoking increases the formation of mucus, and mucus obstructs airflow by occupying the space of various airways.
Pathogens can stay in the mucus and retention of mucus for a long time increases the exposure of these pathogens. It can be damaging to the airway lining and create inflammation which narrows the space in the airway promoting snoring. If this space becomes narrower or blocked, it can affect the flow of air through those tubes.
8. Avoiding Alcohol
Alcohol abuse can cause a wide range of problems that are related to the throat like sore throat, persistent cough, continuous throat clearing, acid reflux (when stomach acid travels to the throat), inflammation of the larynx(often referred to as the voice box), and many more.
Alcohol is a depressant, meaning it slows down brain functioning and neural activity, which may lead to faster sleep falling but misusing it for prolonged periods of time can cause sleep disruptions, sleep-disordered breathing such as snoring, and even obstructive sleep apnea.
Excessive alcohol consumption exaggerates the risk of developing OSA (obstructive sleep apnea)and other negative health outcomes like gastric ulcers, increased risk of liver diseases, oropharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer, and pancreatitis.
9. Medication and Sedatives
Antidepressants, antianxiety, and sedative meditations are types of medications that can interfere with sleep, either making you sleepier or giving you sleepless nights. Drugs to treat insomnia are a type of sedative that helps you go to sleep also known as sleeping pills.
Short-term use of these sedatives can help you sleep better but in the long term, they can make insomnia worse, also followed by dependence on these pills and increased tolerance.
Sleeping pills promote muscle-relaxing properties making tongue and soft palate muscles lose their muscular tone. When these muscles relax, your airway is narrowed or closed which may promote airway obstruction and breathing may get momentarily cut off or can become very shallow.
These medications can worsen sleep apnea and can lead to more side effects like obstructive sleep apnea, prolonged drowsiness (the next day), headache, muscle aches, trouble concentrating, and dizziness. If any person is already suffering from sleep apnea and uses these medications then there are the chances that he may suffer from critical obstructive sleep apnea that can be life-threatening too, always consult with a doctor before choosing any medication or sedative.
10. Avoiding Caffeine
Caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant and sipping a cup of coffee, tea, soft drinks, or energy drinks with caffeine as an ingredient will exaggerate sleep problems. Once consumed, caffeine is rapidly absorbed in the gut (within 1 hour), dissolved in both the body’s water and fat molecules and distributed throughout your body, including to your brain.
Caffeine increases the attentiveness of the brain and keeps you alert and awake by blocking sleep-promoting receptors known as adenosine receptors so avoid drinking caffeine near to bedtime. Disruptive sleep affects circadian rhythm, the natural clock of our body, and leads to sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation or deficiency is the biggest cause of sleep apnea, mental health problems, insomnia, early waking, and daytime fatigue. Avoid sleep deprivation as it contributes to shortened attention span, compromised memory, slowed thinking, lack of energy, and poor decision-making.
11. Avoiding Heavy Meals
If you go to bed with a full stomach there can be a few issues like your diaphragm getting less room to expand and contract, slow digestion of food, and acid refluxes that can occur. Research shows that eating spicy foods, fatty meals, red meat, late-night dinners, bedtime snacks, and dairy or soy milk right before bedtime can make snoring worse.
Meats with high protein content trigger phlegm production, spicy food can result in acid reflux from your stomach, and dairy products accelerate mucus production. It’s best to enjoy your food in moderation and try avoiding heavy meals near bed (consume your meals 2 to 3 hours before your sleep).
12. Humidifiers can Help
Snoring can be triggered by dry air, a humidifier helps add moisture to the air to prevent dryness. Using a humidifier at night can help you create a more comfortable and supportive environment for better breathing during sleep, which can improve overall sleep quality.
Certain respiratory conditions like allergies, bronchitis, and asthma also make snoring worse, using a humidifier can give relief. Humidifiers are most effective when snoring is brought on by breathing in dry air. Temperature and humidity affect our mucus membranes, due to dry air lining of the nose becomes irritated and inflamed and it produces more mucus, resulting in nasal congestion. Nasal congestion can obstruct your airway and act as a risk factor for snoring.
13. Wear a Nasal Strip or Dilator
A nasal strip/external nasal dilator strip is a type of adhesive bandage to be applied on the skin across the bridge of the nose and sides of the nostrils. Nasal strips work by pulling up the nostrils and sides of the nose using its flex strength to widen the nasal cavity thus assisting to improve symptoms of nasal obstruction. Although nasal strips may not be a permanent solution for your snoring problem but will help in easy breathing and mild snoring too. Easy to apply and affordable to buy, you can check for yourself whether they are working on you or not, if you’re getting instant relief from nasal congestion and your snoring is lessened then they are made for you.
14. Surgical Ways to Treat Sleep Apnea
Sometimes people suffering from sleep apnea use certain breathing devices like CPAP machines (continuous positive airway pressure). With CPAP, constant airflow is introduced in the airways to eliminate the apneas, and the flow of air is maintained at a steady pressure level optimized to keep the airways open.
Surgical treatments can eliminate the need for these machines and can improve sleep apnea. There are several surgical options that are available to treat extreme sleep apnea problems like nose surgery, tongue surgery, palate surgery, tonsil removal surgery, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP is a procedure to remove tissue from the back of the throat to open the throat to allow improved breathing in patients with obstructive sleep apnea) and other surgeries.
Surgery is usually considered only if other therapies haven’t been effective, consult to doctor for proper treatment diagnosis as surgical results also vary widely from patient to patient.
Takeaway
Although everyone can snore, it’s a natural occurrence that can happen due to various factors such as sleep deprivation, tiredness, anatomical issues, weight gain, and more. However, when snoring starts to negatively affect your health or disrupts others, it’s important to address it. This can be done through lifestyle changes or by consulting a physician. Sometimes, we tend to ignore our health and take it for granted, but it’s crucial to trust your instincts when your body needs attention. Always prioritize your well-being, as taking care of your health now leads to a better quality of life in the future. Never be neglectful when it comes to your health – it’s the key to living well.
