How To Prevent Snoring

Why You Should Be Concerned

When you get a poke in the ribs at 2am followed by a desperate plea from your partner to stop your snoring then you know that you have a snoring problem.  You owe it to your partner to do something about it. You should now be on a quest to find out how to prevent snoring.

What Snoring and Sleep Apnea Are:

Snoring is the vibration caused by breathing when the area at the back of your mouth and the nose strike constantly because of an abnormally constricted passage of air. When this condition is aggravated you may develop long-term health problems including obstructive sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when snoring is constantly interrupted with total breathing obstruction. The breathing interruption averages 10 seconds in duration and may may happen from 30 to 300 times in one night alone.  These episodes reduce blood oxygen levels and drives the heart to pump harder.  There have been reported instances where death has occurred in extreme cases.

What to do?

You need to find ways to stop your snoring problem - and the best place to start is to understand what causes it.

There are various causes:

1 Nasal Congestion:

Nasal congestion can cause enlargement of the adenoids and/or tonsils which can result in snoring. With proper medical advice you can take the right decongestant for your condition.  You can also try home-made saltwater nose drops in the first instance.  Just mix a teaspoon of salt to 8 ounces of sterilized water.  Commercial saltwater solutions can be acquired at drugstores.

2 Allergies:

Allergies can also cause enlargement of the adenoids.  Again, under proper medical advice, these can be controlled through antibiotics.

3 Obesity:

Fat concentration can block your air passage. Also, because of excess fat, your diaphragm may work irregularly. The obvious solution here is to lose excess weight through exercise and diet.

4 Excessive Drinking:

Snoring can be triggered by excessive drinking.  A partial collage of your airways, from the lungs all the way up to your nose, can be caused by alcohol. Therefore avoid taking those extra whiskeys before going to bed.

5 Smoking:

Cigarette smoke can cause swelling of the tissue in the throat. It can also cause blockage on the small vessels of the lungs.  Therefore, avoid smoking before going to bed. In fact, avoid smoking altogether - snoring will end up being the least of your problems if you smoke heavily.

6 Irregular Sleeping:

Not sleeping at least 7 to 8 hours during the night can result in instability in breathing during sleep.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea:

Excessive drinking, smoking and irregular breathing can cause obstructive sleep apnea - a condition that needs to be addressed because of long-term health effects.

Solutions:

To stop sleep apnea and snoring then stopping smoking and losing weight are obvious solutions.

Other things that you can do is stop using sleeping pills and medications containing antihistamines and sleep on your side rather than on your back.

Other methods include using commercially available anti-snoring products such as throat sprays, nasal strips, dilators, homeopathic sprays and tablets.

Surgery should be considered as a last resort as this is an irreversible course of action. There are two methods here. Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty or UPPP is the traditional method of trimming excess tissues in the throat. A more modern approach uses laser - Laser-Assisted Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty or LAUP.

A more palatable method gaining increasing acceptance and prominence are certain exercise routines.  These are easy to follow, do not require medical approval and can also prevent your snoring problem from getting worse.

Conclusion

With all these solutions not one size fits all. It is important to first evaluate the reason why you snore.  Once you find the cause then you can find the right solution to your snoring problem. It's not much fun getting angrily poked in the ribs, night after night.

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