The Most Reliable Solutions to Snoring – Explained
The idea of unwinding after a long and hard day’s work sounds like music to most people’s ears. A good and restful night’s sleep is not just refreshing but also necessary for the body to function at its optimum. Snoring is essentially an involuntary activity and can happen occasionally to the best of us. An infrequent snore may not be a cause for concern. However, persistent snoring can give rise to a host of issues and could seriously affect your partner’s sleep, especially if he/she is a light sleeper. It could also point out an underlying health issue that may be in need of immediate attention.
What Causes Snoring?
Before we try to find definitive solutions to help keep snoring at bay, it is essential that we understand what causes it in the first place. Essentially a snore occurs when air struggles to pass through the nose and throat with ease. This blockage causes the tissues around these regions to vibrate, which results in the hoarse snoring sound. This obstruction may seem trivial. However, it can seriously affect your health. Obstructive sleep apnea is one of the grave health problems it could lead to.
How to Combat Snoring?
There are several options that you can resort to in order to put an end to your snoring. Some of these involve a few simple changes in your lifestyle while others may require you to make use of certain devices that can give you a restful sleep, keeping snoring at bay and your partner happy. These have been explained in detail below.
- Adjust your sleeping position
People prefer to sleep in a certain position that they find most comfortable. For some, this may involve sleeping on their backs. If you are a snorer then you may want to reconsider sleeping this way. Ideally, sleeping on your side can help massively in curbing the vibrating sound of the tissues, which invariably leads to snoring.
Sleeping on your back causes the tongue’s base to get closer to the wall of the throat towards the back. This causes the vibrations leading to snores. However, when you sleep on your side, the passage for air to flow freely is cleared up, eliminating the snore altogether. This is one of the simplest solutions and can be incorporated quite easily into your daily sleeping routine.
2. Use anti snoring devices
The market is flooding with anti-snoring devices designed for certain areas of your mouth that can help clear out the airways. Mandibular Advancement devices, for instance, are designed for the jawbone. This device pushes the jaw forward to some degree. This increases the distance between the components within the throat that cause the vibrating sound giving you a snore-free night.
In addition to this, there is also the CPAP, designed specifically to address the issue of obstructive sleep apnea. Using this device can essentially help keep the airways clear, ensuring that the brain gets the oxygen that it desires throughout the night.
3. Use Nasal Strips
Nasal Strips are easily available over the counter. They offer a hassle-free solution to free up the nasal airway, thereby reducing the occurrences of snoring. Nasal strips or dilators are available in two varieties; one of them opens the nasal passage externally and the other, internally. Based on your personal preferences, you can select the one that you find most comfortable using. Nasal strips are an excellent way to avoid any kind of obstruction in breathing. This in turn, dramatically reduces the snoring.
Because nasal strips work on clearing the nasal passage, it is also important to be sure that this passage is kept open otherwise as well. For instance, if you suffer from a cold or have a blocked nose, then regularly clearing it is very important to have a restful night’s sleep. Including a hot shower as part of your night routine can do wonders to clear out your nasal passage. Rinsing your nose with saltwater whilst in the shower is also a good practice.
4. Make Your Lifestyle More Active
A sedentary lifestyle has uncountable harmful effects on the body. The human body was designed for activity and lack thereof can lead to weight gain. This, in turn, can aggravate your snoring as the weight gained around the neck can constrict the air passing from the throat to the nose. Being active and including exercise as part of your lifestyle has a vast number of benefits, a sound sleep without snoring being one of them. Keep out fatty foods, cigarettes, and alcohol from your life, that boosts your lifestyle, and helps you combat snoring.
Concluding Remarks
Whilst snoring can create tremendous issues for your health and your relationship with your partner, a few simple changes in your daily routine can help push this problem aside. It is also important to consult with your doctor and let them know about your snoring so that they can further inspect and explore the appropriate solution that would best suit you. As trivial as it may seem, seeking help early on can help keep health conditions arising due to snoring at bay.
