- Generally, snoring is not a cause for concern, unless it interferes with the sleep of others. But in some events, it can be a sign of a serious medical condition called sleep apnea. In sleep apnea, people actually stop breathing for about 10 seconds at a time throughout the night, causing serious dips in blood-oxygen levels. According to the National Institutes of Health, this disorder may give to high blood pressure and even stroke. Anyone who snores on a regular basis should be medically evaluated to rule out this condition. If sleep apnea is not involved in your snoring, then there are lots of techniques to try that may help reduce or even eliminate snoring.
- Lose weight if you're obese. Excess weight can contribute to a host of health problems, but it also narrows the airway, increasing the likelihood that those tissues will rub together.
- Limit or avoid alcohol and other sedatives at bedtime. These substances relax the airway, taking to snoring. Limit yourself to less than one drink daily for women, or less than two drinks daily for men, and consume your last drink at least 4 hours before bedtime.
- Avoid sleeping flat on your back. Back-sleepers are more prone to snoring since this position provides the flesh of your throat to relax and block the airway. If you are a habitual back-sleeper, try this method to retrain yourself: Stuff a tennis ball into a sock, and safety-pin the sock to the back of your pajamas. Each time you roll to your back during the night, you'll feel uncomfortable and turn back to your side.
- Don't smoke. Besides contributing to other respiratory problems, smoking also results to nasal and lung congestion, which can result in snoring. Take steps to stop today.
- Avoid used smoke. Secondhand smoke is just as harmful, and induces snoring in the same ways actual smoking does. Encourage your loved ones to quit, and avoid smoky restaurants and bars.
- Improve your fitness level. When you have poor muscle tone, you're more likely to snore. Exercising tones and strengthens muscles all over the body, while also regulating your sleeping patterns. Aim for at least 3 cardio sessions and two strength training sessions each week.
- In most cases, snoring isn't made by one single factor, but a combination of many. If these suggestions don’t work, see you doctor for more ideas. There are lots of products and procedures designed to reduce snoring, from removable plastic nasal dilators to nasal surgery. If you or your loved ones are suffering from snoring, a good night’s sleep may be just a doctor’s visit away.
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A.) How To Stop Snoring
- Sleep on Your Side. You're more likely to snore if you're lying on your back, and sleeping on your stomach is stressful on your neck.
- Lose Weight. Extra body weight, specially around the neck, puts pressure on the airway, getting it to partially collapse.
- Avoid Alcohol and Tranquilizers. Both alcohol and sleeping pills can depress your central nervous system and relax the muscles of your throat and jaw, making snoring more probably. These substances are also known to contribute to sleep apnea, a dangerous condition that has been linked with cardiovascular disease. And they should never, ever be used together. If you have difficulty sleeping without sleeping pills (or if you use alcohol to help yourself fall asleep), discuss it with your doctor.
- Take Your Allergies Handled. Chronic respiratory allergies may cause snoring by forcing sufferers to breathe through their mouths while they sleep. Having an antihistamine just before bedtime may help. If your nose is stuffed up, try using an over-the-counter saline spray or a humidifier.
- Buy a Mouth Guard. Your dentist or doctor may be able to prescribe an antisnoring mouth guard that holds the teeth together and holds the lower jaw muscles from becoming too lax.
- Stop Smoking. Smoke harms the respiratory system.
- Keep a Regular Schedule. Get plenty of sleep. Go to bed and get up at the same time each day.
- See a Doctor if You Are Pregnant and Snoring. Sometimes, women who are pregnant will start to snore. The snoring may set out because of the raised body weight and because the hormonal changes of pregnancy cause muscles to relax. Whatever the cause, snoring during pregnancy may rob your baby of oxygen. Talk with your doctor about it.
- Elevate Your Head. Sleeping with your head raised may take some of the pressure off of the airway, making breathing easier. Raise the head of the bed by putting blocks under the bed posts, or prop up your upper body (not just your head, which can actually inhibit breathing) with pillows.
- It’s critical to note to the several ways you sleep and snore. Sleep positions reveal a lot, and understanding out how you snore can reveal why you snore. When you know why you snore, you can get closer to a cure. Closed-mouth snoring may indicate a problem with the tongue. Open-mouth snoring may be affiliated to the tissues in your throat. Snoring when sleeping on back is probably mild. Developed sleep habits and lifestyle changes may be effective cures.
- Snoring in all sleep positions can mean snoring is more severe and may require a more comprehensive treatment.
- Lose weight. Losing even a little bit of weight can reduce fatty tissue in the back of the throat and decrease snoring. See Healthy Weight Loss Your Way for some tips on getting started. Exercise in general can help because toning arms, legs, and abs unknowingly leads to toning muscles you don’t see in the throat, which results to less snoring.
- Clear nasal passages. Having a clogged nose makes inhalation difficult and produces a vacuum in your throat, which in turn takes to snoring. You can do it naturally with a Neti pot or try nasal decongestants or nasal strips to help you breathe more easily while sleeping.
- Quit smoking. If you smoke, your chances of snoring are high. Smoking causes airways to be clogged by irritating the membranes in the nose and throat.
- Establish regular sleep patterns. Create a bedtime ritual with your partner and stick to it. Hitting the sack in a routine way together can promote better sleep and therefore minimize snoring.
- Keep bedroom air moist with a humidifier. Dry air can irritate membranes in the nose and throat.
- Reposition. Elevating your head 4 inches may ease breathing and encourage your tongue and jaw to move forward. (Tip: go pillow-free or try a specially designed pillow to make sure your neck muscles are not crimped).
- When your own efforts to stop snoring do not help, consult your physician or an otolaryngologist (otherwise known as an ENT). If you choose to try a dental appliance for your snoring, you will need to see a dentist specializing in these devices.
- Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). To keep your airway open during sleep, a machine at your bedside blows pressurized air into a mask that you wear over your nose or face.
- Dental appliances, oral devices, and lower jaw-positioners often resemble an athlete’s mouth guard. They help open your airway by bringing your lower jaw or your tongue forward during sleep.
- Traditional surgery such as Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), Thermal Ablation Palatoplasty (TAP), tonsillectomy, and adenoidectomy, increase the size of your airway by surgically getting rid of tissues or correcting abnormalities. The Pillar process is also an efficient surgery in which small plastic implants are put in into the soft palate. Scar tissue grows around the implants, stiffening the soft palate, which stops vibrations that cause snoring.
- New developments. Laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) and somnoplasty remove parts of the soft palate to reduce snoring using lasers or radiofrequency signals. These newer cures may require further study.
- There are a kind of factors that can lead to snoring, such as the anatomy of your mouth and sinuses, alcohol consumption, allergies, a cold, and your weight.
- Your mouth anatomy. Having a low, thick soft palate or enlarged tonsils or tissues in the back of your throat (adenoids) can narrow your airway. Likewise, if the triangular piece of tissue hanging from the soft palate (uvula) is elongated, airflow can be obstructed and vibration increased.
- Being overweight. Extra weight can build up in your throat and lead to narrowing of your airway.
- Alcohol intake. Snoring can also be took on by consuming too much alcohol before bedtime. Alcohol relaxes throat muscles and decreases your natural defenses against airway obstruction.
- Nasal problems. Chronic nasal congestion or a crooked partition between your nostrils (deviated nasal septum) may contribute to your snoring.
- Smoking. Cigarette smoke irritates the lining of the nasal cavity and throat causing swelling and catarrh. If the nasal passages become congested it is difficult to breathe through your nose because the airflow is cut. The likelihood of snoring increases as more cigarettes are smoked per day because the congestion increases with each cigarette.
- Sleep apnea. Snoring may also be affiliated with frustrating sleep apnea. In this critical condition, your throat tissues obstruct your airway, keeping you from breathing. Sleep apnea is frequently characterized by loud snoring followed by periods of silence when breathing stops or nearly stops. Sometimes, complete obstruction doesn't occur, but rather, while still snoring, the airway turns so small that the airflow is inadequate for your needs. Eventually, the lack of oxygen and an increase in carbon dioxide signal you to wake up, pushing your airway open with a loud snort or gasping sound. This pattern may be repeated many times during the night. To be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, these periods when breathing slows or stops must occur at least 5 times an hour.
- Snoring is common in adults and is not necessarily a sign of an underlying disorder. Sometimes, however, snoring can be a sign of a sleep disorder called sleep apnea. This signifies you have periods when you completely or partly stop breathing for more than 10 seconds while you sleep. The sequence is accompanied by a sudden snort or gasp when breathing resumes. Then, snoring starts all over again. If you have sleep apnea, this cycle generally happens multiple times a night. Sleep apnea is not as common as snoring.
- Hypopneas are episodes in which the airway becomes partially blocked. They are not as severe as apneas, but can lead to the overall airway block. A doctor (or a sleep specialist) can tell if you have sleep apnea by doing a sleep study either at home or in a hospital setting. Snoring is an important social problem. Persons who share a bed with a person who snores can acquire sleep difficulties.
- Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterise by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing, during sleep. Each pause in breathing, called an apnea, can last from a few seconds to minutes, and may take place 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Similarly, each abnormally low breathing event is called a hypopnea. Sleep apnea is diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram or "sleep study".
- There are three forms of sleep apnea: central (CSA), obstructive (OSA), and complex or mixed sleep apnea constituting 0.4%, 84% and 15% of cases respectively. In CSA, breathing is interrupted by a lack of respiratory effort; in OSA, breathing is disturbed by a physical block to air flow despite respiratory effort, and snoring is common.
- Regardless of type, an individual with sleep apnea is seldom aware of having trouble in breathing, even upon awakening. Sleep apnea is distinguished as a problem by others witnessing the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body. Symptoms may be present for years or even decades without identification, during which time the sufferer may become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue related with significant levels of sleep disturbance.
- The adenoids are lumpy clusters of spongy tissue that help protect kids from getting sick. They sit high on each side of the throat behind the nose and the roof of the mouth. Although you can easily see your tonsils by standing in front of a mirror and opening your mouth wide, you can't see your adenoids this way. A doctor has to use a small mirror or a special scope to get a peek at your adenoids.
- Like tonsils, adenoids assist keep your body healthy by trapping harmful bacteria and viruses that you breathe in or swallow. Adenoids also contain cells that make antibodies to help your body fight infections. Adenoids do important work as infection fighters for babies and little kids. But they get less important once a kid gets older and the body develops other ways to resist germs
- Some doctors believe that adenoids may not be important at all after children reach their 3rd birthday. In fact, adenoids usually shrink after about age 5, and by the teenage years they often practically disappear.
- When Adenoids Swell. Because adenoids trap germs that enter a kid's body, adenoid tissue sometimes temporarily swells as it tries to fight off an infection. The swelling might go away on its own, but sometimes medical treatment is necessary. Adenoids can get so walloped by a bacterial invasion that they become infected themselves.
- Swollen or enlarged adenoids are common. When this happens, the tonsils get swollen, too. Swollen or infected adenoids can make it tough for a child to breathe and cause these problems: a very stuffy nose, so the kid can respire only through his or her mouth, snoring and trouble having a good night's sleep, sore throat and trouble swallowing, swollen glands in the neck, ear problems.
- When Adenoids Come Out. Sometimes doctors recommend getting rid of the adenoids if medication doesn't help and they're making a kid sick a lot. This means going into the infirmary and taking operation. Sometimes, a kid's tonsils and adenoids are removed at the same time. That's called a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Both are common surgeries for kids to have.
- During these surgeries, kids get special medicine that makes them fall asleep and assures that they don't feel any pain while the operation is being done. Usually, neither operation needs stitches. The cut areas will heal on their own. It takes a little time, though. After surgery, a kid will have a sore throat and will need to eat soft foods for a while.
- We will be providing information on numerous of the over-the-counter snore aids and sleep apnea mouthpiece devices that render solutions for snorers. Here are just a few of the more popular stop snoring aid products on the market to aid you in finding a snoring solution.
- Snoring Pillow. So what snoring aids are available to you? Many are familiar with the snoring pillow, a simple device that is designed to aid you to remain in a position that cuts the danger of snoring and to assist you breathe in a more natural way. This is usually on your side, with you head slightly inclined and with your jaw held in a somewhat forward position whilst sleeping. This is certainly not uncomfortable, but the position aids to keep your airway open and keeps the soft tissues in your mouth and throat from relaxing into a position where they partly block your airway, leading in a snore.
- Snoring Mouthpiece. The snoring mouth piece is one of the more effective stop snoring aids and is very simple in operation. It is set in the mouth when you go to bed and controls the position of your jaw whilst you sleep, again holding the jaw in a position where the airway is clear and airflow sustained. The snoring mouth guard looks very similar to a sports mouthguard and if fitted correctly on initial use (you heat the mouthpiece in hot water before placing the pliable device in your mouth where it then molds to your specific features), they are fairly comfortable to wear. These type of dental appliances can also be made for you by a dental specialist, but the cost is high. For numerous people it is worth seeing how you get on with one of the models that can be purchased online at a fraction of the cost.
- Snoring Chin Strap. This anti snoring device, also known as a jaw supporter is very simple and non invasive. As many snorers are also 'mouth breathers', the snoring chin strap keeps the mouth shut at night, promoting nasal breathing, and finds the snorer breathes as they should, through their nose. It is a very comfortable aid to wear and is often used as a first option for numerous people as it often allows rapid relief from their snoring. numerous people use a nasal dilator or nasal strips, in conjunction with the chin strap, particularly if they have structural nasal problems.
- What is a Breathe Right nasal strip?. The Breathe Right nasal strip is a drug-free, nonprescription device that works mechanically - from the outside - to gently open nasal passages. This reduces the resistance to air flowing through the nasal passages and improves the ability to breathe through the nose.
- How does it work? Inside each Breathe Right strip are flexible, "spring-like" bands. On the bottom is a special adhesive that, when set properly on the nose, softly sticks to the area right above the flare of each nostril. As the bands try to roll out back to their original shape, they softly lift the sides of the nose and open the nasal passages, providing immediate and continual relief. Your nose is divided into 2 chambers, or nostrils. At the back of each nostril is a narrow space called the nasal valve, which is only 1/10" wide. All of the air you breathe in through the nose has to pass through these spaces, which can get blocked for a variety of reasons. The Breathe Right strip widens the space by mechanically pulling open the flexible cartilage walls of the nasal valves, making it easier to breathe without the use of drugs.
- Who can profit from this product and when is it used? People who want to amend their nasal breathing with a drug-free device will benefit from using Breathe Right nasal strips. The strips can be used whenever easier breathing is desired while congested from allergies or colds, during exercise and sleep, or throughout the day.
- How do the strips work for nasal congestion? Congestion whether from a cold, allergies, flu, or other reasons; narrows the already-small breathing space at the back of each nostril, making respiration through the nose more difficult. A Breathe Right strip expands the air passage to reduce nasal airflow resistance and leaves temporary relief from nasal stuffiness.
- Can Breathe Right strips help with snoring? Yes! Most snoring occurs during mouth breathing. And you're more likely to breathe through your mouth when there is restricted airflow through your nose. So if snoring is due to an inability to breathe normally through your nose then Breathe Right strips can reduce the snoring by amending nasal breathing.
- Can they really help me sleep? Yes! If you're having trouble at night, it may be because you're not breathing well through your nose. Even subtle breathing difficulties can lead to tossing and turning, fitful or disruptive sleep, waking up frequently, or waking up tired. Breathe Right strips open your nasal passages so you can breathe through your nose and close your mouth. And that can help you sleep better.
- How do they work for varied septum sufferers? Millions of American's have a varied septum; a bend in the cartilage or bone that separates the nostrils. Symptoms include an airflow blockage through one or both nostrils, difficulty sleeping, chronic nasal stuffiness, and loud breathing or snoring. While Breathe Right strips should not be taken an option to surgical correction, they can render temporary relief by allowing air to pass more easily through the blocked nasal passage.
- Are Breathe Right nasal strips safe for anyone to use? Anyone can use Breathe Right strips, except children under 5 years of age. The strips are made with a medical-grade adhesive. The package is sealed with natural rubber latex, which may cause allergic reactions, so people with latex allergies should not use Breathe Right nasal strips.
- How are clear strips different from tan strips? Breathe Right clear strips work the same way original tan strips do. However, the stuffs used are slightly different, and this makes clear strips easier to remove. This is a great profit for people with dry or sensitive skin.
