Snorers tend to be crankier in mornings due to lack of sleep. Snorers are also more likely to have a serious condition called obstructive sleep apnoea, which indicates risk for heart disease. These are only a handful of reasons to stop snoring and get a peaceful night of sleep.
The National Institutes for Health (NHS) warns that “there’s no miracle cure for snoring.” However, that doesn’t mean an adult has to be a snorer for the rest of his or her life. Snoring can be managed with a combination of habitual changes and sleep aids sold at pharmacies. Read ahead to find out several medically approved tips to alleviate snoring:
1. Use a snoring aid
The most common treatment people seek for snoring is using various natural and pharmaceutical aids sold over the counter. If you are buying an anti-snoring device, choose a good product like theravent, which is a simple adhesive strip that should be pasted over the nostrils before going to sleep. The strip increases the pressure inside the airways; a trick that can eliminate the sounds associated with snoring. Anti-snoring devices such as this should be used in combination with other therapies like the ones mentioned below.
2. Improve sleeping position
Your sleeping position can affect how your jaw and mouth is positioned during sleep. If your tongue is positioned towards the back of your throat, it causes those annoying vibrating noises during sleep. It can also make breathing during sleep more difficult. Therefore, it’s important to sleep in a comfortable position. Instead of sleeping with your face up, which can cause the tongue to fold back, sleep on your side. Also, you can try using a larger pillow or neck support to elevate your head so air can move more freely through the nasal passages.
3. Shed excess weight
If you gain weight around your neck, it can restrict the airways. Fatty tissue around the neck can constrict the flow of air to and from the throat. Therefore, weight loss is known to help snorers, especially the ones who started snoring after gaining weight. It should be noted that thin people snore, too. However, the benefits of maintaining a healthy weight are many, so losing weight is highly recommended for snorers.
4. Don’t drink alcohol before bed
Those who like a little pick-me-up right before bed, stop. Alcohol is a muscle relaxant. Presence of alcohol in the blood during sleep can make the tongue and soft palate fall back quite easily, leading to loud and disruptive snoring. Alcohol can make an already existing snoring condition far worse. Therefore, do not consume any alcohol before bed.
5. Eliminate the possibility of an allergy
Allergies block the free flow of air through your nose. It’s very important to keep nasal passages clear to avoid snoring. Therefore, consult with a doctor and make sure you are not affected by allergies. Snorers suffering from allergies can take anti-histamine pills before bed to reduce or completely eliminate snoring. If you find yourself snoring during some seasons more than others, it could be due to an allergy.
Snoring is not going to disappear overnight. No sleep aid is going to “cure” snoring, either. Therefore, consider heeding one or more of the methods mentioned above to reduce the severity of snoring. It’s not entirely impossible for the above methods to completely eliminate your snoring condition.
