One of the biggest causes of snoring is sleep apnoea, and while neither snoring nor sleep apnoea is necessarily a problem for the person who suffers them, for whoever they are sleeping near it can be downright traumatic. Many a patient’s spouse has claimed that a snoring partner is something you can get used to, but this doesn’t mean that it should just be left ignored. Sleepless nights are dangerous for someone’s overall lifestyle, and snoring can also be a symptom of a person’s ailing health. So if you are tired of waking up your loved ones, or are concerned with the effects snoring often has on the person who is doing it, then the thought must have crossed your mind at some point, of how you can stop it. If you sleep alone, then there’s a good chance you snore without even knowing it. If you are waking up with a sore throat, or an unusually dry mouth, well then try some of these tips out and see if things change.
Stop lying on your back
Most snorers will tell you that as soon as they roll over onto their backs in their sleep they start to produce those ear bursting grinding sounds that everybody loves so much. This is because the position of the head when you lie on your back can sometimes lead to the obstruction of smooth airflow to the lungs. For those with sleep apnoea, where breathing slows down to alarming levels, the large periodic gasps of air that they take in their sleep can only come in as a snore through the obstructed larynx.
Lying on your side or stomach is a good way to try to avoid obstructing the airflow since it lines the head, neck, and body up properly to ensure easy breathing, which should seriously soften your snores.
Keep your chin up
Again, the position of your head has much to do with how obstructed your breathing will be. If you have a tendency to sleep with your chin contracted towards your neck or chin, you are seriously hampering your body’s ability to breathe effectively. But it’s all fine and well knowing you should keep your airways clear while you are awake, but how can you do this when you are asleep? It’s not like you’re aware of what you are doing in your sleep, especially if you are a very heavy sleeper.
Luckily there are some non-surgical snoring remedies; products designed to comfortably keep your head, mouth and neck in a position that disallows the blockage of air as you breathe. An MAS, for instance is a mouth guard which is designed to hold the jaw forward during sleep in a manner that is comfortable enough to ensure that you will still get a comfortable night’s sleep while keeping your airways open enough to breathe easily.
For more serious cases, CPAC machines can be fitted to the entire face during sleep to provide constant assisted breathing by pumping air for the patient to breathe. They are not as comfortable as MASs, but they are very effective for those who really need it.
Pay more attention to your health
A lot of the time, snoring comes about as a result of lifestyle choices made by the patient. Smoking, drinking, and weight problems can be a major cause of snoring. In these cases, snoring can be the result of other problems in the body, like damaged and weak lungs, obstructions caused by the discomfort of excess weight, or an over relaxed larynx from alcohol abuse.
The worry here for the patient should not necessarily be the snoring itself, but what the snoring is the result of, namely poor health. Major lifestyle changes that benefit your cardiovascular system, like quitting smoking and drinking, a good diet and regular, and stimulating exercise can go a long way in hampering the severity of snoring, while at the same time taking care of your body’s overall health.
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