Snoring is not a good thing! If you snore, you don’t sleep well, and others around you don’t too. The quality and quantity of sleep is poor. You feel you have not rested whenever you wake up, and you have morning headaches. And during the day, you feel sleepy, fatigued, and irritable. You experience poor memory, and reduced ability to focus, concentrate, and maintain attention. Students experience falling academic grades. You experience decreasing libido and sex-drive. You disrupt your partner’s sleep, and relationship problems set in. Snoring is not a good thing.
#1: Search for the cause
Snoring doesn’t just happen; there’s always a cause. This is the hope: fix the cause; cure the snoring! There are several causes ranging from too much body tissues around the throat and nose areas to the narrowing of the airway and breathing apparatus. Did you just add some weight? Do you smoke, drink alcohol, or take sleeping pills? What is your usual sleeping position? Do you have a throat or respiratory tract infection? How old are you? If you have any difficulties identifying the particular cause, see your doctor. Simple.
#2: Adjust sleeping position
Almost everyone snores. Especially if one sleeps in a posture that blocks the airways and affect breathing. Lying supine—sleeping on your back, facing upwards—is a good position to lie if you want to snore! To stop snoring, learn to sleep on your side. Your partner could help you adjust to this position until it becomes a habit. Get a full-length pillow to be a wedge from behind, preventing you from turning back while you sleep on your side. Sew a tennis ball to the back of your sleep-clothes; this will make you uncomfortable if you try sleeping on your back. This solves the issue for several people. Simple.
#3: Start regular exercise
One of the reasons we don’t want you to grow too fat is because it could lead to too much fat around the throat, compressing and narrowing the airways, thereby making you to snore. Even though it is also very true that skinny people could also snore, and some fat people (especially professional singers) don’t snore at all. All we are saying is weight gain increases the risk of snoring, as seen in some ladies that only snore when pregnant. So, watch your weight, eat healthy foods, and exercise daily. Take voice training lessons. Sing more. Exercise your muscles to bring them to tone and shape. Losing weight decreases and even stops snoring for many people. Simple.
#4: Cure every related sickness
Some diseases, especially the ones affecting any part of the respiratory tract, can cause snoring. From allergies, common cold, and catarrh that causes congestion of the nose areas, making you breathe with the mouth to conditions like enlarged tonsils or adenoids, nasal polyps, and sinus infections. Don’t worry about all those terms; your doctor is paid to worry about those medical jargons! Go meet him or her! Let your doctor treat the disease. You might be given antibiotics, nasal decongestants, nasal sprays, or told to do steam inhalation, depending on the particular cause. Cure the cause; cure the snoring. Simple.
#5: Avoid smoking and sedatives
Smoking blocks and irritates the airways, and weakens the throat muscles. Stop smoking. Also, sedatives—anything that makes you weak and sleepy. These excessively relax the airways, occluding smooth air-flow. So avoid alcohol, tramal, codeine, cough syrups, sleeping pills, and others, especially if not prescribed by your doctor. Avoid caffeine and heavy meals especially few hours before going to bed. Avoid dairy products. Be careful what you eat or drink. Simple.
#6: Try anti-snoring devices or go for surgery
If all of the above doesn’t work, it means the snoring is not ordinary! [#laughing out loud in my room] Don’t go to the traditional doctor yet; go to your medical doctor! He will assess you and, maybe, refer you to a special doctor called an otorhinolaryngologist! [Hehehe… or, simply, ENT or Ear-Nose-Throat doctor]. He might prescribe some anti-snoring devices like mouth guards, nasal strips, or lower-jaw positioners. Or, he might recommend some surgeries, some with bizzare names (like uvulopatopharyngoplasty); others, like tonsillectomy, are relatively minor surgical procedures. Surgery might be the last resort. Hmmm…simple.
#7: Ask for support from your partner
Snoring destroys relationships. Some ladies can bear anything but a snoring guy! Sometimes, there is really nothing much that can be done about the snoring. Ask for your partner to understand with you, and support you. This is when coping and unconditional love should come to play. Males are more likely to snore than females. The tendency to snore increases with age. Understand that some factors involved in snoring are beyond what you or your spouse can change. Assist your already embarrassed, snoring partner. Be there. Have separate rooms, if u must. Use special ear plugs and mufflers, if you can. But, be there. Hmmm…simple.
Got to go! The operating theatre calls — got some “cutting open” to do!
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