Loud, disruptive snoring is one of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea, a potentially serious sleep disorder that causes repeated lapses in breathing throughout the night. But for those suffering from sleep apnea, snoring is more than just an annoyance – it’s a warning sign of a condition that can take years off your life if left untreated.
Sleep apnea increases your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and other life-threatening conditions. The repeated oxygen deprivation causes your body to work harder to breathe all night long. You may not even realize you have sleep apnea until a bed partner comments on your loud snoring.
If you’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea, it’s crucial to treat it using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine while sleeping. But there are also lifestyle changes and over-the-counter remedies that can help reduce or eliminate snoring. In this comprehensive article, we will discuss three proven stop-snoring remedies for sleep apnea sufferers.
From using essential oils to losing weight, we’ll provide easy tips to help open your airway, promote restful sleep, and reduce noisy snoring. With a multifaceted approach, you can find an effective solution. Quiet nights and better sleep are within your reach, even with sleep apnea. Read on to learn three surefire ways to stop snoring for good.
What Is Snoring Caused By?
Snoring occurs when airways become partially blocked or narrowed during sleep, causing surrounding tissues and structures to vibrate as air struggles to flow through. It is caused by the relaxation of muscles in the roof of the mouth and throat while sleeping.
As these muscles and soft tissues relax and sag, they can narrow the airway and create turbulence in the airflow, resulting in the noisy snoring sounds.
Snoring is an incredibly prevalent condition, affecting an estimated 45% of adults occasionally and 25% on a regular basis. It tends to be more common in men and often worsens with age as muscle tone diminishes.
Factors like alcohol consumption, certain medications, and obesity can increase snoring by further relaxing the muscles. Primary causes include obstructions like nasal congestion, enlarged tonsils or adenoids, elongated soft palate, large uvula, or more serious obstructions in the airway. Gravity’s effects on the throat when lying supine can also narrow the airway and induce positional snoring.
While snoring may just seem like an annoying nuisance, it can sometimes signal the presence of sleep apnea. This serious disorder involves repetitive cessations of breathing during sleep due to obstruction.
So while not inherently harmful in mild cases, snoring deserves medical evaluation to determine if an underlying condition may be present.
How To Stop Snoring
One of the simplest remedies for snoring involves breathing through your nose while sleeping. Chronic snoring often stems from mouth breathing during sleep.
By gently breathing in and out through your nose, you can keep your mouth closed and reduce the chance of relaxed throat tissues vibrating and obstructing airway flow. Practicing proper nose breathing aligns the tongue and jaw into better position as well.
You may find specialized nasal strips, dilators, or cones helpful at keeping nasal passages open if congestion is an issue. But the key is consciously trying to inhale and exhale only through your nose all night long.
With time, nose breathing will become habit and help minimize tissue vibration and turbulence in the throat, decreasing snoring. This straightforward adjustment in breathing technique during sleep can make a noticeable difference in reducing snoring volume.
Do You Have A Hard Time Breathing Through Your Nose?
Nasal dilators can be an effective remedy for snorers who have difficulty breathing through their nose while sleeping. Nasal congestion from colds, allergies, or structural issues in the nose can obstruct airflow, forcing mouth breathing that induces throat vibration and snoring.
Nasal dilators are small adhesive strips placed on the bridge of the nose to gently pull the nostrils open. By expanding nasal passages, these dilators allow for unobstructed nose breathing at night. Keeping the mouth closed and breathing through the nose reduces tissue vibration in the throat and can significantly decrease snoring.
Nasal dilators are affordable, reusable, and work immediately to open nasal passages for improved nighttime breathing. For snorers with nasal obstruction, these simple devices can mean the difference between noisy mouth breathing and peaceful, quiet sleep.
Dr. Patrick Byrne Discussing The Benefits Of Using Hale Nasal Dilators
- Hale Nose Dilators – These devices can be life changing for those who struggle to breathe through their nose on a regular basis. Click the link above to check out Hale Nose Dilators and breathe easier all day & sleep better at night.
- Side Sleeping – If your snoring problem is minor, this just might do the trick. The biggest difficulty may become how to keep you on your side. Using a body pillow could be useful in maintaining the position. Ultimately, this position can prevent the relaxed and untoned muscles in the the throat from blocking the breathing passageways.
- Goldenseal – You can use this supplement to help relieve congestion in your chest and nasal passages and is typically found in powder, liquid or capsule form, or make a tea with the chopped and sifted herb, linked above.
- Fenugreek – Digestion plays a big role in our sleep patterns and can cause snoring. Fenugreek is an amazing herb that can treat snoring from digestive issues, in particular caused by indigestion — an acid problem in the digestive system. These herbs can help rid your body of this acid and decrease your chances of snoring while you sleep. Fenugreek has been shown to fight sleep apnea and improve digestive issues that lead to snoring.
Organic Fenugreek Capsules Available Here - Eucalyptus – Eucalyptus has long been around to help with chest colds. There are a few ways that you can apply eucalyptus oil to provide a snore-free night of sleep. Putting eucalyptus leaves in a steam inhaler and breathing it through your mouth or nose can help clear your sinuses.You also could try using a steam bowl by putting your head over a bowl of pure hot water and covering it with a towel so you can inhale the steam. Add five drops of eucalyptus and five drops peppermint essential oils to the bowl. Don’t forget that steam is hot and can burn you, so be careful. Do this just before bed to help clear out your airways and reduce inflammation in your nasal passages that may contribute to the snoring problem. If you’re not a fan of the steam, a neti pot using the right solution of salts and pure water can do wonders, too, but don’t put essential oils in the neti pot, as this can burn the membranes of the nasal passages!
- Consider Getting a Humidifier – Dry air can contribute to your snoring problem because dry air dries out the throat and nasal membranes, creating congestion. Congestion can restrict the natural breathing pattern and cause the tissues to vibrate. A humidifier could help by eliminating the dry air and creating more comfort for the body, ultimately allowing for more natural breathing. You can even add the essentials oils listed above to the humidifier for a double remedy.
For those suffering from both snoring and sleep apnea, reducing or eliminating snoring can be life-changing. Not only can proper treatment allow for better, quieter sleep, but it can also help manage the serious health risks of unchecked sleep apnea.
By combining various remedies like lifestyle changes, nasal dilators, throat exercises, positional adjustments, and CPAP therapy, you can discover the most effective solutions tailored to your type of snoring. Consult with your doctor if loud and chronic snoring persists so that any underlying sleep disorders can be properly diagnosed.
But at the same time, try small adjustments like sleeping on your side, staying hydrated, losing weight, or practicing nose breathing. Over time and with a bit of experimentation, you’ll likely find an approach that quiets your snoring for good, allowing you and your partner to finally enjoy a peaceful night’s rest. The health and relationship benefits of reduced snoring make this search well worth the effort.
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