Snoring is like having food between your teeth. We may not even realize we do it, but the people around us do. It can also be a bit embarrassing, and once it catches our eye, we probably want it to go away.
Almost half of adults snore occasionally, and a quarter of them snore regularly. Fortunately, there are things that help. Below we will find the best remedies for snoring.
Why do people snore?
People snore when air movement creates vibrations somewhere in the airway (throat, tongue, nostrils). When airway tissue is loose or relaxed, it can vibrate and make a sound. Some people snore because they have a deviated septum (when the wall between the nostrils is off center), which can be surgically corrected. For others, the problem may be weight gain or age.
As we age and gravity pulls on our bodies, it’s not just the external parts of our bodies that sink. As our airways collapse, there is a greater chance of developing snoring. In other cases, snoring can be caused simply by sleeping on your back or drinking alcohol too close to bedtime.
Tips to avoid snoring
Cases of snoring caused by benign factors such as sleeping position can be treated with simple home remedies. Certain lifestyle changes can also help treat snoring.
Try to sleep on your side
Most of us are more likely to snore when lying on our backs. When we lie on our backs, we could be misaligning our necks, which could lead to blocked air movement and therefore snoring. Sleeping on your side may be all you need to do to allow air to flow easily and reduce or stop snoring.
Instead, sleeping on your side can be an easy way to stop snoring right away. If sleeping in that position doesn’t come naturally, you can try putting a pillow between your legs, which can help you feel comfortable on your side and stay there overnight.
Drinking water
There’s nothing we can drink to magically cure snoring, but getting more water in general can help reduce snoring. Drinking water before bed can help prevent your nasal passages and throat from becoming dry, making you more likely to snore.
Staying hydrated can help us achieve deeper REM levels and better quality sleep in general, so we’ll feel more rested the next day.
not drink alcohol
Avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol is key. Alcohol can cause dry mouth and less functional control of the body to keep the airways open. Drinking alcohol before bedtime also affects sleep quality in many other negative ways, such as decreased REM sleep and causing you to wake up multiple times during the night.
Health professionals recommend that men drink no more than two alcoholic beverages per day, while women should stick to one or less. And the farther away from bedtime we drink, the less likely those drinks are to cause us to snore.
avoid certain foods
For some, cutting back on dairy and spicy foods before bed can help. If we’re sensitive to lactose and don’t know it, eating dairy can cause nasal passages to swell, while spicy food can have an inflammatory effect on the throat. Both can contribute to snoring.
In addition, there are some foods that can favor the appearance of mucosa. So having them controlled could improve our rest and prevent snoring.
have a healthy weight
Weight loss in general can be very helpful. This is because excess fatty tissue in the neck and throat can narrow the airways and cause snoring. Losing weight can open up those airways and eliminate snoring naturally.
Keep in mind that weight loss should be a gradual process that involves making healthy and sustainable lifestyle changes, including eating nutritious food and exercising regularly. We will avoid fad diets that promise quick results and stay away from cleanses or any extreme eating plans that cut calories too low or cut out entire food groups.
nasal strips
Nasal strips may work for some, but it depends on the source of the snoring. Noisy night breathing that comes from relaxed tissue at the back of the airways would not be affected by anything placed on or in the nose.
However, nasal strips can be an effective over-the-counter snoring remedy for people who snore due to allergies or inflammation. They’re fairly inexpensive, so if you’re not sure why you’re snoring, these may be a remedy worth trying.
relieve congestion
If we snore due to congestion due to allergies or illness, some over-the-counter remedies can help us breathe easier. We can use a humidifier in the room at night, which can help soothe inflamed airways and relieve congestion.
We can also opt for Vicks VapoRub which, when rubbed on the chest, can open up the nasal passages and help relieve snoring.
use a mouthpiece
If we have sleep apnea, using a mouthpiece can reduce snoring by 25 to 50 percent. With a doctor’s approval, it might be worth going to a dentist’s office to get an anti-snoring dental device.
We will keep in mind that although they can be very effective for snoring, these devices are usually expensive. If you’re on a budget, you can try an over-the-counter anti-snoring mouthpiece to see if it improves your case. These devices are designed to open the airway and hold the jaw and tongue in a position to improve breathing.
Sleeping with a weighted blanket
We can buy a weighted blanket, as research has found that it can relieve stress and anxiety and make it easier to fall asleep. Stress relief can be the solution to many problems, including snoring.
Although this can be counterproductive if we want to raise the head of the bed a few centimeters and help reduce snoring. That elevated posture helps by keeping your airways open. We can use products like bed risers or pillows to get a little more height.
How to prevent our partner from snoring?
Snoring can be a real source of tension between couples, especially if only one of them snores. Although there is no reliable scientific evidence to prove this, some say that it is even one of the leading causes of divorce. We assume we don’t want to get to this turning point in the relationship, so there are a few tricks we can try:
- ignore them. Easier said than done, but learning to sleep with someone who snores comes down to learning to ignore them. If we are a light sleeper and tend to wake up many times during the night due to snoring, it is recommended to sleep with earplugs or a bluetooth headset that has noise cancellation.
- Go to sleep first . We can try to go to bed before our partner as often as possible, so that we can fall asleep before the snoring starts.
- Sleep in different rooms. As a drastic expedient, we can try to sleep in a different room if space allows. However, if we think that it might have a negative effect on the relationship, we will consult a doctor or try the other methods first.
