How to stop snoring and get your life back
Ihave just spent a couple of idyllic weeks in stunning Northland with members of my extended wha¯ nau. Bliss. Sunshine, rest, relaxation and peace, except between the hours of 10pm and 8am when the gentle snoring from one of my male relatives would permeate through the house.
I am not sure whether he is aware or not, but he is a definite, constant and heavy snorer. I know his wife is aware, as she has a supply of ear plugs in her suitcase, and this seems to do the trick – they are happily still sharing a bed after many years together.
If this story sounds familiar, I sympathise. Not only can this affect those of us in neighbouring rooms, but it absolutely impacts on partners, kids and the snorers themselves, who can often get very poor quality of sleep and wake feeling tired and grumpy.
Snoring is thought to affect around half of adults, and is more common between the ages of 40 and 60.
Men are affected more often than women, and kids can snore too, though this is usually associated with other problems, such as enlarged tonsils or adenoids.
Snoring is a synonym for noisy breathing during sleep, and is caused when the soft tissues in the upper airway relax and vibrate.
The noise from snoring can originate in any part of the upper airway depending on the cause, including the soft palate at the back of the roof of your mouth, the nose, the back of the tongue and the back of the throat.
Although snoring can happen for absolutely no reason at all, the following factors increase the likelihood of your airway narrowing, and make it more likely that snoring will occur:
Obesity: being overweight is the most common cause of snoring, and losing weight can be the most effective treatment.
Enlarged tonsils or adenoids: as well as being a common cause in childhood, this can also lead to snoring in adults.
Nasal congestion: snoring is worse when your nasal passages are obstructed either from a cold or flu virus, or if you suffer from allergies or hayfever and tend to get a lot of mucous in your nose.
Hypothyroidism
Acromegaly (a hormonal condition that leads to excessive growth in the bones, including the jaw).
There are also circumstantial factors that affect the likelihood of snoring and can lead to snoring in someone who has never snored before. These include:
Alcohol;
Sleeping tablets or other medication that causes drowsiness; Sleeping on your back; Smoking.
We don’t really know for sure if simple snoring on its own carries health risks, but we definitely know that it impacts on wellbeing, for the sufferer who may be embarrassed about it, and also for their partner and family who are often sleep deprived as a result.
We do know that snoring is a common feature of another condition called Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) and it can be difficult to tell the two conditions apart.
In OSA, the airways narrow and close to such an extent that the person stops breathing temporarily, before gasping and going back to sleep.
Classic OSA sufferers report feeling so exhausted due to the poor quality of sleep that they frequently fall asleep during the day, often in risky situations such as behind the wheel of a car.
OSA is associated with an increased risk of accidents, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, so it is important to get checked for this if you think your snoring may be at the more severe end of the spectrum.
If you suffer from ‘‘simple’’ snoring (that is, you don’t have OSA), there isn’t a magical cure, but there are things that can definitely improve the situation and make it more bearable for everyone concerned:
Losing weight
Stopping smoking
Minimising alcohol
Trying to adjust your sleeping position – most people won’t snore if they are on their sides or front, so trying to wedge yourself onto your side with pillows, or using a tennis ball sewn into the back of your pyjama top, can be helpful.
Get a check with your doctor – this is partly to
We don’t really know for sure if simple snoring on its own carries health risks, but we definitely know that it impacts on wellbeing.