How To Avoid Sleep Snoring

Many seem to think that snoring is a problem that comes with age and not particularly something to be concerned about. But that's hiding your head in the sand. Snoring isn't a fatal disease, but it is an indicator that you're not getting the quality of sleep your body needs. Not getting a good night's rest will ultimately take its toll on you daily life. Psychologically, you will feel disturbed, and your daily activities will feel the burn of this. Also, snoring is not an age related phenomenon, although pronounced in the elderly, anyone can snore. Even little children and babies make snoring sounds while they sleep, just the noise doesn't rock the Richter scale.

What causes snoring?

We snore in our sleep for a simple reason, the air passage to our lungs gets blocked and it becomes difficult for our body to get the oxygen it needs. The extra effort and force with which air is pulled in to the lungs, causes the snoring sound. Who snores and how much is a function of the extent to which their airways get blocked.

Tips to Avoid Snoring:

If you snore in your sleep, here are a few things you can do to have a better night's sleep both for yourself and those around you;

1. Sleep Sideways: sleeping on your side can aggravate snoring because the muscles to your airways tend to collapse. Practice sleeping on your side.

2. Avoid Heavy Drinking: heavy alcohol intake just before going to bed can over-relax your airway muscles. They will thus collapse while you sleep and cause you to snore. Try to put a 4 hour gap between your last drink and bed time.

3. Reduce Your Weight: if you're overweight, this may be a major reason why you snore. The excess fat has made a home around your neck has obstructed the airway and makes breathing while you sleep difficult. Try exercising to reduce your weight, it will not only stop the snoring, it will also give you better sleep.

4. Use a Thick Pillow: using a thick, fluffy pillow will help to elevate your head and prevent the congestion of the airways. If you're not using a single thick pillow, use two thin ones but try to raise your head a little while you sleep.

5. Cut Back on the Dairy Products: dairy products can cause mucus to get stored around your throat and obstruct the airways. Try cutting back on the dairy and especially before bedtime, if you're a snorer the glass of milk before bed won't exactly be of much help.

Hopefully these tips should bring improvement in your sleep quality as well as snoring. A few things to bear in mind as that as you advance in years, the tendency to snore will increase. Also, if you're a male, you're more likely to snore than women. These are a few of those things that you can't really get around, but the snoring brought on by gender or age can still be reduced by following the above tips. If you think you're having trouble breathing while you sleep or the snoring is unusually disturbing, then see a doctor and get checked for Sleep Apnea.

• John Palsson
• 03/12/2008, 12:59 PM
• 0 Comments