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Snoring is a sound made when you breathe through your mouth and nose when you are asleep. It happens when air doesn't move smoothly through your air passages making tissue in your mouth, nose and throat vibrate as the air passes through. The flow of air can be blocked because of excess tissue in the nose, mouth and throat, the position you sleep in or because of a health condition.
Snoring doesn't usually cause any problems for the person doing it. But, it does affect partners, family and even neighbours if it keeps them awake. There are Exercises To Help You Stop Snoring This Stop Snoring Exercise Program Will Cure Snoring Naturally. No Undertaking Surgery, Have Dental Implant, Or Medicines.
What causes it?
Snoring occurs when air does not flow smoothly through the air passages, or when the soft tissues or muscles in your air passages vibrate. As you fall into a deep sleep, the muscles in your tongue, throat and roof of your mouth (soft palate) relax. This muscle relaxation causes your throat tissues to sag. As you breathe, the sagging tissues narrow your airway and vibrate or flutter, creating the sound of snoring. The narrower your airway becomes, the greater the vibration...and the louder your snoring.
Snoring affects 45 per cent of the population from time to time and an estimated 25 per cent of people are habitual snorers. There are a number of reasons why you may snore.
There are also a number of factors that can make snoring worse: Get our FREE REPORT on Sleeping Disorders
- Age can be a factor. The older you get, the weaker your throat muscles become. Weak throat muscles cause the surrounding tissues to sag and vibrate.
- Being overweight - this puts pressure on the airways
- Alcohol or sleeping tablets - these relax the muscles even further
- Nasal blockages ,Colds, allergies, nasal polyps, a damaged or crooked nose - can block the nose, causing you to breathe through your mouth
- A low-set, thick soft palate, or enlarged tonsils or adenoids (the spongy tissue between the back of the nose and throat) can narrow your airway.
- A longer-than-normal uvula (the triangular piece of skin that hangs from your soft palate) can limit airflow and increase vibrations as you breathe.
- Alcohol and certain drugs (such as tranquillisers) affect your central nervous system, causing extreme relaxation of your muscles, including those in your throat.
- When you sleep on your back, your tongue falls backwards into your throat which can narrow your airway and partly block airflow.
- Smoking - smokers are twice as likely as non-smokers to snore because their airways get inflamed and blocked
You may also be suffering from Obstructive sleep apnoea in this condition, the relaxed throat muscles block the airway briefly hundreds of times each night stopping you breathing and depriving your body of oxygen. These interruptions in your breathing, which can last 10 seconds or longer,
This is the same process involved with normal snoring, but with sleep apnoea, the airway narrows so much that it closes. Your breathing stops, cutting off the flow of oxygen into your body and reducing the elimination of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the blood. Your brain detects this rise in CO2 and briefly wakes you up, re-opening your airways and re-starting your breathing. This process can be repeated several times during the night. Proper sleep may become impossible, resulting in severe fatigue and a decreased quality of life.
Sleep apnoea in adults can increase the risk of serious health problems such as heart failure, because it deprives the sufferer of adequate levels of oxygen, making the heart work harder than normal. In the long-term it can cause high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. In the short-term this causes tiredness during the day, irritability and restlessness, and puts you at risk of accidents when driving, for example.
Self help
The following can help reduce the chances of you snoring:
- Avoid drinking alcohol late at night
- Stop or cut down on smoking
- Exercises To Help You Stop Snoring
- Maintain your ideal weight follow a healthy diet
- Raise the head of the bed
- Sleep on your side (to stop you rolling on to your back, sew a ball in the back of your pyjama top or wedge a pillow under your back)
- Keep your nasal passages clear by using a humidifier, inhaling steam or rubbing a few drops of eucalyptus or olbas oil on your pillowcase
- Regular Exercise
- Make Stress Less - Reduce Stress Now
Regular exercise will improve muscle strength. If you are starting out begin with a 10-minute period of light exercise and gradually build from there. When you are ready, it is recommended that you exercise at least three to four times a week. Try to do 20–30 minutes a session. Those 30 minutes don't have to be continuous: we know that three 10-minute sessions of exercise each day is just as good. Occasional vigorous activity is unwise and possibly dangerous if you are 'out of shape'.
If you find that these self-help treatments don't work, talk with your GP. They can find the actual cause of your snoring, and if necessary, refer you to other treatments or even surgery. However, surgery will only be considered if all over lifestyle changes have been unsuccessful.
Surgery to correct snoring can include procedures to correct structural problems in the nose and the removal of excess tissue in the mouth and throat. Most surgery won't have any major side effects and you shouldn't need more than a few days to recover. However, some people may require several surgical procedures to stop or significantly reduce their snoring.
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