Snoring can lead to serious problems not only for the snorer, but for any roommate the snorer may have.
So how do you stop snoring immediately? You can try sleeping on the side to prevent your tongue and throat muscles and tissues from blocking your airways. You could also try to elevate your head to loosen your jaw a bit. There are also different kinds of oral aparatus that can help you breathe better at night, helping you prevent snoring.
Of course, not everything can be done in a snap. If your snoring is caused by bigger issues in your body, then getting rid of it may take some time.
Read here to find out what could be causing your snoring.
As you read further, you’ll learn more about quick tips that could help stop snoring, as well as more long-term solutions to your snoring problem.
Quick Home Remedies for Snoring
For some people, their snoring is relatively minor. It can even be temporary for some, and could only be caused by colds or any similar passing condition.
In these cases, these quick home remedies could help stop snoring right away:
- Elevate your head. Elevating your head for about four inches can help move your tongue and jaw forward. This helps widen the airways behind it. An anti-snore pillow can help you do this without straining your neck.
- Sleep on your side. When you sleep on your back, your tongue muscles and throat tissues have a tendency to collapse against your airways. This makes the air force its way through the small opening that’s left, which results to the snoring sound. Sleeping on your side can prevent this.
- Clear your nasal passages. Especially if your sinuses are clogged, your chances of snoring are high. You can use nasal strips or a nasal decongestant to clear your nasal passages and allow the air to pass through seamlessly. If allergies are causing your nasal congestion, have your room cleaned thoroughly, with all potential allergens removed, for better sleep.
- Use a humidifier. Dry air can irritate your nose and your throat, which can lead to inflammation. This causes obstruction in both your nasal and throat passages. A humidifier can help you keep the air in your bedroom moist, helping you have a snore-free night.
If none of these remedies work, you may have to get ready for more long-term solutions.
Lifestyle Changes that Help Stop Snoring
Sometimes, your daily routine also causes your snoring. This means that you’re going to have to make a few tweaks to your lifestyle if you want your snoring to go away.
Here are some of the lifestyle changes you can start with:
- Lose some weight. If your body mass index (BMI) is bigger than what is right for your height, there is a tendency for excess fats to settle around your throat and neck area. This makes your airways narrower, making it harder for air to pass through.
- Avoid alcohol and sedatives. Drinking alcohol or taking any form of sedatives before bedtime could worsen your snoring. They cause your muscles to relax too much, and this includes your tongue and throat muscles. These muscles as well as other tissues around your throat will then collapse back into your airways, causing a blockage that would result to snoring.
- Quit smoking. Smoking causes inflammation around the nasal passage and throat, causing the airways to be narrower.
- Avoid heavy meals before bed. If you eat a heavy meal right before bedtime, you are not giving your stomach enough time to digest the food properly. This gives you that feeling of being bloated, which can make it harder for you to breathe when you sleep.
- Practice some throat exercises. Some throat exercises help strengthen the muscles around your upper airways, minimizing the possibility of sagging muscles collapsing against the airways. You can try closing your mouth and pursing your lips for 30 seconds, then repeating that routine a few times each day. You can also try reciting the vowels out loud for 3 minutes straight, a few times a day. Singing is also good exercise that could help strengthen those muscles around your airways.
Because these are changes in your routine and overall lifestyle, expect the process to be a bit harder.
Medical Devices, Treatments and Procedures for Snoring
When your snoring becomes more serious and none of those home remedies and lifestyle changes seem to be working, it’s time to look at different medical devices and procedures.
Here are some of the most commonly prescribed solutions by doctors and sleep specialists:
- Continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP. This requires wearing a mask that covers your nose and/or mouth. This mask is then attached to a machine that sends a continuous flow of air pressure into your airways, keeping them wide open while you sleep.
- Laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP). The uvula (that hanging piece of tissue at the back of your throat), may sometimes contribute to snoring especially if it is longer than normal. Through this procedure, a laser will be used not only to shorten the uvula, but also to shave off some tissue around the soft palate. Once the cuts done are healed, these tissues will also stiffen, helping prevent the vibrating sound in your throat that causes snoring.
- Pillar procedure. The pillar procedure involves placing small plastic implants called “palatal implants” in your soft palate. These implants can prevent your soft tissues from collapsing against your airways, therefore preventing snoring as well.
- Somnoplasty. This procedure is somewhat similar to LAUP in the sense that it also removes some parts of the uvula and the soft palate. However, in this procedure, radiofrequency is used.
- Dental devices. Even your dentist can help you with your snoring problem. There are custom-fitted oral devices you can wear to push your tongue or your jaw forward while you sleep, opening up the airways. You may have to come in for a few fittings though, but once the fit is snug enough, you may be required to come back less frequently.
- Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP). This is considered as a full surgical procedure. The doctor will remove excess tissues around your throat area in an effort to widen your airways.
- Maxillomandibular advancement (MMA). In this procedure, the upper and lower jaws are pushed forward through surgery. This means that you get the same effect as wearing an oral device, but without the hassle of actually wearing it or having it refitted every so often.
Of course, having a snoring problem may also be a sign of a much bigger problem. It is, for example, one of the primary symptoms of sleep apnea. And sleep apnea is always associated with a number of health conditions, like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and a lot more.
This is why it is best to check with a doctor or a sleep specialist the moment you find out that you’re snoring.
Related Questions
How do you sleep with someone who snores?
If you’re sleeping in the same room with someone who snores all the time, you can try pushing them to their side to stop their snoring. If that doesn’t work, you could also invest in a nice pair of ear plugs that you can wear while you sleep. Listening to some white noise can also help, as it lets you focus on the ambient sound instead of the snoring. It also helps to encourage the snorer to go to a doctor to check for the root cause.
Why do people snore so loud?
People snore loudly for one main reason. Usually, there is an obstruction in the airways that’s causing the throat to vibrate as the air tries to force its way through, creating the snoring sound. This obstruction could be excess or over-relaxed tissues and muscles collapsing against the airway. It could also be because of some inflammation in the nasal and throat passages.
Can you die from snoring?
Although snorers may sometimes stop breathing for a few seconds to a few minutes, it is technically not possible to suffocate from snoring. When we stop breathing or do not breathe properly, our blood oxygen levels drop. This causes the brain to wake us up by jolting our system with hormones, making our heart beat faster. However, snoring can lead to serious health conditions like heart disease and stroke. These diseases may then cause snorers to have a shorter life expectancy than those who don’t snore.
