How to Quiet Snoring

by | | Sleep Disorders

How to Quiet Snoring

Snoring can truly be troublesome especially to our sleeping partners so it’s natural to be concerned about how we can fix that. Don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place!

So, how to quiet snoring? There are several ways to quiet snoring today, but let me give you 10 of the most common tips and methods used to silence snoring.

  1. Nasal Strips
    • Nasal strips are one of the earliest tools used to treat conditions like sleep apnea and its symptoms such as snoring. Nowadays, there are newly developed nasal strips that you can try.
  2. Oral Appliance
    • Oral pieces can help with sleep apnea and silence snoring, they are custom made to make sure it prevents the obstruction in the airways and counter sleep apnea and snoring.
  3. CPAP Treatment
    • The CPAP or “Continuous Positive Airway Pressure” is a commonly used treatment and proven to be effective for sleep apnea patients and helping snoring.
  4. Lose weight
    • Being overweight or obesity can be a cause of snoring. You can potentially get rid of snoring by getting plenty of exercises and maintaining a healthy, balanced diet.
  5. Stop or avoid smoking too much.
    • Excessive smoking can cause or worsen snoring. Reducing your smoke intake per day will also reduce the risk of snoring. If possible, quit smoking to potentially get rid of snoring.
  6. Avoid excessive alcohol consumption
    • Drinking too much alcohol before sleeping can cause and worsen snoring just like smoking.
  7. Avoid sedatives before going to sleep
    • Certain sedatives can cause snoring. Consult a medical expert to determine what type of sedative may be the cause.
  8. Maintain a proper sleep routine.
    • Sometimes, we end up getting exposed to snoring since we simply don’t sleep at the right time. Try to avoid staying up late and sleep early.
    • Try to keep a proper sleeping position as well. Try to sleep with your head elevated or sleeping in a recliner chair.
  9. Don’t overwork yourself all the time.
    • Going to sleep exhausted can make us a lot more prone to snoring. It’s important to relax a little bit at first before going to bed to lessen the risk of sleep apnea and snoring.
  10. Treat chronic allergies
    • Some allergies can trigger obstruction in your body’s airways and may cause you to have sleep apnea and cause you to snore. Treat or avoid triggering your allergies to avoid snoring.

Some of these are just simple lifestyle changes and sleeping position changes. Quieting snoring can be different depending on what causes it in the first place.

How to permanently quiet snoring?

If using some of the treatments did not work for you in quieting down the snoring, then you or the snorer might have sleep apnea that requires surgery. Here’s how you can permanently silence the snoring sounds.

  1. Rapid Maxillary Expansion
    • For children with obstructive sleep apnea. This process places an expandable brace on the roof of the mouth that increases the width of the upper jaw (maxilla).
    • Over time, parents can adjust the brace using a special key to increase the amount of pressure for the teeth.
  2. Jaw Advancement Surgery
    • For teenagers and adults. This process will surgically break the jaw bones, moved forward and then fixed properly with screws and plates and will change the person’s facial structure or profile.
    • It might take months to recover.
  3. Surgical Airway Advancement
    • Similar to the 2nd example. Bones of the upper and lower jaw will be repositioned in a way that will relieve airway obstruction.

It’s important to consult a health expert to determine the proper surgery suited for your condition. After all, sleep apnea can be a complicated condition and needs careful analysis before doing anything else.

What causes snoring?

To help quiet snoring, it’s important to know what may cause it in the first place. There are plenty of reasons why a person may snore but mainly, it’s when the person is experiencing difficulty in breathing.

When the body is unable to breathe properly, the surrounding tissues may vibrate which causes the sound called snoring.

This can happen because of chronic conditions or natural anatomy formation. It can be because of a narrow throat or such which can be fixed through surgeries.

If not, there are also other reasons why a person will snore. Check out this list to see if it may be applicable to your situation.

  1. Being overweight
    • Body fat can get in the way of the body’s ability to stretch its airways open making it harder to breathe which will cause snoring.
  2. Airway obstruction
    • Anything that can obstruct the airways will make breathing difficult and cause the tissues to vibrate and cause snoring.
  3. Sleeping position
    • Sleeping on your back may cause the tongue to fall back and the muscles to relax which can block the airways.
  4. Drinking liquor
    • Drinking excessive liquor especially before going to sleep will relax the muscles and create difficulty in breathing
  5. Smoking cigarettes
    • Similar to drinking liquor
  6. Taking medications
    • Certain medications can make the body relax as well
  7. Sleeping exhausted
    • Sometimes, going to bed overworked or completely exhausted can cause snoring since the body is too tired to help your breathing stay normal.
  8. Anatomical build
    • Your physical attributes can obstruct your airways and some of this can be hereditary.
  9. Age
    • As we age, our throat will become narrower which is beyond our control. However, proper sleep routine and a healthy, balanced diet can prevent snoring or sleep apnea.

What worsens snoring?

If you are trying your best to quiet down the snoring but somehow, nothing works… then some of the following factors or conditions may be worsening the snoring or is the cause of it which may be inevitable.

  1. Hypothyroidism
    • The condition wherein your body does not produce enough thyroid hormones, which is needed to control how to use energy received from food through metabolism. Bad metabolism can affect heartbeat and breathing.
  2. Acromegaly
    • Opposite of hypothyroidism, acromegaly produces too much growth hormones which can affect your overall health including breathing.
  3. Obesity
    • Can make breathing difficult even while asleep or not moving, resulting in snoring
  4. Allergies
    • There are certain allergies that can worsen sleep apnea or snoring. Allergies that result with difficulty in breathing are the likes.
  5. Smoking cigarettes
    • Excessive smoking can damage your body which may make it harder to function or relax properly, increasing the risk of sleep apnea and snoring.
  6. Drinking liquor
    • Too much liquor and drinking before going to sleep can cause sleep apnea and snore.
  7. Drug usage
    • Sedations or other types of drugs especially when being abused can result in sleep apnea and snoring or worse.
  8. Being male
    • Observations reveal that males tend to have sleep apnea and snore more than females
    • Though this factor cannot be avoided, knowing about it will help you understand the reason why you are prone to sleep apnea and snoring because of it.
  9. Being old
    • Observations also revealed that older adults are more prone to sleep apnea and snoring than younger ones due to more complicated health issues that may trigger loud snoring.

How long loud snoring can last

Loud snoring lasts as long as the cause of it persists, in other words, people will snore as long as they are sleeping and the reason of the snore is not fully eliminated. It will keep going on.

Snoring does not go away by itself if there is an underlying cause of it such as sleep apnea. Constant snoring that is loud and includes pauses in breathing is a clear sign of sleep apnea.

According to a study, about 40% of adult men and 24% of adult woman are habitual snorers. Approximately 22 million people suffer from sleep apnea which means that amount of people are actually snorers.

It may be normal to snore occasionally especially if we go to sleep while our body is completely exhausted. However, if we continue to snore even when we are not really tired, there must be a reason behind it.

Constant snoring and occasional snoring are two different things and the constant one will surely keep people up at night.

Apparently, people who have snoring partners truly have a hard time going to sleep every night and have to decide about going to another room or making the snorer go to another room.

When there is an obstruction in the airways, the surrounding tissues would vibrate and produce the snoring sound that we know of.

So long as the obstruction persists, the snoring will continue.

A normal snore would last for a few minutes and stop when the person falls into a deeper sleep but if it goes on, it should be natural to think that something must be wrong.

Sleep apnea and snoring are not a simple matter and could lead to a more complicated health condition so if you snore longer than normal or know someone who does, advise them to get checked.

Related Questions

What is the best position to sleep to avoid snoring?

Sleeping on your side or your head properly elevated are the two best sleeping positions to sleep in that can avoid snoring and conditions such as sleep apnea.

Sleeping on your back will only end up causing your body to snore even more since it will most likely block the airways, creating difficulty in breathing which may result in snoring.

What are the best mouth guards that can quiet snoring?

There are different brands for mouth guards or oral appliancesthat can quiet snoring but the current top five are the following listed below.

  1. SnoreRX
  2. Good Morning Snore Solution
  3. AVEOtsd Mouthpiece
  4. VitalSleep
  5. ZQuiet