Snoring might seem common for some people but what exactly does it do to our body? Should you be concerned? Out of curiosity, I also searched for the answers myself and now I’ll share it with you!
So, can snoring affect your voice? Yes, snoring can affect your voice and it usually causes hoarseness or voice weakness.
Apparently, the most common vocal symptom in snoring was hoarseness of the voice and it happened to 11 patients or at least 36.7% of people that participated for a snoring study.
There were also some whose voice quality changed. About 8 people who are snorers experiencing a change in their voice quality, some find it fine and some do not.
Vocal symptoms with snorers are usually hoarseness, voice weakness and specific changes in their voice quality.
Snoring can actually affect your throat and cause a dry mouth, which may also lead to a sore throat and eventually affect your speaking voice.
There are a lot of things that snoring can do aside from simply affecting your voice, but the vocal symptoms are usually minimal and will go away on its own throughout the day and return the next morning.
This is why some people might sound differently during mornings and then sound normal around noon.
It is not simply because they are tired, sleepy or whatnot. It is because snoring actually affects the quality of their voices.
According to the study that was done, the severity of the snoring may not change the way how a person’s voice will be affected.
Regardless of the frequency, the vocal symptoms may remain the same.
People who snore and experience vocal symptoms to the point that it might get in the way of their living are advised to try drinking more water to see if their voice would return to normal sooner than usual.
Snoring is actually a sign of a sleep condition called “sleep apnea” and it’s not something that should be taken lightly. It will not only affect your voice, but it may slowly cause your health to deteriorate.
Snorers are more likely to experience hoarseness or weakness in their voice every morning than non-snorers. But if your snoring is caused by something more alarming, how do you stop it? Read on to learn more.
How to stop snoring from affecting your voice
In case you are snoring because of sleep apnea and it affects your voice, you should know how you can stop it. Changes in your voice may be tolerable, but you can’t afford the other risks.
Below are some helpful ways that can stop snoring and also avoid affecting your voice. It may involve surgical operations if it’s because of sleep apnea.
It can also involve using medical equipment for constant treatment and sometimes it may only need simple lifestyle changes to help stop snoring.
- 24 Ways How to Stop Snoring:
- 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.
- Nasal strips are one of the earliest tools used to treat conditions like sleep apnea and its symptoms such as snoring.
- Oral Appliance
- Oral pieces can help with sleep apnea and snoring, they are custom made to make sure it prevents the obstruction in the airways and counter sleep apnea and snoring.
- 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.
- Avoid sedatives before going to sleep
- Certain sedatives can cause sleep apnea. Consult a medical expert to determine what type of sedative may be the cause.
- 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.
- Try to avoid overworking yourself.
- Sometimes, simply going to sleep while totally exhausted can make our muscles relax too much to the point that it can lead to sleep apnea.
- Avoid drinking liquor before bed.
- Excessive liquor can also relax the muscles that will lead to sleep apnea. Limit alcohol consumption or avoid drinking too much before going to sleep.
- Sleep with your head elevated.
- When the head is not properly elevated, the tongue can fall back and block the air passage, causing the tissues to vibrate and snore.
You can also use an anti-snore pillow which will keep your head in proper place that can help stop sleep apnea. Sleeping in a chair or a recliner chair is also an option.
- When the head is not properly elevated, the tongue can fall back and block the air passage, causing the tissues to vibrate and snore.
- Try to sleep on your sides.
- Sleeping flat on our backs can cause the tongue to fall back and block the airways. It can also make the muscles relax and cause sleep apnea.
You can read about: “How to prevent sleeping on my back” to learn how you can keep sleeping on your sides.
- Sleeping flat on our backs can cause the tongue to fall back and block the airways. It can also make the muscles relax and cause sleep apnea.
- Get plenty of exercises.
- Lack of physical activity can cause our body’s functionality to drop.
This means that we need the right amount of exercise to keep our body “awake” and functioning even as we sleep.
- Lack of physical activity can cause our body’s functionality to drop.
- Stop or limit smoking.
- If your body inhales the smoke, it can cause the muscles inside to swell or become irritated, potentially blocking the airways and causing you to snore.
Those who are also exposed to secondhand smoke can be prone to sleep apnea, so avoid getting near smoke as much as possible.
- If your body inhales the smoke, it can cause the muscles inside to swell or become irritated, potentially blocking the airways and causing you to snore.
- Drink enough water.
- When we are dehydrated, the throat becomes dry which makes the vibrating tissues sound louder and produces snoring or sleep apnea.
- Eat a healthy diet.
- Our diet plays a huge part in our health! You should also avoid eating heavy before sleeping, if you go to sleep on a full stomach, your muscles may not work as it should.
Focus on eating healthy foods!
- Our diet plays a huge part in our health! You should also avoid eating heavy before sleeping, if you go to sleep on a full stomach, your muscles may not work as it should.
- Sleep on time.
- Not getting the right amount of sleep and not sleeping early can cause the body to become dysfunctional and have sleep apnea.
- Lose weight.
- Being overweight or obesity will cause difficulty in breathing.
The excess fat will get in the way of the air passages, causing tissues to vibrate and cause sleep apnea.
- Being overweight or obesity will cause difficulty in breathing.
- Vocal exercise
- Pronouncing words loud and clearly can help strengthen your throat. Try to repeat the vowels (A, E, I, O and, U) and say it out loud for three minutes a few times a day.
- Tongue exercise
- Position the tip of your tongue behind your top front teeth then slide your tongue backwards for three minutes each day.
- Mouth exercise
- Close your mouth and purse your lips, like zipping your mouth. Hold on to that position for at least 30 seconds and repeat a few times a day.
- Jaw exercise
- Open your mouth then move your jaw to the right and hold for a few seconds, 30 seconds at least. After 30 seconds, move to the left side the same way you did to the right. Repeat a few times.
- Throat exercise
- Open your mouth and tighten the muscle at the back of your throat, do this in front of the mirror to see your uvula (or the hanging ball) moving up and down to see that it works.
- Singing exercise
- Singing casually can increase your muscle control in the throat and soft palate, reducing snoring caused by muscles that are relaxed.
- 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).
- 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.
- Surgical Airway Advancement
- Similar to the other example. Bones of the upper and lower jaw will be repositioned in a way that will relieve airway obstruction.
- Nasal Strips
To understand the best treatment for your snoring or sleep apnea, please consult your doctor for proper diagnosis.
Why you should stop snoring from affecting your voice
It was mentioned that aside from affecting your voice, snoring can do a lot of things to our body. So what can it do? If you are snoring because of sleep apnea, you should be worried.
- Snoring & sleep apnea causes:
- Death
- Sleep apnea interrupts breathing that can affect the heart and the brain which can lead to sudden death during sleep.
- Difficult breathing
- Sleep apnea can occur when there is an obstruction in the airway or the brain is unable to function well that helps the body breathe, causing difficult breathing.
- Discomfort to your bed partner
- Since you will continue to snore, you will continue to make sleeping harder for your bed partner. This will eventually affect your overall relationship with people.
- Worsens other illnesses
- Being unable to breathe well during sleep disrupts your entire body’s functionality and eventually attacking the other diseases a patient may already have.
- Heart problems
- With sleep apnea, you are more prone to heart problems such as heart failure or heart attacks. This is due to the lack of blood oxygen levels.
- Irregular heartbeat
- Due to the low blood oxygen levels or the air is unable to reach your heart, it can lead to an abnormal heartbeat or pauses in breathing during sleep.
- Stroke
- Similar to heart problems
- Depression
- Being unable to breathe well during sleep and get the proper rest can mess up your emotions or eventually lead to depression.
- Weight gain or loss
- Sleep apnea messes up your body’s hormone production. You can end up gaining weight faster due to sleep apnea.
- Diabetes
- Having sleep apnea disables the body’s ability to control the sugar level which can lead to diabetes.
- High Blood Pressure
- Sleep apnea can potentially cause or worsen hypertension in people.
- Increases ADHD
- Being sleep deprived decreases the person’s ability to focus, worsening conditions such as ADHD.
- Headaches
- The lack of air that enters the brain can lead to other brain problems, but usually results in morning headaches.
- Daytime sleepiness
- Difficulty breathing at night can lead to restless sleeps, making you feel the need to stay asleep even during the day because your body couldn’t rest well at night.
- Insomnia
- Difficulty in breathing can lead to insomnia. Instead of waking up randomly at night, you will end up being unable to sleep.
- Seizures
- Sleep apnea patients are more prone to seizures during sleep compared to epilepsy patients without sleep apnea.
- Irritability
- When you are sleep deprived, you will unconsciously lose control of your emotional stability. You can become irritable or easily frustrated with sleep apnea.
- Poor memory
- Sleep apnea causes sleep deprivation which may lower your brain’s performance as it affects the brain activity, causing poor memory in patients.
- Respiratory diseases
- Sleep apnea is a respiratory disease that may cause other diseases or worsen them.
- Driving accidents
- The lack of concentration and daytime sleepiness can lead to driving accidents when you have sleep apnea.
- Death
If you suspect that you might have sleep apnea, consult your doctor immediately.
What causes snoring that affects your voice
To help you stop snoring and avoid affecting your voice, knowing what also causes it can help you out.
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.
- 9 Reasons Why People Snore:
- 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.
- Airway obstruction
- Anything that can obstruct the airways will make breathing difficult and cause the tissues to vibrate and cause snoring.
- Sleeping position
- Sleeping on your back may cause the tongue to fall back and the muscles to relax which can block the airways.
- Drinking liquor
- Drinking excessive liquor especially before going to sleep will relax the muscles and create difficulty in breathing
- Smoking cigarettes
- Being exposed to smoke can cause the muscles to swell, slowly blocking the airways and also irritating the lungs making it harder to breathe, causing a person to snore.
- Taking medications
- Certain medications or sedatives such as sleeping pills will cause the muscles to relax and be unable to work as it should, making breathing difficult and cause snoring.
- 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.
- Anatomical build
- Your physical attributes can obstruct your airways and some of this can be hereditary.
- 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.
- Being overweight
Some of these cannot be prevented, but it’s still important that you know of it.
What are the signs of snoring
But how can you actually tell if you are snoring and if it’s really bad that it continues to affect your voice?
Well, aside from recording yourself during sleep or learning from a bed partner, there are also signs that can help you out.
- Gasping for air during sleep
- The feeling of drowning without knowing it and suddenly you’re out of air. You may or may not notice this, but it can be a sign of constant snoring.
- Insomnia
- Having trouble going to sleep because you have breathing problems that you may not notice is a sign that you might be a snorer.
- Hypersomnia
- Having trouble staying awake in the morning because you were unable to sleep well due to conditions like sleep apnea is a sign that you may be a snorer.
- Sudden weight gain or loss
- Obstructive sleep apnea can lead to uncontrolled weight gain or weight loss for some cases. It’s because of the uncontrollable hormones affected by sleep deprivation.
- Waking up with a headache
- Obstructive sleep apnea can disturb your body’s “charging” state.
Since you can’t sleep well, your body will use energy for means that can help you breathe which may lead to headaches.
So, if you usually wake up with a headache, there’s a chance that you have sleep apnea which also means you might be a snorer.
- Obstructive sleep apnea can disturb your body’s “charging” state.
- Waking up with a dry mouth
- With obstructive sleep apnea, the person tends to snore and keep their mouth open when gasping for air which leads to a dried up mouth once we awaken.
- Decreased ability to focus
- Obstructive sleep apnea can give lack of sleep which will also result in difficulty to focus on anything.
If you notice that you’re unable to focus normally, you might be snoring at night.
- Obstructive sleep apnea can give lack of sleep which will also result in difficulty to focus on anything.
- Feeling uncomfortable
- Your lack of energy due to obstructive sleep apnea can make you feel uncomfortable and irritable without your knowledge.
Having less control of your emotional stability can be a sign that you are a snorer.
- Your lack of energy due to obstructive sleep apnea can make you feel uncomfortable and irritable without your knowledge.
- Sudden pauses in breathing during sleep
- Your housemates should notice this and tell you about it. Obstructive sleep apnea can disrupt breathing that may last for up to 10 seconds which is already risky.
Related Questions
Can snoring cause a sore throat?
Yes, snoring can cause a sore throat or a dry mouth in the morning.
When we snore, we breathe through our mouths which can cause the mouth to dry up and leave your throat feeling sore as well.
Is sleep apnea a chronic illness?
Yes, sleep apnea is usually a chronic illness that persists every night a patient falls asleep. It normally does not go away by itself and needs to be treated depending on the cause.
