How to stop Snoring- Five killer tips for you
10 min readNov 16, 2019
Are you becoming a victim of the snoring of your bed partner? Or are you the one who makes the whole house vibrate. Men usually snore more than women. About 1 in 5 men snores while only 1 in 10 women suffer from it every day. Snoring is a sleep problem of all ages, but as you age, the snoring sound often becomes louder. Do you or your environment suffer daily from that rumble? Unfortunately, there is no single way to stop snoring that always works, so there is no universal answer to the question “How can I stop snoring?” Snoring can have multiple causes and there are a large number of possible solutions. Here, approaches are discussed that are medically proven and that can prevent snoring.
Cause of snoring
If you breathe normally during the day, you don’t snore. That is because the air that breathes in and out has free passage. If you sleep, there is a chance that this passage will be obstructed. With the snoring sound so hated as a result. There are various causes for that narrowing in the airways. For example, a nasal congestion (eg due to a cold or allergies), tiredness, overweight, sagging muscles of the soft palate (eg due to alcohol, medication or aging), the shape of your nose or an incorrect sleeping position can make breathing difficult.
Consequences and dangers of snoring
If you snore, you not only give your bed partner a disturbed night’s sleep, but the quality of your own sleep also suffers. Even worse, snoring also involves health risks. If you often wake up with a shock because you have a stuffy feeling, you may suffer from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. This is a sleep disorder, in which the pharynx closes during your sleep. Therefore your breathing stops for seconds. During that sleep apnea, you will not get any more air and the oxygen level in your blood will decrease. Then you wake up with a shock. Whether consciously or not. You may not notice much at night, but you are tired during the day. This makes you less alert and extra irritable, which is detrimental to your environments such as friends, family, and colleagues. And then we are not talking about cardiovascular diseases or the high blood pressure that encourages sleep apnea. Not sure if you suffer from sleep apnoea syndrome? Be sure to consult your doctor or make an appointment at a sleep clinic, where they will examine your sleeping pattern.
Solutions for snoring
Is there a cure for snoring, without having to think about surgery immediately? Fortunately. With these simple tips, you manage to reduce snoring yourself.
Tip 1: Better Breathing through the Nose
Bad breathing through the nose is rarely the only cause. Snoring often occurs at the back of the throat (solutions: anti-snoring mouthpieces) or in the transition area between the mouth and throat (solution: snoring braces). Yet bad breathing through the nose is one of the main causes of snoring. Simply put, you will certainly not get rid of your snoring with a stuffy nose.
First Choice for Better Breathing through the Nose — Use a Nasal Spreader.
An easy way to reduce or stop snoring yourself is to use a nose spreader, also called nose openings or snoring clips. A simple way to reduce or even stop snoring is to use a nose dilator, also called nose openings or snoring clips. Nasal spreaders improve breathing through the nose, which in turn reduces snoring. They consist of two small plastic tubes that are connected to each other via a bridge (the shape differs per manufacturer). The tubes are gently pushed into the nostrils. The nasal cavities are supported in this way, and therefore the nose walls cannot collapse or become smaller. You breathe more freely. In medical terms, the dilation process is called “dilatation,” which is why nasal sprays are also sold as “dilators.”
An alternative to nasal spreaders are nasal strips, which are attached to the outside of the nasal bridge and thus enlarge the nostrils. They can be almost as effective as nasal sprays. However, the glue on the adhesive strip can cause an allergic reaction to the nasal skin. In addition, nasal spreaders can be used multiple times (while nasal strips are single-use).
How a Clogged Nose Causes Snoring
As an example imagine your lungs are the vacuum cleaner, your airways are the hose and your nose is the mouth of the vacuum cleaner. If it is clogged, a vacuum is created in the hose because the vacuum cleaner continues to suck. As a result, the hose can squeeze together and cause a sucking sound. If your nose is blocked, the same thing happens with your airways. They contract and the tissue in the throat begins to vibrate and cause snoring sounds.
Tip 2: Do not breathe through the mouth while sleeping
The most common cause of snoring is breathing through the mouth while sleeping. But breathing through the mouth not only causes snoring, but it is also less healthy than breathing through the nose. That is why it is even more important to do something about this form of snoring.
Avoid mouth snoring — Use an anti-snoring mouthpiece
The most effective way to prevent mouth snoring is by using a mouthpiece
With an anti-snoring mouthpiece, you cannot breathe through your mouth while sleeping and your body automatically switches to healthier breathing through the nose. Such a mouthpiece looks like a mouthpiece that boxers use. It is placed between the lips and teeth and carefully attached to the upper teeth. Mouthpieces are very thin in design and comfortable to wear. It is too large to be accidentally swallowed while sleeping (and therefore there is no risk of suffocation).
An alternative to an anti-snoring mouthpiece is a chin strap, which is attached around your chin and on top of your head. This causes the fabric to come under pressure because it is made of elastic material. Thanks to the chin strap, the chin cannot move down during sleep, so your mouth will not open either. Chin straps have two drawbacks. If you lie on your back, the tire is likely to push your chin down and narrow your airways. As a result, snoring can get worse. Secondly, a chin strap cannot prevent you from breathing through the corners of your mouth (a common way to breathe through the mouth).
How Breathing Makes Snoring Through Mouth
Imagine the tissue at the back of your mouth as the sail of a ship. When the wind blows against it, it makes a rattling noise. For mouth snoring this means: If the inhaled air (“the wind”) blows against the loose tissue (“the sail”), the tissue vibrates and you start snoring.
Background information: Why is breathing through the nose healthier than breathing through the mouth?
Tips against snoring
Breathing through the nose is the natural, physiological form of breathing. It is much more effective in filtering dust, microbes, and germs. In addition, breathing through the nose always ensures that the air is at body temperature before it reaches the lungs. If the outside air — on its way through the nose — is cold, then it is heated, and if it is too hot, it is cooled and at the same time humidified. Also breathing through the nose increases the oxygen level in your blood by 15% so that the organs are better supplied with oxygen and the body repairs better: you rest better while breathing through the mouth a dry mouth, bad breath, inflamed mucous membranes and can cause tooth decay.
Tip 3: Sleep on your side
The second most common cause of snoring is when your tongue relaxes and ends up in the back of the throat and blocks your airways while you sleep. What can you do about this form of snoring? Because the problem occurs when you lie on your back, it is easy to remedy. Try to sleep on your side (ideal) or on your stomach. Position therapy (position trainers) can help you get used to not sleep on your back but on your side.
Position Trainers Can Help You Sleep On Your Side.
Position therapy covers all products that can help you sleep on your side or belly. They are especially anti-snoring backpacks, sleeping straps, and bandages. Foam board or air cushion is fitted at the back of these backpacks, etc. so that you can no longer sleep comfortably on your back. It is important that the foam plates are relatively small so that you do not sweat, because if the foam comes into direct contact with the skin or pajamas, the air can hardly circulate.
You can as an alternative to an anti-snoring backpack, position trainers also try a vest against snoring, and you can also change the sleeping position with the help of a sleep cushion. They are cushions with an elevation in the middle so that your head is not comfortable when you sleep on your back and your head automatically turns to one side or the other so that you end up sleeping on your side.
In what way does sleeping on the back can cause snoring?
See your tongue like a big avalanche. If an avalanche rushes down and, for example, blocks the entrance to a tunnel, it is almost impossible to enter or exit the tunnel. Something similar happens with tongue snoring. If the airways (“the entrance to the tunnel”) are blocked by the relaxed tongue (“the avalanche”) that have ended up in the back of the throat, little air can pass through the small opening (= the entrance to the tunnel is blocked). When the airways are completely buried, the air can no longer flow. In the case of tongue snoring, this problem can occur if the airways are totally blocked and the patient suffers from obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).
Tip 4: Change the Position of your Jaw
A relaxed tongue is the second most common cause of snoring: If the tongue lands in the back of the throat while you sleep on your back, it causes tongue snoring. In that case, the problem can be remedied by moving the lower jaw slightly forward, for example with the help of an anti-snoring bracket (also called snoring mouthpiece).
Important: the anti-snoring bracket must fit comfortably
Anti-snoring brackets can be roughly classified into two categories:
one-piece brackets and two-piece brackets. So-called monoblocks consist of one piece that can be adjusted individually (by making a print of your teeth). They are stiff, which means that once they are formed, there is no possibility of adjustment and no lateral movement of the lower jaw is possible. Two-part snoring brackets consist of two separate parts — for the lower jaw and for the upper jaw. Both parts can be adjusted to your jaw, after which they are connected with flexible rubber bands. They allow lateral movements of the mouth, which considerably improves the wearing comfort.
Anti-snoring brackets can be roughly classified into two categories: one-piece brackets and two-piece brackets. So-called monoblocks consist of one piece that can be adjusted individually (by making a print of your teeth). They are stiff, which means that once they are formed, there is no possibility of adjustment and no lateral movement of the lower jaw is possible. Two-part snoring brackets consist of two separate parts — for the lower jaw and for the upper jaw. Both parts can be adjusted to your jaw, after which they are connected with flexible rubber bands. They allow lateral movements of the mouth, which considerably improves the wearing comfort.
Both types of snoring braces k (one-piece and two-piece) gently push the lower jaw forward. This causes the tongue muscles and the tissue of the lower jaw and airways to come under some pressure. The airways at the back of your throat become wider, allowing you to breathe in and out better. Dentists also call pushing the lower jaw “protrusion”, and this type of mouthpiece is therefore also known as “protrusion braces”
Tip 5: Train Your Palate
Every form of snoring always has to do with weak tissue. Relaxed tissue in the mouth or throat starts to shake as air flows through it. That, of course, happens sooner if the tissue is loose and untrained, rather than tight. In particular, if you strengthen your tongue muscles, you can effectively reduce or even eliminate snoring. There are a number of solutions and exercises to achieve this.
Ways to Train Muscles and Tissue
