There are many reasons that a person snores. Sometimes the snorer is anything but the stereotypical image of an overweight man who has fallen asleep on his back after a large meal and several alcoholic drinks. Occasionally the person who is snoring is instead a pregnant woman. Unfortunately, if she is snoring its likely a sign of a problem.

It can be a sign that she is suffering from hypertension, which is a frighteningly prevalent cause of death for the pregnant woman. It can also be a sign that the unborn child is at risk for growth retardation or even death.

In pregnant women snoring can be a warning of pre-eclampsia, which is the condition that includes hypertension, swelling of the limbs and protein in the urine. It can also be a sign of toxemia. Another indicator is excessive sleeping during the day. During pregnancy there is a marked increase in blood. This is to help nourish the baby. But, because of this increase the blood vessels in a woman’s body will also get bigger.

This becomes a problem as the blood vessels of the nose and throat increase in size, which also prompts the mucus membranes to bloat. This causes an obstruction, making it more difficult to breath. It also makes her snore.

Studies have shown that snoring increases during pregnancy. It has been shown that by the last three months of pregnancy, twenty four percent of women are snoring. Or if they previously were snorers then there is a marked increase in the volume.

Eleven percent of pregnant women have an excessive weight gain, which in itself will cause snoring. Women who already snored were found to have to deal with additional snoring, but as well they seemed to suffer from more severe swelling of the hands, face, feet and legs. One of the concerns is that pregnant snorers tended to also have infants with difficulties.

The babies were often born with low birth weights and lower APGARs with most babies not scoring above seven. This was seen in seven percent of snoring moms, many of who also smoked which is another factor in low birth weight.

There are a few things a pregnant woman can do to improve the nights sleep, hopefully making it a night with less snoring, include avoiding caffeine. Caffeine narrows the airways and so can cause more snoring. Sleeping on the side with an extra pillow will help to open the passageways. They can also try using a snoring appliance like nasal strips that are an easy and relatively inexpensive method to alleviate a snoring problem.

Pregnant women are more susceptible to increases in breathing problems, particularly upper respiratory issues because as they gain weight, pressure winds up being put on the diaphragm and so restricts unproblematic breathing.

Consequently, if you are concerned by an increase in snoring of your pregnant partner, a visit to your health provider may benefit both them and your unborn child. Bear in mind that caution is always better than regret.

Continued from our stop snoring tips page.. we’ve got 8 more tips for you!

Tip 8 – Develop good sleeping habits. One of the side effects of snoring can be fatigue and a lack of energy. It can therefore be very easy to just take a nap here and there. Although it is important to be alert when driving, making napping into a habit can make the problem even worse if it leads to insomnia.

Tip 9 – There are numerous anti-snoring devices available on the market including a pillow that forces the snorer to sleep on their side. Sleep position is known to contribute to snoring and those who sleep on their backs tend to be worse snorers so a side sleep position is to be encouraged.

Tip 10 – I know this sounds incredibly simple, but if your partner is a snorer, you are less likely to be disturbed by their snoring if you go to bed first and manage to fall asleep before they do. I know in some cases this may not make much of a difference if you are a light sleeper of if they are really noisy, but it’s worth a shot.

Tip 11 – If you feel really tired, a long walk can be very refreshing and re energising. Just make sure not to exercise too late in the evening as exercise can induce heavy sleep and heavy sleep periods very often co-inside with snoring.

Tip 12 – One home made remedy to try against snoring is to sow a pocket on the back of the snorers night garment. Place the pocket a little bit below the shoulder blades and put a ball in it. The idea is that it prevents the snorer from sleeping on their back. Sleeping on their back is the worst position for snoring.

Tip 13 – Avoid alcohol and sedatives as they will relax the tissue in the airways and will the snoring stronger.

Tip 14 – If at all possible keep your bedroom well ventilated and cool. If you don’t have air conditioning and if it is practical, keep a window open. If you do have air conditioning use it a little just to keep the bedroom temperature cool during the night. Ventilate the bedroom fully during the day.

Tip 15 – If you do have an operation to your throat and nose to get rid of snoring, consider that most patients will begin to snore again after 2 to 3 years, although a little less loud than previously. It may be necessary to go back to get the procedure redone.

The following interview took place in June of 2006 with Michael King of Snoring-Snoring.com. A huge thanks to Michael for his time!

Q. Hey Mike! I appreciate you taking time away for an interview this afternoon, it’s much appreciated! To start off, how about sharing a little background information on yourself and your business in the snoring industry?

A. Our company (Norbec) has been selling snoring products for a number of years. We sold a similar product for another company a few years ago. We were approached by Noiselezz, a Danish company, to handle all their marketing and sales in the USA and in the UK. This we have been doing successfully for 5 years.

Q. Snoring is a challenge that affects a vast majority of people world wide. You’ve created a product, the Noiselezz Mouthpiece, to help consumers meet that challenge. How did you guys come up with the idea for your mouthpiece?

A. As far as this question is concerned, the original product was not our idea. The creator was a Danish physician who has been extremely successful in Europe with the Noiselezz mouthpiece. They sell in most European countries. They are sold in sleep clinics and National Health systems which are more prevalent in Europe than in the USA.

Q. Some people may object to the idea of sleeping with a mouthpiece but perhaps they’ve just never tried it. What kind of reactions and testimonials have you received from people who’ve given the mouthpiece a chance?

A. I agree that sleeping with a mouthpiece is not the most natural thing to do, however, people who snore (and disturb others) and have mild sleep apnea are finding great benefit from a mouthpiece that advances the jaw, which by doing so opens the airways to allow breathing which alleviates snoring. Testimonials are many. In many cases we receive emails from our customers saying we are not only saving their marriages but also giving them much greater energy because of the deeper sleep they enjoy from wearing this simple type of device. Our return rate is approximately 4%. We do not ask the reasons for returns but we feel that every product has a return rate.

Q. On your website, you mention that there are also a number of other ways to help people stop snoring. What is it that makes your product stand out from the rest?

A. The Noiselezz mouthpiece has been designed to do three things; a. it is similar to all other jaw advancement techniques which move the jaw forward approximately one eighth of one inch, which as you know helps to give a clear airway into the throat. b. unlike most other products of this type, you can breath freely through the mouth while wearing the Noiselezz mouthpiece. c. and last, of course it is reasonably inexpensive compared to drastic medical techniques such as lazer surgery, etc which is not always successful

Q. I appreciate your time this afternoon! Are there any last pieces of advice or words of wisdom that you’d care to share with our readers before they head over to your website to see the product for themselves?

A. The best advise I can give to owners of a Noiselezz mouthpiece, and also a dog,is to put your device away in a draw and don’t leave it accessible. For some reason, dogs love to chew them and you would not believe how many reorders we have from owners who’s dogs have lovingly chewed up their mouthpiece.

- End Interview – Want to learn more? Check out their website, Snoring-Snoring.com, for more details.

The following interview was conducted in June of 2006 with the creator of the “Singing for Snorers” program, Alise Ojay (pictured to the left). A huge thanks to Alise for her time and expertise! Be sure to read it all the way through, there’s some wonderful information here!

1. Hey Alise! Thank you so much for your time this morning. You have an exciting program (“programme” in the UK) and some excellent information on a challenge that affects a vast majority of the world’s population. First off, would you share briefly some information about yourself and your background?

Hi Jonathan, thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself and my work to your website visitors.

I love singing. For ten years now I’ve directed a community choir here in Devon (Southwest England), and I also perform in a female a cappella trio with two friends. Further in my background is a degree in Philosophy – so I’m a thinker and questioner; and a professional qualification in Dramatherapy – so creativity and play are also important to me. For the last eight years I’ve been developing “Singing for Snorers”, a programme of singing exercises designed to tone the throat and reduce snoring.

My passion for singing developed about twenty years ago through exposure to different singing styles from around the world, particularly from Eastern Europe and Africa. I heard people singing in ways that I’d never heard before and which thrilled me. I experimented with my own voice trying to reproduce the sounds I was hearing. To reproduce someone’s voice (whether an opera singer or Mickey Mouse), you need to reproduce their ‘vocal set up’ – that is the particular arrangement of larynx, soft palate, tongue etc that affects the kind of sound produced. I suspect it was this vocal experimentation that made me more thoughtful about how singing in different ways can work different parts of the throat.

2. Alright, so what is snoring, and what causes it?

Snoring is the vibration of the soft palate and other loose tissue in the throat during an in-breath. It is caused by one, or more, of a number of possible obstructions in the throat, which makes the in-breath more laboured and forceful, sending any loose tissue into vibration.

A flaccid soft palate flopping back across the throat is often both the obstruction and the source of the noise. Other obstructions can be, for example, large tonsils and/ or adenoids, a particularly narrow throat, nasal polyps, a deviated septum, nasal congestion due to a cold or allergy. In these cases the soft palate may have had sufficient tone to withstand a gentler breath but succumbs to the more forceful obstructed breath. Some people are ‘tongue-base’ snorers and in their case it is the base of the tongue that flops back across the throat and may even vibrate itself. Obesity is the single most common cause of snoring as fatty deposits narrow the throat. Drinking alcohol in the evening further relaxes the throat and increases the likelihood of snoring. Finally, and of greatest relevance to my work, another common cause of snoring is simply advancing age. As we grow older we tend to lose muscle tone all over our bodies unless we exercise vigorously and the throat muscles are no exception. Many people start to snore in mid-life and the snoring gradually worsens over the years.

3. Your program’s title, “Singing for Snorers”, offers a solution to snoring that I imagine hasn’t occurred to a lot of people. Would you tell us about your program? How did you come up with it?

I was talking with a friend who was describing his snoring problem and the impact it was having on his life. I was already directing my choir then, and when he demonstrated his snoring noise, what I ‘heard’ was a lax soft palate. I immediately thought, “Well you could use singing to tone that soft palate … and then surely it would be less inclined to vibrate like that in sleep.”

I initially wrote to my family physician asking if I could try out this idea on his snoring patients. He forwarded my letter to Professor Edzard Ernst at what was then the Department of Complimentary Medicine at the University of Exeter (now part of the new Peninsular Medical School) and to cut a very long story short, in 1999 I ended up running a pilot trial of the principle, and as a result of that experience I went on to design and develop the “Singing for Snorers” programme.

“Singing for Snorers” is a do-it-yourself three month programme comprising of three CDs and an explanatory booklet. You sing along with the exercises on each CD for a month, and the exercises gradually get more demanding on the snoring-relevant-muscles in the throat.

The exercises use simple sounds and tunes which, when you sing them, make you engage the relevant muscles. There are different sounds and tunes to work the soft palate, the palatopharyngeal arch (that’s the arch at the back of your mouth that the little uvula hangs from), the tongue and the nasopharynx.

I use such purposeful sounds to act like ‘press-ups’ for the throat muscles. The tunes are all simple and repetitive so that you can concentrate on the movements in your throat and make the same movement a number of times to really work the targeted muscles. There’s a voice to sing along with – mine! – and I’ve added a variety of more complex and variety-full instrumental backing tracks so that the overall experience of each exercise is more enjoyable and fun.

Here’s an example of a sound I use to move the soft palate up and down. If you say “ung”, you will feel your soft palate come down and touch the back of your tongue, and now if you say “gah”, you will feel your soft palate lift up and away. Now try singing “ung-gah” over and over and you will feel your soft palate going down and up … and probably becoming a little tired!

As you can tell from this example, the sounds have not been chosen for their aesthetic beauty, alas, but rather for their therapeutic action, so you will definitely need a sense of humour and either a secret place or an understanding and supportive family. Once you know what you’re doing the exercises take 12 minutes a day for the first month and 18 for the 2nd and 3rd month.

Many people who have done my programme have chosen to sing through the exercises first thing in the morning as they say they act as a real tonic and are both cheering and enlivening!

Incidentally as a happy by-product of doing the exercises you should find your singing voice becomes stronger and more agile. The diaphragm and other breathing muscles are also well exercised. Indeed a number of my customers have reported discovering a love of singing and have gone on to join choirs.

4. Many people claim that they simply “can’t sing”, is this an important factor in the “Singing for Snorers” program? Do people need to know how to sing?

I’m yet to meet someone who “can’t sing”, though I’ve met a lot of people who’ve said they can’t. With a bit of practice, in a friendly environment, all these so-called “can’t singers” have been able to reproduce sounds I’ve made, at the pitch I’ve made them. Being able to hear and reproduce a tune is a skill we have to learn like any other. It’s a matter of practise, and if you haven’t learnt when young, or particularly for men if you stopped singing when your voice broke and you never learnt how to manipulate your new vocal apparatus, then it can take time and effort to learn as an adult. But it can be done and the rewards are great in terms of the pleasure of singing.

As far as the ‘Singing for Snorers’ exercises are concerned, they will provide an opportunity for such practice in developing an “ear”. Also whilst the sounds do have to be made very precisely in order to be effective, the tunes can afford to be woolly round the edges. Having said this though, the programme is bound to be more accessible, and more enjoyable if you can pitch match (‘sing in tune’) more or less. If you are thinking of trying the programme and do struggle to pass a tune between ears and lips you need to be prepared to put in some extra effort. In some cases it might even be worth having a few preliminary singing lessons and really go to town!

In the booklet I give advice about breathing and how to sing with energy but not strain – this is all very important stuff as we’re wanting to put ‘oomph’ into the snoring relevant muscles at the back of the mouth and not to strain the laryngeal muscles further down your throat.

5. On your website, you mention that a clinical trial of your program is currently underway. I noticed that half the patients are chronic snorers and the other half have mild to moderate sleep apnea. Have you found that your ‘Singing for Snorers’ exercises can also be an effective treatment for sleep apnea?

This will be the first clinical trial to test that proposal, and yes, I’m particularly excited to have had positive feedback from customers with sleep apnea. One 82 year old American gentleman customer tells me that his vitality is fully restored now that he no longer feels the need to use his C-PAP machine. On the basis of such feedback it was decided to have two wings in the trial – simple snorers and people with sleep apnea.

6. I understand the trial began in June of 2005 and you expect it to take about 2 years. We’re now in June of 2006, how’s the program been going? Are there any results or bits of encouragement that you’re able to share?

The trial is being run by a Consultant Otolaryngologist and his team in the Ear, Nose and Throat Department at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, UK. It is a randomised and controlled trial and will eventually involve 120 patients in two wings of 60 patients each. As I said before, one wing is for chronic snorers and the other is for people with mild to moderate sleep apnea. In each wing 30 people will actively sing along with my “Singing for Snorers” CDs for three months and the other 30 will be controls.

Because I obviously have a personal interest in the trial, I’m being kept well away from the results process until completion! However I have been permitted to say that some people have been very positive about the treatment and seem to have benefited but that it is too early to make detailed comments on how many people, and what type of people it may be helpful for.

7. From your own experience, prior to this trial, who do you think is most likely to benefit from your exercise program?

“Singing for Snorers” tones the throat. That’s what it does. If poor tone or loss of tone in the throat is a significant factor in causing your snoring, for example due to increasing age, then you’re in the category most likely to benefit. For all snorers, having a well-toned throat can only be a good thing since all snoring, whatever the obstruction, requires loose tissue. However, you may only attain a small reduction in your snoring if you have a fixed anatomical obstruction such as nasal polyps. If you are snoring because you are heavily over-weight then combining the singing exercises with diet and aerobic exercise should make a good combination treatment.

Another equally important factor is motivation. As with any exercise programme there does have to be commitment: the CDs, despite their beautiful green, blue and red colours, do not magically confer a toned throat … you have to do the singing regularly and with ‘oomph’ for that. Hence my efforts to make the programme fun!

8. And finally, any parting words of wisdom for those dealing with snoring?

I think the most useful advice I can give is to start by determining the cause of your snoring (there may of course be more than one factor involved) and look for a treatment which addresses that cause.

- End – To learn more, check out Alise Ojay’s website, SingingForSnorers.com!

Snoring Tips- Snoring Be Gone.com

Tip 1 – The best tip I can give to snorers is that being fit, lean and toned helps reduce your snoring, so dedicate 10 minutes a day to work on your muscle tone in your upper body, go for a 30 minute walk between dinner and bed time, and cut down on your fast food intake.

Tip 2 – If you are not overweight but snoring is still a problem for you, try some of the cheap devices that open up your nostrils. If your airway gets restricted in any way then that is what triggers the snoring. The more you can do to widen the passage the better for whoever has to listen to you sleep.

Tip 3 – How you sleep makes a difference to your snoring. Sleeping on your stomach or your side is usually better than sleeping on your back. This does not apply to kids though. Kids that snore should try to sleep on the side, with one hand under the cheek and one behind their back. This will open up the airways and is the best position to sleep in for snorers.

Tip 4 – Some decongestant inhalers work well to keep nasal passageways open and these are available over the counter. Even a simple saline nasal spray will work to keep the mucous membranes moist and unclogged, thereby reducing vibrational noise

Tip 5 – Nasal strips can be purchased which are applied externally to the nose and act to widen the nasal passages. These are even being utilised by sportsmen to promote respiratory efficiency. An alternative device that works on the same principles is a nasal dilator that consists of a plastic or metal coil that is inserted into the nostrils before sleep and acts to keep the nasal passages open during sleep. These two devices both seem to cut down on the vibratory noise that many snorers emit.

Tip 6 – There are numerous anti-snoring devices on the market. One device to discourage snorers from adopting a sleeping on their back position is the snore ball. Whilst there are gadgets available for purchase this can also be readily improvised from materials available in the home. A small ball is lodged in a pocket sewn into the back of the snorer’s night attire and this makes it uncomfortable for them to sleep whilst lying on their backs.

Tip 7 – If snoring is something that was only recently noticed, you should speak to a doctor about it. Especially if you are a smoker or have been a smoker. Snoring that have a relatively sudden onset can be a sign of something far more sinister. Look out for other symptoms like earache, loss of hearing, a constantly runny nose from one nostril, nose bleeds painful swallowing or repetitive sinus infections.

You may want to stop snoring because you wake yourself up with the noise you make.

You may want to stop snoring out of consideration for your partner or other household members.

As snoring in itself is not a medical condition there will be little your doctor can do to help so you must help yourself. (NB your doctor will of course help you if there is an underlying medical condition that is causing the snoring.)

Sleeping Position

It is known that sleeping on your back makes the snoring and the noise caused much, much worse. Sleeping on your side or front will help to reduce the snoring.

You cannot rely on your partner digging you in the ribs to remind you to turn over – although they almost certainly will – so it is important to investigate techniques that you can implement to ensure you stay off your back whilst sleeping.

There are a number of special pillows available on the market that encourage side-sleeping and discourage back-sleeping. You may want to try one of these to see if it helps you to maintain an optimum sleeping position.

A very old fashioned ‘remedy’ that is effective but possibly a little uncomfortable is to affix something into the back of your nightwear that will dig into your back if you roll over in your sleep. The discomfort will encourage you to roll back on to your side. Suitable objects might be a small, hard ball or a walnut.

Food and Drink

There is no doubt that alcohol makes snoring worse. The relaxant effect it has on muscles and tissues just collapses the airways even further and it is the breath attempting to pass through these collapsed airways that creates the noise of snoring.

Avoiding alcohol in the evening is one key way to cut down on the noise of snoring.

The mucous membranes that line the airways can become very readily inflamed once again restricting the passage of air and causing the characteristic noise of snoring. Mucous membranes can become inflamed through contact with allergens. Known allergens in food are nuts, dairy products and wheat – it may even be that you have a sensitivity to something else. By cutting out suspect foods and tracing any allergies you can improve and reduce your snoring levels.

Excess Weight

I know it seems as if we blame everything on obesity nowadays and for snorers there is a case to be made for losing weight.

When excess weight is carried, particularly around the neck and throat, airways become obstructed and snoring occurs. If you sleep on your back and have a double chin you can perhaps envision the weight of this additional piece of fatty tissue pressing down on your airway causing restriction and snoring.

There are of course numerous other health reasons for losing weight but if none of those appeal perhaps you can find the willpower required simply to ensure that you and your loved ones get a good night’s sleep.

While many people in the world snore, few know exactly why their body does what it does, and how they can fix the problem. One of the most common causes of snoring is alcohol. Alcohol, a depressant, travels through all areas of the body and slows your brain’s response mechanism.

In addition, alcohol relaxes the muscles of the body more so than normal sleeping does. Since your muscles are more relaxed while under the influence, your orophanyx (the back of your throat) begins to collapse more rapidly then when sober. This can be one of the root causes of why snoring occurs for an individual.

A more grave threat than merely sawing logs, however, is the chance that alcohol can cause regular snorers to induce a temporary case of sleep apnea – temporary stoppage of breathing while asleep. This is not the same as being clinically diagnosed with sleep apnea, as it occurs only when a “primary” snorer imbibes alcohol before bed. That does not mean that it is not an issue that requires addressing, however. If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night after a night of drinking with a shortness of breath, or feel extremely sluggish and tired during the daytime after a night of drinking, you may be a victim to alcohol-induced sleep apnea. If you don’t modify your lifestyle, the condition will only worsen, and sleep apnea is a tough problem to treat.

In addition to the factors above, alcohol is known to cause irritation of the nasal airway, as well as congestion that creates airway resistance while you breathe. If for some reason you are unable to stop drinking, one way to lessen the effects of alcohol on your sleeping patterns would be to make sure that you drink your last drink at least 4 hours before you go to bed. This grace period allows your body a chance to process the alcohol and reduce the effects that it may have on your sleeping, helping you to sleep without snoring.

In addition to alcohol causing problems with sleep disorders, it is also important to be careful while taking sedatives such as sleeping pills. They behave much in the same way as alcohol, causing your body to relax its muscles and inducing many of the same symptoms as alcohol. Anti-histamines have also been known to have negative effects when it comes to sleep disorders such as primary snoring and sleep apnea. If at all possible, you should avoid the consumption of any of these risk-factors before you go to sleep.

When you snore, you not only affect yourself – studies have shown that bedmates can lose up to an hour of sleep per night and wake up as many as 21 times per hour when sleeping next to a snorer, in a problem known as Spousal Arousal Syndrome. So, don’t just do it for yourself – do it for your loved one! We wish you the best of luck for solving your problem. You can do it!

When it comes to sleeping disorders, sleep apnoea and snoring are two that commonly come to mind. Few people know the differences between the two disorders, and the profound effects on your health they can have. What one may think is simple, normal snoring, can sometimes be a much more serious condition. Here are some of the properties of the two disorders, and how to distinguish them:

Simple snoring, known as primary snoring, is the result of an obstruction of air flow to the passages at the back of the mouth and the back of the throat. Your body is attempting to force air flow through these passages to get the oxygen it vitally needs to perform everyday functions. Snoring occurs where the tongue and the upper part of the throat meet the uvula and the soft palate, striking each other and vibrating while trying to breathe. Common reasons for snoring are suffering from poor muscle tone in the tongue and throat, the use of alcohol, antihistamines, or sleeping pills, excessive throat tissue bulk (often due to obesity), and obstructed nasal cavities.

Primary snoring, while not as harmful as sleep apnoea, also has many adverse health effects that need to be taken under consideration if you or someone you love snores. Struggling violently to breathe whilst snoring can cause Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome, or UARS, which is a precursor to sleep apnoea which results in extreme sleepiness, with such dangerous side-effects as falling asleep at the wheel whilst driving an automobile.

Sleep apnoea is a very serious condition. It occurs when a snorer’s issue deteriorates to the point where their body actually experiences a lack of oxygen, causing pauses in breathing for at least 10 seconds, with as many as hundreds of pauses per night of sleep. This problem can cause daytime sleepiness, a 7 to 12 fold increase in automobile accidents, irritability, personality change, restless sleep, headaches, and shortness of breath. A long term exposure to sleep apnoea can result in such problems as high blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythms, as well as heart failure and death. With such issues at hand as these, you can see why snoring can develop into such a serious problem. It is important to try your best to remedy the problem before it gets too bad to contain it. For example, if you are a snorer who only snores while lying on their back, there are a couple of different methods for helping the issue.

One solution to the problem that seems to work in most cases is to put a tennis ball into a sock and pin it to the back of your pants. The uncomfortable tennis ball will force your body into not sleeping on your back. Another method involves taking away the number of pillows you sleep on. The more pillows you use, the higher the angle your air passages must bend, giving a chance for further obstruction. Research the causes of snoring, and try to pinpoint why you might be experiencing the symptoms. Once you’ve got it figured out, you’re halfway to recovery. Good luck!

Sometimes the key to eliminating a problem is to make a change somewhere else first. When it comes to snoring this is no exception. It may very easily be a lifestyle problem that makes you snore at night. If this has become enough of a problem that you’re ready to makes some changes, the first step will be to look at certain aspects of your life. In particular do you drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes?

Some times its funny to think that no matter how much proof there is that smoking is bad for your health; people nonetheless continue this very addictive habit.  Perhaps the realization that its not just bad for your health but for your ability to sleep will be what it takes to convince someone to stop smoking. It is well documented that smoking cigarettes is a contributing factor to nighttime snoring. Smoking adversely affects the airway by increasing the resistance felt and impeding the normal activity. As well, it makes mucus that sits in the throat and can also affect the width of the airway. The more this gets blocked, the more the possibility for a night of snoring. This should make a person think twice about smoking. Interestingly this can also be caused by secondhand smoke, but will affect the smoker himself much worse. The more a person smokes the more they will snore. Some studies have proven that smoking causes intense irritation of the throat and that this is another factor that increases the incidences of snoring.

Some people enjoy a relaxing drink with a meal. Or perhaps it’s a few drinks when out for a social time or celebrating at home when something good has happened. Others may wish to share a bottle of wine during a romantic evening. Then there are those who feel that a little drink before bed will help them relax and sleep better. After all alcohol can be a useful sedative. The truth is that alcohol only allows you a few restful hours of sleep before adding to that pattern of restlessness and disruption. Unfortunately, this is then often followed by trouble with drinking and snoring. The alcohol anesthetizes the throat muscles allowing them to collapse. It also dilates the blood vessels, which affects the tissue in the throat causing it to swell.  You put these two circumstances together and you have constriction of the airway, which, of course, causes snoring.

Other studies claim that a smoker is more likely to also drink alcohol. It may be the consequences of an addictive personality or the party spirit. Either way it’s an unhealthy mix.  It is a difficult course to steer through, but the truth is that giving up some of the things you enjoy will improve your general health and ability to get a good night sleep. It will allow you to give your partner a better night’s sleep by helping to control or maybe even eliminate the dreadful noise of sleeps great villain; the snore.

While as many as 40 percent of all American adults snore, not too many people know exactly what causes snoring and what serious affects it can have on the health of you and those who live with you. In this article, we will discuss what snoring is, what can cause it, and what can help to remedy the problem.

Snoring is a coarse sound that is caused when certain parts of the mouth and throat vibrate. A snorer’s soft palate rubs against the other tissues, causing the sound we all know too well. The reason for snoring is that there is a blockage in your airway, and your body is doing all it can to try to get the precious oxygen that it needs, This makes snoring much more serious of a problem with your body that needs to be addressed than the simple annoyance most people think of it as.

The blockage can occur anywhere in the airway, from the tip of the nose, to as deep down as the vocal cords. The restriction that causes snoring can actually be prevalent during the daytime as well as the night, however, it is most commonly seen at night. This is due to the fact that while we sleep, our muscles relax, including the ones located in our throat. This is why people may snore at night but not face terrible restriction while awake. The muscle tone of our airway is much more tight while awake. To know the exact reasons for your snoring, you must realize that there are a host of different reasons why people snore. Then, you must decide which ones relate to you, and then you can figure out exactly what you need to do to cure yourself.

Four of the most principle reasons that people snore are obesity, alcohol or sleeping pill usage, nasal deformities, and sleeping on the back. Obesity is an issue when it comes to snoring because of the fatty deposits that occur in your body when one is overweight. The neck and throat may house some of these deposits, and that can constrict your airway, causing you to be at a greater risk for snoring. The general method for curing snoring due to obesity is to simply lose the weight. Alcohol and sleeping pill usage affects snorers due to the fact that these depressant drugs relax your muscles – including the ones located in your throat. So, in much of the same way as sleeping relaxes your muscles, the effect is increased when one has been drinking alcohol or taking sleeping pills.

To stop snoring from alcohol, it is advised to have your last drink at least 4 hours before you go to sleep. Nasal deformities can cause airway restriction due to how air flows through the deformity. The solution for this issue can be a simple over-the-counter mouthpiece that helps correct your air flow while you sleep, but if the problem cannot be solved in this manner, surgery may be necessary. A lot of snorers only snore while they sleep on their back, so, as simple as the solution may sound – don’t sleep on your back! One method people use to break the habit of sleeping on their back is to put a tennis ball in a sock and pin it to the back of their pajamas, making it uncomfortable to sleep with the tennis ball underneath them.

Now that you know how snoring works and some of the causes of snoring, you can more accurately diagnose your problem. Good luck on your recovery!