Sometimes, snoring is laughable. Cartoons and movies often show images of characters snoring loud and obnoxiously. However, snoring is not a laughing matter.
The body is not reaching optimum sleep, so your body can not perform fully during the day. Moreover, snoring can lead to more serious conditions like heart disease and strokes.
What causes snoring? Snoring can be caused by a number of things like sleep apnea, a deviated septum, obesity, smoking, and alcohol. At the root of the problem, your body is fighting harder to pull oxygen because of over relaxed muscles and tissues in the throat and mouth. These vibrating muscles make the loud and obnoxious sound laughed about on TV.
How do these muscles get relaxed? The muscles in your throat and mouth tend to relax more when you sleep on your back. This is why some people only snore when they sleep on their back. Also, sleeping on your back can make snoring worse for a chronic snorer.
Moreover, the base of your tongue and soft palate collapse to the back of your throat when you sleep on your back.
Here are a few ways you can improve your sleep position. These will help you stay away from sleeping on your back, which could increase your sleep quality. It could also make your sleep quieter, which is good for your sleep partner.
Sleep on your side.
This one is almost obvious. Turning on your side will help open your airways. It will also keep your throat and mouth from becoming over relaxed.
However, you may find yourself reverting to sleeping on your back by the end of the night. To correct this, some experts suggest taping a tennis ball to your shirt. This will make sleeping on your back less comfortable. Naturally, your body will avoid the back position thanks to the uncomfortable tennis ball strapped to your back.
Get a new pillow
Again, this is a simple way to improve snoring. Your head is too low, which causes those throat muscles to collapse each other.
Too many pillows or pillows that are too think can also strain your neck. Therefore, you want to make sure you have a medium density pillow that is good for side sleepers.
You can also look into a full-length body pillow. This provides support to your whole body. It helps you sleep on your side, which should cut snoring.
Added, allergens in your pillows may contribute to snoring. Therefore, you should make sure you keep your pillows fresh.
Overall, adjusting your pillows are an inexpensive way to make sure you have the right sleeping position.
Exercise
Try stretching and exercising the neck, mouth, tongue and throat. This will keep the muscles strong. It should keep blood pumping, which will help them keep from getting over relaxed. Exercises should help open the airways so you can breathe.
Otherwise, exercise for your entire body is a great idea. This will keep improve your overall breathing and circulation. Improving breathing and circulation will take pressure off your body, which could make sleeping correctly easier.
Get a new bed
How old is your bed? How has your body changed since you first bought the bed?
An old mattress or a mattress that is too firm can make it uncomfortable to sleep on your side. Moreover, a bed that is too soft makes it uncomfortable to sleep on your stomach. Make sure you have not outgrown the comfort and support in your mattress.
Further, beds these days come with optional adjustable bases that can elevate the head. This is an easy way to make sure you sleep in the correct position with an elevated neck. An adjustable base keeps you in that correct position all night. Changing your mattress is another solution to correcting your sleep position which will cut snoring.
Need immediate snoring relief?
Of course, ending snoring is not always as easy as correcting your sleep position. If snoring persists after an improved sleep position then your snoring may be due to blockage in one or more airways: mouth, back of the throat, and/or in your nose. If at any point you gasp for air while sleeping, this may be a sign of sleep apnea and you should consult with a sleep specialist.
If you don’t gasp for air while sleeping, SnoreStop offers natural solutions that are less tricky than strapping a pillow to your back.
