Researching sleep and snoring uncovers some fantastic products that claim to help with these conditions and non is more unusual than the Halsa Mat.

The Halsa Mat is the modern equivalent of the old bed of nails and is a thin mat with over eight thousand tiny plastic spikes attached it looks like a medieval torture device! The theory is you lie on it and the tiny spikes stimulate the acupressure points on your back helping to promote relaxation and therefore helping you to sleep better.

As well as helping with sleep research has found it can also be used to reduce back and neck pain. These results were gained when people using the mat for 15 Min’s a day over a 3 week period. It was discovered that the backs temperature had increased leading to improved circulation.

If you want more spikes Halsa also do a pillow featuring the same spikes.

The mats come in at $39.95 and the pillows at $49.95 so they are relatively inexpensive and if you have a sleep problem trying one isn’t going to break the bank.

In this day of high tech gadgets we sometimes forget that the simplest solutions are usually the best. This type of product is non invasive, inexpensive and well worth a try. After all what have you got to lose?

As always I’m hacked off because I wouldn’t mind trying one but as usual I’ll have to wait until they become available in the United Kingdom.

If you live in the US you can buy a Halsa Mat from Amazon by clicking here

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Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

A Halsa Mat Could Help You Sleep Better

Just when you thought it wasn’t possible to find a New Snoring Cure another one pops up. This one is called the Pillar Procedure and it involves placing polyester implants into the soft palate.

The theory is that it stiffens up the area adding support and lessening the vibrations that are known to cause snoring. This procedure is not an over the counter treatment and will require a visit to your doctor who will place the pillars into your mouth under local anesthetic. The whole proceedure only takes 20 minutes and complications after the procedure are rare at under 1%.

Results can be felt (not heard) soon afterwards but the full benefit comes some months after the proceedure as surronding tissues become more rigid thereby causing an even further reduction in noise levels.

The most common side effect is when the implant is not inserted deeply enough and part of it protrudes into the mouth. The offending implant is simply removed and a new one inserted at a more suitable depth.

Because this proceedure is fairly new the implants longevity is unknown but it is thought to be in the region of years not months.

Sadly this snoring treatment has one large downside and that’s cost. It costs around $2,500 dollars so its definatly not cheap but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

If you’ve tried everything else and still snore like a wounded buffulo and you’ve the money to spare this may be one you’d like to try.

Sadly for myself it’s a bit rich so I’ll be sticking to the sleeping in seperate bedrooms for now as it’s much cheaper

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A Few Home Remedies You Might Want To Try To Stop Snoring

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

A New Way To Stop Snoring The Pillar Proceedure

Here’s some more good news- scientists Russia’s fantastically named ‘Institute for Laser Problems and Information Technology’ have found a way to use laser technology to help combat a widespread structural problem that a large number of people have- defects of the nasal septum. This is good news for snorers, as even a small defect in this part of the nasal region can lead to large complications, of which loud snoring is one of the more common.

Previously, this defect was very hard to correct without resorting to traditional surgical methods, and all the possible complications that this brought. A patient would have to suffer a major surgery, be fully anaesthetised, and more often than not would lose a lot of  blood during the process. In a lot of cases, it often didn’t seem worth performing the operation, and so a lot of people with deviated septums wouldn’t be considered for treatment.

The new procedure developed by the Russian team is a massive step forwards from this old state of affairs. It involves concentrating the laser device on the specific areas of the tissue which need to be corrected, and has the advantage that none of the tissues around the key focal area are affected at all. It’s quick, effective, and almost entirely non-invasive.

It is also quick, as well- the procedure typically lasts between fifteen and twenty minutes, and because it’s a non-invasive procedure the patient doesn’t even have to be kept in a hospital to monitor and deal with surgical complications, healing of the incision and general side-effects like blood-loss. Most patients end up being sent straight home almost immediately after the surgery.

This is great news, and it’s good that snoring is one of the things that this technology is being looked at to counteract. It’s going to be used on a variety of different fields, from everything to cornea correction to helping to repair damaged arteries in the heart, and those are all equally if not more important, but still, it’s an important development for chronic snorers everywhere, with a surgical treatment coming more and more within people’s reach.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

New Laser-Based Treatments For Snoring

If your partner tells you that you snore, maybe you don’t think it’s a big deal. Well, maybe it’s not. It might just be the kind of minor annoyance that sometimes surfaces, sometimes leads to a bit of noise in the house at night.

Maybe that’s the case.

On the other hand, maybe it’s a little more serious than that. Maybe, just maybe, your family is tiptoeing around the subject, laughing about it together. Here’s an example of what the experience can be like for a family, as captured by Amy Armstrong of Illinois. We don’t tend to link to things much on here, but this is a very good example of the kind of thing which the families of snorers have to put up with. And thanks to Amy and the magic of Youtube, her husband’s snoring has now been captured forever:

This reminds me very much of a time I lived in a shared house with a gentleman who was a very loud snorer. His was the bedroom above the living room, and a lot of nights, I would be sat up late watching a film or something on TV, and generally in those situations I  keeping people up with the noise I was making.

Of course, living with this guy, I knew that I didn’t have to worry. I could hear the evidence that he was still fast asleep, loud and rasping through the floorboards. It was funny, really, but it was also, I’m guessing, a little embarrassing for him. I remember one time friends of mine were round, and actually heard him snoring away at night. No-one said anything to him afterwards, but I’m willing to bet that he’d rather not have been a source of fun. He did, eventually, do something about it.

Coincidentally, a few months later, he started going out with a very attractive girl. I’m not linking the fact that he finally did something about his snoring directly to that event, but I’m sure the fact that he wasn’t audible through walls certainly helped matters! What’s more, once that issue was sorted out, it maybe helped him to gain some confidence.

If you’re that guy, snoring away, then maybe you should think about looking into a Snoring Aid. Before you end up on Youtube, too.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

One Woman’s Very Funny Revenge On Her Snoring Husband

Most snorers, when accused over their loud nocturnal habit, will protest that they simply can’t help it. It’s not something they do on purpose, or indeed that they are even aware of. This can cause all kinds of tensions, and the simple fact is that this isn’t even true, either. There are a number of general lifestyle causes of snoring which, once you know that they are responsible, it is possible to do a whole lot about, for the sake of your sleep, and that of your partner.

Here’s one simple lifestyle choice: overeating. If we’re overweight, then we’re also a lot more likely to have fatty deposits around the the breathing passages. This can put a lot of pressure on the body, and as well as all the other associated health risks that being overweight brings, it can mean that the lungs and associated muscles have a harder time getting air in and out of the body. This increased air pressure as we breath at night can lead to snoring, and is simply cured. Get rid of the extra weight, and your snoring will reduce.

The second is Alcohol. Alcohol, as we all know, has a lot of effects on the body. It is a depressant, which relaxes the muscles as it takes hold. When alcohol effects the muscles of the throat, this can make them hang loosely, more so than is normal. This loose tissue is then more likely to close up and constrict in the throat, leading to increased air pressure as you breathe, and it’s more prone to vibrate, which are the two components of snoring from the throat. If you drink in moderation, however, you shouldn’t be in danger of this.  No need to totally abstain, just be aware that if you overdo it, then there are going to be bad effects. As with the previous reason, there’s a lot of different things this can apply to!

The next cause is Sleeping Posture. If you are in the habit of sleeping on your back, this can make your head fall backwards, and cause a constriction of the airways. This also allows neck fat, if you have any, to press on the airways that little more. Once again, breathing is impaired, and snoring can result.  Snoring aids are available that can prop you up and help you to sleep on your side, and if you make a point of doing that anyway, you may find this helps a great deal.

The last common cause I’m going to mention is colds and stuffy noses. If you have some kind of infection, from a cold to a simple blocked nose, that can mean that you’ll have trouble  breathing, and may snore as a result. Decongestants can help, as can things like nasal strips to widen the breathing passageways, whilst your body fights off the sickness.

If you take some of these simple tips in mind, you may find that yes, you can actually do a lot about your snoring! No more excuses!

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Some Typical Causes Of Snoring.

There’s all kinds of hints and tips out there which are advocated as Cures For Snoring, from the tennis ball sewn into the shirt, to nasal strips, to the dreaded CPAP machine strapped to your face and pumping air down your gullet during the night. There’s also a multitude of wild and wacky techniques- tongue exercises, singing, and a whole range of other strange ideas.

Here’s the latest of them all- playing the digeridoo. Recent research by a Swiss team has suggested that this world-renowned aborigine instrument can be just the ticket for the snoring sufferer looking for a cure to their problem.

Let’s consider how and why this is supposed to work. One of the main reasons someone is likely to suffer from the more unpleasant and loud forms of snoring is OSA, which is at base a problem of slack and loose throat tissues, leading to intermittent closure of the breathing passages during sleep. This causes a very loud, sporadic and explosive form of snoring, which can wake even the most soundly asleep bed-partner!

It also wakes the sleeper- the typical OSA sufferer can partially wake from sleep hundreds of  times every night, which greatly reduces the quality of the rest the sufferer is getting. It can also lead to depression, high blood pressure, and a whole host of other related problems.

Well then. This much the average snoring sufferer knows. What can playing the didgeridoo possibly do to help?

Well, consider the previous point, that OSA happens when the muscles of the throat are weak and loose. And now consider how you play the didgeridoo. It’s all about circular breathing, which maintains a steady flow of air through the instrument. That’s quite similar to the state a CPAP machine is looking to create artificially. If you’re playing a didgeridoo, then what you’re doing is training the muscles of your throat to do this on their own. What these Swiss researchers found was that if you make the throat muscles stronger, this is a very effective way to combat OSA.

So, maybe those aborigines had the right idea. To be fair, there are a lot of other wind instruments out there, many of which will do the same thing. There’s something irresistible about a didgeridoo, though, isn’t there?

Just don’t play it too late at night!

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Another (Rather Noisy) Way To Reduce Your Snoring.

There are a number of different snoring aids on the market, which are designed to work in all kinds of different ways. There, however, broadly speaking about a half-dozen or so different ‘categories’ of Snoring Aid out there.

Most solutions will fit into one of these categories, and utilise the same of principles as all the others in that category. Each category of snoring aid, too, is more useful against a particular type of snoring. Whilst snoring is a fairly simple condition at base, it does originate in different ways for different people.  This means that what will work well for one person may not be any good for the rest.  That’s why the average snoring sufferer may often work their way through a number of different snoring solutions before they find the  best one for them.

With that in mind, let’s look at one particular kind of snoring aid- the shaped snoring pillow.

The way this works, is simple. The pillow is a shaped, robust prop which is designed to keep the sleeper’s head elevated, and to prevent it from moving about too much during sleep. It can be made from a number of different materials (often memory foam these days- thank you, NASA!), and comes in a number of different shapes and sizes.

The way it works is that for some people, their snoring is caused by the lolling of the head and the jaw, and a tendency to sleep with the head at an awkward angle. This then serves to create a twisting or a narrowing of the windpipes, which increases air pressure through the throat, nose and mouth- think of it as being a bit like if you were to bend a rubber tire and compress it.

That, essentially, leads to more air getting forced through a narrower space, and hence a louder noise. This can often be a source of ‘whistling’ or breathy snoring. If the head is propped up on an anti-snoring pillow, it prevents the sleeper from moving about so much, and can do a lot to alleviate this particular kind of snoring.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

How An Anti-Snoring Pillow Works

Snoring Aids are a godsend for the snorer, and the partner of a snorer, but they’re not the only answer, or indeed the whole answer.  There’s a lot you can do in and of yourself to combat this problem. Apart from improving on certain lifestyle and health issues such as losing weight, not drinking too much, trying to improve your sleep routine, you can also do exercises to strengthen the tissues and muscles of the mouth and throat. Remember that snoring is often caused by loose tissue, and like any flabbiness, if you exercise the area, you’ll see an improvement.

The first and most enjoyable exercise is singing.  This strengthens the throat, because it involves training the your body to have greater control over the vocal chords, the muscles which control breathing, and it trains you to have improved airflow through the throat and the mouth. Any regular singing is good for you, and it can be as formal or as informal as you like. There are exercises professional singers do, such as scales, or warm-up exercises, but you don’t have to get as serious as that to see an improvement. Just singing along to some music, or in the shower, can have a beneficial effect (as long as your singing isn’t as bad as your snoring!)

Another good one is tongue exercise. This is handy if your snoring is caused by the tongue moving back in the mouth. It’s a little more like an actual exercise than singing was! What you do is stick your tongue out of your mouth, as far as it will go straight ahead, then hold that for 5 seconds and relax. Next, you stick your tongue out and down (touching your chin if possible) for another 5 and relax.

The third variation is out and up, once again holding for 5 seconds then relaxing. If you do five to ten sets of that per day, you’re likely to see and feel an improvement. It’s probably not most dignified thing to be caught doing by anyone,  but it is a simple exercise that can help!

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Exercises Which Can Help You Stop Snoring

Here’s another treatment for Sleep Apnea which looks like it could bring sufferers some much-needed relief, and be an improvement on the CPAP (Continuous Postive Airway Pressure) machine that is still the standard treatment for this condition. There’s just one catch- would you fancy getting a series of electric shocks to the throat throughout the night?

This treatment’s been developed at Baltimore’s John Hopkins University, and is designed to be a more convenient and comfortable way to treat the main problem of Sleep Apnea, which as you are most likely aware, occurs when the sufferer’s soft throat tissues are too loose to remain consistently open and maintain a clear airflow during sleep, leading to snoring, reduction in the quality of sleep sustained, and a wide variety of other unpleasant and undesirable side-effects.

The way a CPAP machine combats this is through maintaining steady air pressure inside the throat, thus holding the throat open and preventing the problems of sleep apnea from occurring. This works well enough, however the apparatus itself is claustrophobic and a little uncomfortable. Let’s be honest, no-one wants to go to sleep with what is basically an oxygen mask strapped to their face.

That’s what this new device is looking to circumvent- it works by making the throat keep itself open, rather than forcing air through. A series of electrodes are placed on the throat, and a sequence of electric shocks are given. These stimulate the nerves of the throat, which makes the muscles around the airways keep the breathing passages open.

So far the researchers claim that this process is yielding good results, and a reduction in discomfort and snoring symptoms. This is all well and good, but I can imagine that for some people, they might have a bit of a problem with shocking their throat into simulated wakefulness whilst they sleep.

Then again, if you’re a sleep apnea sufferer already prepared to submit yourself to a CPAP machine, maybe this will look like a welcome relief.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

John Hopkins Uni Working On A New Sleep Apnea Treatment

When you snore, it’s hard to realise just how annoying it can be to your partner. Part of you doesn’t want to hear it, and what’s more, you’re asleep when it happens, so you’re literally oblivious.  You’re relying on what your partner says, and no-one wants to be a nag to their loved one. Love is love, after all. So they hold back, and don’t say anything.

How to judge how bad Snoring can really get? How’s about this example, of two people who don’t have such considerations, but who are still sharing a space.

A prison inmate in Mower County, Minnesota, was recently found guilty of assaulting his cellmate over snoring accusations. He was actually responding to the other’s complaints about his own snoring, which had previously caused tensions between the two for the previous five nights, and had been the cause of a heated and prolonged argument on the previous night, culminating in threats of violence if the snoring didn’t stop. Eventually, the snorer couldn’t take his cell-mate’s protests any longer and attacked him.

This wasn’t hot-headed teenagers or twenty-somethings fighting, either- it was a 51 year-old and a 42 year-old. Grown men, coming to blows over an annoying noise keeping someone up at night. Still feel that snoring isn’t a big deal?

Now, in case you’re thinking this is a bit unrealistic, let’s admit here that these were two people who were maybe a little more prone to violence in the first place. Plus, they were perfect strangers, forced to share an enclosed space, which often leads to problems anyway. It isn’t a wholly accurate comparison between these two ill-tempered cell-mates and two people who choose to sleep together.

Still, there’s a kernel of truth here, isn’t there?

Bottom line. If you snore, and you have a partner, don’t drive them nuts with it. Don’t make them suffer in silence try and find a Snoring Cure.

Posted by: Sleep And Snoring Aids

Ever Wondered How Annoying Snoring Really Is?