If you want to prevent snoring there are quite a number of remedies that you can try. The characteristic sound of snoring is caused when a person falls asleep (most commonly men) and their airways become slightly compromised. The airways don’t close completely – if they did, the snorer would wake up with a gasp and a jump because there is a fail-safe within the body to ensure we don’t stop breathing and die in our sleep. However, a condition does exist called sleep apnoea where the sleeper does actually stop breathing, but this is thankfully rare.
With a “normal” snorer, the airway in the nose and throat gets partially blocked by fleshy tissue which vibrates with each breath and makes a noise. There are two types of snorers, those people who snore through the nose and those who snore through the mouth. Nasal snorers are normally people who suffer from asthma, or perhaps have a cold or have naturally small nostrils; sometimes because the septum inside the nose is damaged after the nose has been broken. I understand that rugby players, who break their noses frequently are renowned for being terrible snorers!
Mouth snorers are the ones who sleep with their mouth open, usually laying on their back – the flesh in the throat and at the base of the tongue slides backwards and again vibrates – and the noise that the mouth snorer makes can be incredibly high on the decibel chart and can make anyone tried to sleep with them very miserable indeed. In a handful of chronic cases, snoring has been even cited as a reason for divorce! This is perhaps more understandable when you realise that the snorer’s unfortunate partner is likely to be disturbed dozens of times a night by what sounds like the space shuttle lifting off – right in her ear.
There are several methods types of anti snoring devices available to prevent snoring; some can only be obtained on prescription and the most radical (and most painful) is surgery to physically move the flesh that is getting in the way. However, there are many less extreme methods to try, including the wearing of a jaw supporter at night to keep the tongue base in place, nasal plugs to widen the nostrils, snoring pillows and also nasal strips that are placed over the bridge of the nose. These can look extremely peculiar, but can be very effective.
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