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If you are a quiet sleeper, air passes from your nose and throat to your lungs silently and unhindered. For millions of us, however, something disrupts the flow of air. Maybe it's a blocked nose
or deviated septum; perhaps the base of your tongue or
enlarged tonsils is restricting your breathing. Or
your uvula (flap at the back of your throat) is swollen.
Your snoring is the sound of air being forced through
your nose or throat
Most commonly, however, the soft tissue in your upper palate or throat starts vibrating
as you sleep -- even if you are breathing easily through
your nose, even if your uvula and tonsils are normal
size. These noisy vibrations may occur for several
reasons, the most simple being that your throat muscles
relax during sleep. When you are a child, you typically
have good muscle tone and do not snore, but as you get
older, you put on weight and your throat tissues get
flabbier. Alcohol and overeating before
bedtime make the problem worse.
How do I stop snoring?
That's why you're here. There is no universal answer, but there are hundreds of potential solutions that may help you. Take heart — if you are systematic in your search you will find relief! Start by taking our snoring questionnaire, which will provide you with the remedies most likely to match your particular snoring type.
Snoring? Who cares?
True, an estimated 45% of the population snores at least occasionally, and the world goes on. But snoring can cause great distress for the bed partners of snorers, leading up to 80% of couples to end up sleeping in different rooms. This is not a recipe for a good marriage or relationship.
Why do black widow spiders kill the
males
after mating?
To stop the snoring before it starts.
The social consequences of snoring alone make snoring no laughing matter. But it gets worse: snoring is often a symptom of
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a sleep disorder that is potentially life-threatening. Apnea sufferers are often diagnosed as depressed, when really they are simply exhausted and cannot function properly. Sleep apnea raises your blood pressure, reduces the flow of oxygen to your brain and can, at worst,
lead to
stroke, heart attack and death. In other words, this is not something you can ignore.
And finally, there's some evidence that snoring is not only a symptom of apnea, it can eventually cause it. Any snoring is a sign that your breathing is disrupted -- otherwise you wouldn't make that noise. Your body is having to work harder than it should to breathe. As you get older, and put on weight and lose muscle tone, your snoring can lead to periods of not breathing at night. That's sleep apnea.
Recent
research indicates that snoring may also lead to diabetes. The theory is that snoring reduces your intake of oxygen, triggering your body to produce more catecholamines, which in turn may lead to insulin resistance, a known precursor of diabetes.
The evidence is piling up: even snoring which seems to bother no-one should be treated.
What are the remedies?
There are hundreds of solutions to problem snoring. The main categories are listed here. But before you invest in anything, take our exclusive PutanEndtoSnoring.com questionnaire to see which remedies are most likely to be effective for you. We'll tell you if you have clear symptoms of sleep apnea — in which case, you should see your doctor. If you have primary snoring — that is, your snoring is not
an imminent threat to your health — we can suggest remedies that will bring relief to you and your bed partner.
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