Is It Harder to Stop Snoring When You’re Older?
Dec 11, 2011
Whether you’ve just celebrated a birthday or just decided to reflect back on the years, you might be at the point where you’re further along in life than most. This isn’t a criticism at all — on the contrary, as we age we gain valuable experience that can be passed onto future generations and that’s a good thing no matter how you slice it!
Is it really harder to stop snoring when you’re older? That’s a question that a lot of people stop and ask as they age, but the truth is that the core principles of stopping your snoring still apply. You will need to adapt from of them as you age, because your body is changing. Your sleep cycle may change as you get older, which means that you might need to adjust your bedtime and waking times as well. Many senior citizens tend to be early sleepers and early risers, but this isn’t always true across the board.
The first step that you should take before you even get a doctor involved is to look at your lifestyle from the inside out. Are you sleeping enough hours? If not, you will need to add on hours to your sleep until you’re waking up rested. When we’re tired, our airways tend to get even narrower. Men have naturally narrower airways than women, but other factors — such as the hereditary — tend to play a role as well.
Managing your diet to lose weight is always a great way to make sure that you’re sleeping soundly through the night. Excess weight truly has a marked impact in the type of sleep that we get. When we’re heavier than we need to be, our sleep tends to be rougher and the pressure we put on the throat and air passages tends to be much more severe. Trouble breathing during sleep can be downright dangerous, so if you’ve always been meaning to lose weight, now is the time to take action on that.
Growing older gracefully is a reality now — you just need to step forward and decide what type of life you want to lead. When it comes to snoring, the classic “fixes” will still serve you well as you age — jump right in today and get started, you’ll be glad you did!