Stop Snoring

Symptoms like drowsiness in eyes, irritation, and loss of concentration in work occur from snoring and are bound to trigger psychological issues and risk of heart attack. According to a survey, it has been observed that 44 % of men snore and later this snoring problem lead to disruptions in marital relationships and increase of several health issues.
To stop snoring, it is very essential to find out the root of the problem which often happens due to throat weakness, fat accumulation around the throat and sleeping on back. If you are allergic to cold, then possibilities may be high that you snore through your nose. In such conditions, usage of spray or nasal strips will prove effective to remove the unwanted congestion from your nose and enable you to breathe free. Sleeping in wrong position like lying flat on back is enough to cause snoring, so the best remedy is to sleep on your side. This remedy will not only give you a sound sleep, but also give a peaceful nap to your partner who was earlier disturbed by your irritating snores. If you are an alcoholic, then maintain a routine to consume your alcohol drink four hours before you go down to sleep. Implementing these stop snoring tips will not only enable you to overcome snoring but also defend your health from life threatening diseases.

This would obviously also occur during the day, but in these instants it would be a simple matter for the patient to recognise the problem and begin breathing consciously. This is the rarest form of apnea, but also the most dangerous and the most difficult to treat. The exact mechanisms that cause it are not currently fully understood, but it has been demonstrated that a lack of copper in the blood may be related. The condition can also come about as the result of a brain injury or head trauma, particularly to the base of the skull where the ‘brain stem’ is located as the brain stem is the area responsible for many of our basal functions, instincts and reactions. Central sleep apnea can be identified by the lack of snoring.

In these scenarios CPAP will prove ineffective. Should an individual be diagnosed with central sleep apnea they will be encouraged to try breathing techniques and to take a course of medication. In extreme circumstances they may be required to have a tracheotomy to provide a direct path to their lungs. The third and final form of sleep apnea – ‘mixed apnea’ – is slightly more common and is a mixture of both central and obstructive apnea. Treatment here will require a combination of approaches.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, or CPAP, requires a ‘CPAP Device’, which works by blowing a constant stream of air into the patient’s windpipe. This works in order to keep their windpipe open while they sleep due to the pressure of the air (rather than being a device that ‘breaths for you’ as people often mistakenly assume). In many cases this will prove successful, though occasionally the air has been known to make breathing out difficult. For such instances there are variations that work while reacting to the breathing patterns of the individual. If this also fails then the patient may have to undergo surgery in order to fix the shape of their skull which may be blocking their windpipe.

The second type of sleep apnea, which is a highly rare form, is known as ‘central sleep apnea’, in which the patient has no physical blockage preventing their breathing, but rather suffer from a brain disorder that causes them to ‘forget’ to breath while they’re a sleep. Essentially this happens as the brain area responsible for measuring the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood is faulty, so that the individual simply doesn’t recognise that they have stopped breathing.

The first and most common form of sleep apnea is ‘obstructive’ apnea. This refers to any incidence of sleep apnea where the snoring and lack of breathing is caused by the throat or nose becoming blocked by a physical obstruction (as the name would suggest) rather than being a problem innate to the patient. Someone with obstructive sleep apnea may for example suffer from obesity and have a windpipe that closes as a result. Alternatively they may have a misshapen septum (the thin piece of cartilage that separates the nostrils) or jaw, or may suffer from persistent sinus problems. Once the cause of the problem is identified, the doctor will then recommend one of several treatments. Usually the first port of call will be to change the patient’s lifestyle and health behaviours – getting them to cut down on their weight, drinking and smoking and to use exercises to strengthen the neck, however failing this more drastic intervention may be needed. The first and easiest options are snoring guards/sleeping masks such as the Somni which can force the patient to breath out of either their nose or mouth depending on the nature of their problem. Should this not work, the expert will recommend a treatment known as ‘Continuous Positive Airway Pressure’.

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that’s prevalent in many adults (mostly adult, and mostly overweight) that can cause snoring as well as other complications. The main symptom of sleep apnea is that the sufferer stops breathing regularly throughout the night for short periods, and this is often preceded by snoring. Normally someone suffering with sleep apnea will not realise that they aren’t breathing steadily when they sleep and will have no knowledge of the difficulties they had in the night, making it a difficult condition to diagnose and a frustrating one for patients. The best signs of sleep apnea are that the patient snores, and that they feel tired and ‘groggy’ during the day (though they aren’t aware of waking up, the cessation of breathing will interrupt their normal sleep cycle leaving them tired the next day). If these symptoms are present then a sufferer should ask a partner to check on them during the night, or head to a sleep clinic for diagnosis.

Once diagnosed, the patient may be identified as having one of three different forms of sleep apnea, categorised by the underlying cause.

What you eat before you go to bed can also have an effect on your sleeping, and foods such as banana and yogurt should be avoided as they can leave a thin film on your throat which can cause a similar problem to having mucus there.

These are all things you should avoid doing before bed, but there are also some lifestyle choices that can affect your snoring. For example smoking will worsen snoring, so if you snore and you’re a smoker, quitting should be at the top of your agenda (even if you’re not a snorer quitting smoking should be at the top of your agenda as it causes many other health problems too and will effectively shorten your lifespan). Eating too much and not getting enough exercise will also exacerbate your snoring. Not only because you neck won’t be strong enough to support your weight due to weaker muscles, but also because the amount of weight it’s needed to support will increase. One of the first tings many doctors recommend for snorers then is to lose weight. Finally, colds and sinus problems can also exacerbate snoring. Obviously this isn’t something that’s easy to control, but eating healthily and avoiding the cold can help.

This behaviour however is ill-advised, the reason being that all sleep medications are also relaxants and cause your body and mind to relax. For those who snore this is the last thing you want as it will cause the muscles in your neck to relax even more than they already were and even more rapidly, meaning that they can’t support the weight in your neck and may allow your trachea to be blocked as a result. Similarly you should avoid alcohol for the same reason as this too is a relaxant. Caffeine on the other hand, while not normally recommended as a great bed-time drink, is a stimulant, and so can help your muscles to stay active when you sleep. When you do go to sleep, for the same reason lying on your back can worsen your snoring as it causes the gravity to push directly down on your neck and so close it over. The muscles on the side of your neck meanwhile are stronger and so can better support that weight and keep your trachea open. If you find it hard to sleep entirely on your back, it is possible to get (or make) shirts that force you to do so.

If you’re a snorer, then chances are you wake up every morning with a grumpy sleep deprived partner and feel yourself struggling to focus or short tempered during the day. If it gets serious it can develop into ‘apnea’ and cause you to cease breathing intermittently throughout the night which can be a dangerous condition if you don’t start again in time. For this reason snoring should be avoided at all costs, and the last thing you want to be doing is exacerbating the problem with unhealthy behaviour. Despite this, many people do exacerbate their condition regularly by engaging in unhealthy behaviour that will only further there snoring and cause other complications.

In the short term, what you do directly before going to bed can have a fairly large impact on your snoring, and even the way you lie while you sleep can. If you do suffer from snoring then it’s possible that you will also experience broken sleep and so tiredness during the day, and for this reason it’s understandable that many people take medication to help them sleep before they go to bed such as GABA or other sleeping aids.

While the exact mechanics and nature of sleep is not fully understood then, all this makes it crystal clear that we need a full night’s sleep in order to function properly and be at our most productive. This becomes even more important if we have a big event the next day such as an exam or a presentation, making sleep a very important life skill.

If you snore then, suffer from apnea, struggle with insomnia, or have another sleeping disorder that means you get less good quality sleep than you normally would, then you should look into treating your condition as soon as possible and getting medical intervention if possible.

For those who don’t have any sleeping problems – count yourselves lucky – but don’t then take your sleeping for granted. Ensure that the environment your bed is in is as conducive to a good night’s sleep as possible – as dark and as quiet as is possible, and meanwhile prioritise sleep over other things to ensure that you get at least 6 hours a night with 8 being the ideal target. If you do struggle sleeping, remember that just lying down and resting is still better than staying constantly active.

Mood is also seriously affected by lack of sleep, and it is common to be short with your colleagues, family and friends if you haven’t had enough sleep. This can cause you to say things that you might not otherwise or have small outbursts and can result in arguments and damaged relationships – particularly if it something that persists for an extended period of time.

During sleep our body also repairs a lot of the damage that happens to it during the day. For children this is when they grow, due to the increased production of ‘growth hormone’. For adults that same hormone causes the repair of wounds and other general ‘maintenance jobs’ around the body. Sleeping is considered an ‘anabolic’ state, where the body is being built, whereas being awake is considered a ‘catabolic’ state, where we burn our fats for energy and use it to work our muscles. If you don’t sleep properly then this will become evident in flaky skin, lack of muscle, damaged hair and the persistence of wounds that should have healed. In this sense it is not just our mind and our ability to perform and think that will be affected by a loss of sleep.