Snoring, Why we do it and How to Stop

by: AimyD
Total views: 10 | Word Count: 379

What is snoring?

Snoring is a rattling sound that comes from your mouth and nose when you sleep. Snoring can disturb the person sleeping next to you or someone in the same room as you. Snoring is very common and affects four out of ten people on average.

When you are awake the muscles in your mouth, nose, and throat are open to keep your airway open and not restricted, allowing you to breathe easily. Yet, when you sleep your muscles are relaxed which may allow your airway to close preventing you from breathing as easily. When your airway is closed and you try to breathe the soft tissue in your mouth, nose and throat begins to vibrate making a loud obnoxious noise known as snoring.

Snoring is not harmful, but if you do snore you may have another condition known as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea causes you to stop breathing in intervals throughout the night causing you wake up. This will cause you to feel more tired through out the day and should be treated immediately.

Why do people snore?

There are many reason people snore, these reasons can be broken into lifestyle and physical factors.

Lifestyle Factors include:

Being over weight will cause you to snore due to the excess fat around you neck. This will cause your airways to collapse.
Sedatives and alcohol will also make your muscles relax more than normal.
Smoking will cause inflammation to your nose and throat.
Allergies will also cause snoring due to having a blocked or congested airway.

Physical factor include:

Having a enlarged tonsils
Men snore more often than women
Having lower levels of thyroid hormone also known as hypothyroidism
Menopause is also linked to snoring

Treatment of Snoring

If you are overweight you should consider eating healthier, this will help you lose weight and stop snoring.

Don’t drink alcohol before you go to bed. This will allow your airway to stay contracted instead of collapsing.
Stop smoking to cut back on inflammation in the nose and throat.

If you have allergies you should talk to your doctor about ways to calm the allergy. You may also consider finding a way to reduce contact with that particular allergen.

There are also over the counter ways to stop or reduce snoring. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin using one of these treatments.