Whether you sleep alone or with a partner, snoring can have a negative impact on your well being. Not only is it disruptive, it can also pose a risk to your health. USA Today explains the causes of snoring, and offers tips for how to stop it:
How common is snoring?
The first thing to understand is snoring "affects billions of people globally," says Patrick McKeown, advisor of the International Academy of Breathing and Health…
He says for many of those people, snoring is little more than a mild inconvenience, but for others, it can be a contributing factor of serious underlying health issues. "Nearly one billion people worldwide suffer from obstructive sleep apnea - a condition that is often associated with heavy snoring.” Sleep apnea is linked to numerous health complications such as high blood pressure, cognitive impairments, and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Whether you are dealing with mild or severe snoring, "prevalence increases with age and is more common among men than women – though post-menopausal women show a higher incidence," says Dr. Ann Kearney, a speech-language pathologist at Stanford University Medical Center.
What causes snoring?
"In children and teens, snoring is most commonly due to enlargement of the tonsils and adenoids," says Dr. Nina Shapiro, a professor emerita at UCLA and a pediatric otolaryngologist at Westside Head and Neck in Los Angeles.
In adults, snoring can be caused by allergies, dietary choices (including alcohol consumption), and the anatomy of one's mouth and sinuses. GERD or acid reflux can also contribute to snoring by causing esophageal tissue to swell, partially blocking the airway. "Elderly adults may also develop weakness of the muscles of the palate and neck, leading to blocked breathing and subsequent snoring," says Shapiro. "And one of the more notable causes of snoring is obesity," she adds. She says obesity can contribute as the redundant tissues of the neck and throat area can cause the blockage in the throat, leading to snoring.
McKeown says it's also worth considering there are two distinct types of snoring: mouth snoring and nose snoring. Some of the contributing factors behind nose snoring, he says, include nasal congestion, a deviated septum or narrow nasal passages.
How to stop snoring
Because of such a wide variety of contributing factors, "you must first figure out what is causing the narrowing of your air passageways," says Kearney. She says this means looking into structural/anatomical factors, obesity, nasal congestion, poor muscle tone, whether you're a mouth breather or nose breather, your sleep position at night, and medications you take that could affect how you sleep or the muscles in your mouth…
If nothing serious is identified and it's discovered you're a mouth snorer, McKeown says many people turn to mouth taping to keep their mouths closed at night. In a 2022 study, "participants who used mouth tape to promote nasal breathing during sleep experienced a 47% reduction in snoring."
For those who instead struggle with nasal congestion, a simple nose unblocking exercise can help. Breathing techniques can also reduce turbulence in the airway by slowing and normalizing breathing volume, "leading to quieter nights," McKeown adds. Shapiro says losing weight, if needed, can help alleviate a good deal of snoring as well.
Shapiro also advises sleeping slightly elevated with an extra pillow, or switching to sleep on your side instead of on your back. Ruling out sickness or potential allergies as other contributing factors is also important.
You can read the full article here.
We all want to sleep well. Snoring can get in the way of our efforts. So, take the steps needed today to determine if snoring is a problem for you, and how you can stop it.