Probably a question you’ve never asked yourself – just how many people snore? According to the Harley Street ENT specialists in excess of 40% of UK adults snore – this amounting to approximately 15 million individuals. The risk factors for the condition will determine the natural ways to treat snoring – so what are they?
Risk factors for snoring
Notwithstanding any underlying medical causes (most cases of snoring do not have these) – the predisposing factors for snoring include the following:
• Being overweight
• Smoking
• Drinking alcohol – particularly late in the day
• Sleeping on your back
• Being male
• Being over 50 years of age
To summarise, these factors are lifestyle and postural – natural therapies will help here. Sadly, being male and over 50 – not much to be done there!
Focusing on lifestyle choices and postural factors, we’ll now run through a number of natural ways to treat snoring. If you are a sufferer (and trust me your partner will be suffering more) – try any of these in any combination.
It will be life-changing for you and your partner – clearly a better option than nocturnal homicide!
Natural ways to treat snoring – great alternatives to smothering your partner
Try to sleep on your side – not on your back
Sleeping on your back will often cause your tongue to move further back towards your throat – this has the effect of partially blocking the air flow.
Remedy this by making an effort to sleep on your left or right side which will allow air to flow more freely while breathing – there is a good chance this swill reduce or indeed eliminate snoring.
Get enough quality sleep
Ironically, snoring can itself lead to sleep deprivation as it predisposes to an interrupted night’s sleep, which in turn may further exacerbate snoring as it has the effect of causing the throat muscles to relax.
Whichever way you look at it, and for many other health reasons, getting an average of 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night is of paramount importance for your well-being.
For top tips on achieving this be sure to check out our article on quality sleep.
Raise the level of your head in bed
A simple, however (speaking from personal experience) often very effective, way of eliminating snoring may be to elevate the position of your head by a few inches while sleeping. This has the effect of improving the opening of your airways.
This may be achieved by:
• Elevating the head of the bed by a few inches
• Gaining a few inches by using bed risers
• Extra pillows – not to be used for smothering your recalcitrant partner!
Using external nasal strips or nasal dilators
These simple devices are particularly effective where snoring is caused by any kind of nasal obstruction.
Adhesive nasal strips are placed across the bridge of the nose which improves the space for effective breathing within the nasal passages thereby eliminating snoring.
External nasal dilators are simple stiffened adhesive strips which are placed on the nose, but in this case across the nostrils. These effectively work by decreasing the resistance to air flow while breathing.
Internal nasal dilators work in the same way, however they are placed within the nostrils.
Minimising or avoiding alcohol before going to bed
In addition to the other ways that alcohol consumption can compromise your sleep – shortening the periods of REM sleep for instance – it can also predispose to snoring. This is through its inhibitory effect of relaxing the throat muscles.
The simple advice here is to not consume any alcohol in the 3 hours preceding bed time.
Stopping smoking – yet another great reason to do this
If you needed a further reason to quit smoking, keeping your partner happy and well rested may just be it!
It is well documented that the habit of smoking can significantly worse any predisposition to snoring (see above risk factors) – this is through increasing the risk or worsen any pre-existing obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) where there is a difficulty breathing at night because of partial airway blockage.
Maintaining a healthy weight
If you are overweight, you may additionally have an excess amount of throat tissue – this will reduce airflow – particularly when supine – predisposing to snoring.
Apart from the obvious health benefits of effective weight management (beyond the scope of this article), a further benefit may well be halting the trying condition of snoring in its tracks and a happier partner!
Naturally treating chronic allergies
Allergies which result in nasal symptoms (such as allergic rhinitis) can compromise the airflow through your nose, necessitating you to breathing through your mouth. When this happens at night while sleeping – which is more likely as you will be lying flat while breathing – there is an increase likelihood that you will snore.
Clearly, treating the allergy may well significantly improve the snoring. Be sure to check out our article natural ways to treat allergies to achieve this holistically without the need for harsh pharmaceuticals.
Using an oral appliance
OK, this option is not exactly a home remedy as it is professionally prescribed and fitted – it is however a non-invasive treatment with no associated surgery or medication.
Oral appliances are customised acrylic devices which when situated in the mouth at night will actively increase the dimensions of the upper airway thereby diminishing (or indeed removing) snoring.
These may work in differing ways:
• By placing the lower jaw in a more forward position
• By altering the position of the soft palate
• By retraction of the tongue
This is generally considered as an option when more conservative measures have failed to give satisfactory results.
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