Is Snoring Affecting Your Life?
Whether you have a bedsharing partner who is fed up with your snoring or you’re tired (literally) of waking up with a sore throat and headache every morning, addressing your snoring issue is a great step for your overall health. Snoring is linked to multiple serious health issues, and the only way to stop it is to treat it. Keep reading to learn the best three tips for how to stop snoring, including how a sleep apnea specialist can help you stop for good.
Tip 1: Lifestyle Changes
For people with mild snoring, there are a few lifestyle changes you can make to stop. These include:
- Weight loss. Weight gain can be directly attributed to snoring due to the extra weight around the neck and airway. Losing weight can greatly help, or even solve, your snoring if you are overweight.
- Avoiding alcohol. Alcohol is a sedative that relaxes your throat muscles a little too much, causing snoring and other airway issues.
- Treating your congestion. If you have allergies and frequent nasal congestion, treating this can help your snoring issues. Using medications, rinses, and a humidifier next to your bed can help reduce snoring.
Tip 2: Upgrade Your Bed
Another tip to help stop snoring is to upgrade your sleeping situation. This can include:
- Elevate the head of your bed
- Invest in a new pillow designed for snoring issues
- Wash or get rid of old pillows; they may have dust mites or other allergens, causing you to snore
- Get more pillows, or a body pillow, to help you sleep on your side to reduce snoring
- Avoid getting too overtired before bed by not scrolling on your phone too much, turning off the TV, or picking a bedtime and sticking to it
Tip 3: See a Sleep Apnea Specialist
Sometimes, snoring is too severe to solve with simple lifestyle changes or bed upgrades. If you feel as if you have tried everything and are still snoring, it may be time to see a sleep apnea specialist.
Sleep apnea is a common condition that occurs when your breathing stops and restarts many times while you sleep. This can prevent your body from getting enough oxygen.
Common symptoms include breathing that starts and stops while sleeping, frequent loud snoring (more common in men), or gasping for air while sleeping. Other symptoms include:
- Daytime sleepiness and tiredness, which can lead to problems with learning, focusing, and reacting
- Dry mouth
- Fatigue (more common in women)
- Headache (more common in women)
- Insomnia (more common in women)
- Sexual dysfunction or decreased libido
- Waking up often during the night to urinate
If you want help for your snoring challenges but do not want a CPAP machine, there are other ways to treat sleep apnea. The Vivos Method can treat severe sleep apnea and pediatric sleep apnea, as well.
Based on your specific needs, Advanced Sleep and TMJ Solutions will conduct an evaluation and formulate your custom treatment plan. Advanced Sleep and TMJ Solutions is one of the only offices in the area that can prescribe the Vivos method. You will see complete results in as little as 18 months, as opposed to the lifetime use of a CPAP machine.
For more information, visit us at AdvancedSleepandTMJSolutions.com!
