Snoring Remedies : How To Get Rid of Snoring while Sleeping
“I don’t snore!” – said every snorer ever.
Snoring is a common condition that most adults face regularly. Some snore occasionally while other people are known to be loud, frequent snorers.
According to a study, around 45% of normal adults snore regularly. Also, an estimated 95% of snorers admit that their snoring disturbs their partner or family members.
Snoring tends to affect your sleep schedule as well. You may experience irregular sleeping patterns that leave you feeling fatigued or tired the next day.
This shows that snoring can affect you and your dear ones if not treated on time. However, before we know more about how to get rid of snoring, it is important that we first understand one very basic question – why do we snore?
Yes, why do people snore?
When we are awake, the tissues present in our throat and upper airway are open. This allows easy air intake to the lungs. However, when we sleep, these tissues tend to relax which might partially block the airway.
So, when the air flowing through the airway meets resistance, it leads to vibrations. These vibrations are referred to as the act of snoring while sleeping.
People often experience stoppages in breathing along with snoring. These types of issues are mostly related to cardiovascular disease risk and require urgent medical attention.
However, this is not the only reason behind snoring. Old age, obesity, smoking, frequent nasal congestion or drinking alcohol are other common causes of snoring during sleep.
So, here are some effective snoring home remedies that might help you get a sound and peaceful sleep.
- Change your sleeping position
As simple as that. Sleeping on your back often causes the relaxed tissues or tongue to block the airway. This means that your sleeping position might actually be the reason behind snoring.
So, instead of sleeping on your back, you can try sleeping on your sides, on your belly or in a semi-upright position. Another common method that snorers have tried is to sew a tennis ball on the back of their shirt.
This helps them avoid sleeping on the back and allows them to practice sleeping in different positions.
- Focus on weight management
Obesity is found to be the common cause of snoring during sleep. An overweight person often has a poor muscle tone which leads to an increase in tissues around the neck and throat.
This can result in frequent snoring while sleeping. So, taking care of your weight issues and working out regularly might be your answer to how to get rid of snoring. Speaking of workouts…
- Practise throat and tongue exercises
As we learnt earlier, we tend to snore when our tongue or throat muscles are relaxed. So, you can avoid snoring during sleep by strengthening these tissues and muscles.
These simple throat exercises might be helpful in getting rid of snoring:
- Open your mouth as wide as possible and keep it open for 10 seconds.
- Close your mouth, purse your lips and hold for 30 seconds
- Try singing loudly through different notes and pitches
- Stick your tongue out of your mouth. Now, without curling, move your tongue side to side and then up and down
- Before you go to bed, say each vowel over and over at least 20-30 times
- Avoid alcohol and cigarettes
Cigarettes are known to cause irritation to your throat issues while drinking alcohol a few hours before bed, relaxes your throat muscles. These conditions often lead to snoring while sleeping.
So, quitting smoking and avoiding alcohol might prove to be helpful snoring home remedies.
- Stay hydrated
Dehydration results in mucus forming in your nose which might lead to snoring. So, drinking more water and keeping yourself hydrated may be one of the easiest natural remedies for snoring.
And speaking of easy snoring remedies that work, you can try…
- Drinking ginger and honey tea
Ginger is known for its various health benefits as it acts as an effective anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory agent. Also, it may help increase saliva secretion that helps soothe the throat.
So, drinking ginger and honey tea twice a day might be one of the most helpful home remedies to stop snoring.
- Extra virgin olive oil
Sipping a little bit of extra virgin olive oil prevents the throat muscles from blocking your throat while sleeping. Also, it might smoothen the airway and help in getting rid of snoring.
- Anti-Snoring Devices
There are various devices available in the market that may help offer relief from snoring. They can prove to be effective remedies to stop snoring and are ideal for mild or occasional snorers.
- Have a healthy sleep schedule
This is one of the simplest snoring home remedies. Not getting enough sleep often leads to improper weight gain which, in turn, leads to snoring while sleeping.
There are different home remedies that might help you sleep better. These include using curtains that will help keep out the light and following a similar routine every day for sleeping and waking up.
These were some of the effective natural remedies that can help answer your question of how to get rid of snoring.