Overview

Anti-snoring tips to stop snoring naturally, aim at clearing an obstructed airway, or better still, these measures prevent the blocking of your airway and ensure proper breathing, a night of good sleep, and the required sleep hours

Snoring, as explained in its causes, is the result of a blocked airway, which restricts your breathing. There are self-help home remedies that prevent the blockage of your airway and naturally help you to stop snoring. They will also help make your sleep sound and soundless.

Snoring is the sound caused by the vibrations of the uvula and the soft palate mostly during inspiration.

The snoring sound can be mild as in most of us, or it can be loud, which can wake up your bed partner and prevent her from getting good sleep.

This type of loud snoring is due to some underlying pathology, mild or severe, and has health repercussions, which can be serious.

High blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke are some of the long-term complications that can arise if your underlying pathology is not corrected.

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common condition that causes such loud snoring. There are several causes of obstructive sleep apnea but they all result in the same etiology, that of obstructing the upper part of the airway.

This requires an extra effort to breathe in air, which makes the palate and uvula vibrate with greater intensity, which leads to a loud snore.

There are several medical options, conservative and surgical, to treat snoring. However, benign causes such as sleeping position, obesity, and lifestyle habits can be corrected with home remedies that can stop your snoring immediately and permanently.

Self-help strategies to naturally stop snoring

  • If obese or overweight, start losing weight. Obesity is a known contributing factor to snoring. If you are overweight or obese, losing excess weight can stop your snoring. Losing weight can open up the throat due to the loss of fat in the neck and significantly improve snoring. Losing even 10% of the excess weight can improve your snoring symptoms by 25%.
  1. Avoid smoking. Smoking causes inflammation and fluid retention in the neck and upper part of the airway, which causes swelling around the airway leading to its compression and consequent obstruction. Smokers are three times more likely to develop obstructive sleep apnea (which is a cause of snoring) than non-smokers. Quitting smoking significantly helps to stop snoring. Or if you cannot stop smoking, at least do not smoke two hours before going to bed. This will stop your snoring excessively.
  • Avoid alcohol and medications. Avoid alcohol, sleeping pills, sedatives, and narcotic painkillers a few hours before bedtime. They cause relaxation of the airway muscles causing them to collapse and making you snore.
  • Avoid caffeine and a heavy meal before bedtime. Avoid caffeine hours before bedtime. Caffeine is a central nervous stimulant and can prevent you from sleeping. A heavy meal makes your stomach full and when you lie down to go to bed, the full stomach presses on your diaphragm which puts pressure on the lungs restricting them from expanding when you breathe in. This can cause you to snore. Avoid a high carbohydrate meal at night. If you do feel hungry before bedtime, an apple would be a good choice.
  • A little honey. Two teaspoons of honey before bedtime is good. Honey helps to burn fat and the best time to burn fat is when you are asleep. Honey also has anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, which reduces the congestion in your respiratory tract helping to keep it clear.
  • Avoid bakery products. Avoid cakes, ice creams, cookies, chocolates, and dairy products before going to bed. Besides making you put on weight and making your stomach full, these foods also build up mucus in your respiratory tract which causes you to snore.
  • Avoid sleeping on your back. Sleeping on your back can cause your tongue to fall back and block the airway making you snore. Sleeping on your side will help to stop snoring.
  • Keep your nasal passages open. Make sure your nasal passages are clear and open while going to bed to ensure proper breathing. You could use an anti-snoring nasal spray or a nasal strip before going to bed to ensure this. Anti-snoring pills are also available. Blocked nasal passages are very common, which cause you to snore.
  • Snoring pillow. Keep your head about 4 to 6 inches above your body level when you sleep. The use of a snoring pillow will help as it raises your head and prevents you from sleeping on your back.
  • Throat exercises. Certain exercises of the tongue and soft palate will help strengthen these tissues preventing them from relaxing and collapsing on the airway. Such exercises involve suction, chewing, swallowing, breathing, and speech and you should perform them for about 20 minutes every day.
  • Steam inhalation. The inhalation of steam before sleeping will help to clear a stuffy nose. You could also use a humidifier in your bedroom.
  • Keep fixed sleeping timings. Having fixed bed timings will put your biological clock in a fixed routine and will time your body to sleep well.
  • Use a heater during winter. Winter does make you prone to the common cold and a stuffy nose. Use a heater in your bedroom in cold weather to keep you warm.  However, an accompanying use of a humidifier will help in preventing any dryness of the mouth and nose, which can be due to the use of the heater alone.
  • Have a sleep-friendly dinner. There are certain foods that help you fall asleep quickly and also stay asleep for a good night’s sleep. Incorporate these foods into your dinner.

The above-mentioned snoring solutions will help you in various other ways besides just stopping your snoring and helping you sleep well. Practice them and they will go a long way to keep you healthy as well.