There are 5 common causes for snoring…

1. Drinking Alcohol

   If you regularly drink alcohol, you should check to see if your snoring is a problem on a night when you don’t drink anything.

   Alcohol is a depressant and can contribute to snoring because it relaxes the muscles in your neck and throat. This relaxation is more advanced than with regular sleep and this can cause your airways to become restricted.

   If you snore only when you’ve been drinking, the obvious solution is to stop drinking. If that isn’t an option, at least have your last drink more than 4 hours before you go to sleep.

2. Sleeping on Your Back

   Many snorers only have a problem when they’re sleeping on their back. The solution to this is to train your body to sleep on your side.

   There are plenty of devices that help with this, but they’re mostly variations of a home-grown remedy.

   Put a tennis ball in a sock and pin it to the back of your pajamas. When you roll onto your back, the discomfort will make you naturally roll back onto your side.

3. Are You Overweight?

   Excess weight can lead to snoring. When you’re overweight, you can get fatty tissue in your neck and throat area which can put a strain on your airway and restrict your breathing. In this case, the obvious solution is to lose some of the extra weight.

4. Do You Use Antihistamines or Sleeping Pills?

   These products can have a similar effect to alcohol. They relax your throat muscles more than normal sleep would and this can lead to snoring problems.

5. Do You Suffer from Allergies?

   Allergies can result in nasal congestion. This can make it difficult for your body to get the necessary oxygen.

   The problem is, antihistamines can also contribute to snoring so the best solution is to just take a decongestant rather than an antihistamine.

These are some of the more common causes of snoring, but you should talk to a health care professional to get an informed opinion of what’s causing your snoring and the best solution for it.

Snoring can be a warning signal for an affliction known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). OSA causes breathing to stop while sleeping, due to obstructed air passages.

Snoring is a sign of difficulty breathing, but it is breathing at least. OSA can cause the sufferer to stop breathing for periods of over 10 seconds while sleeping, which then causes them to wake up gasping and choking for air.

This isn’t only a problem in the night either. OSA often leaves its victims with sore throats and headaches when they wake up in the morning. Lack of sleep due to OSA can lead to lack of concentration, bad behavior and general irritability.

If OSA goes untreated, it can lead to an increase in blood pressure, low oxygen levels in the blood and a greater chance of heart attack and stroke.

In the study done by “Chest”, 681 children from Cincinnati Childrens Hospital medical center were studied. The research also found that African-American children were about three times more likely to snore than other races.

Plus, it was found that children who test positive for Atopy (an indicator of allergies and asthma) were twice as likely to snore as those who tested negative.

The benefits of the study include identification of children who snore so the doctors could more accurately determine those that were at a higher risk of sleep disorders. This would allow them to work with the parents to help minimize any long-term damage.

Snoring is caused by restricted airways. The sound is actually the sound of your throat and soft palate rubbing each other as you try to inhale.

Here are some simple steps you can take to stop your snoring problem:

Keep in Shape

Extra weight can lead to fat deposits in your neck and throat that can restrict your airway. If you’re overweight and snore, this could be the reason.

Allergies

If you suffer from allergies, you should use a nasal decongestant at night rather than an antihistamine. Allergies can cause snoring because they usually include nasal congestion as a symptom. This can hinder your breathing.

Antihistamines are depressants that relax the throat muscles, so while they may help with your allergies they can actually lead to snoring as well. You are better to use a decongestant at night, to clear your breathing without contributing further to your snoring.

Sleeping On Your Side

It’s common for people to only snore when they sleep on their backs – often sleeping on their sides solves the problem.

If your body naturally rolls on your back when you sleep, you can stop this by putting a tennis ball in a sock and pinning it to the back of your pajamas. The discomfort will make you roll on your side automatically if you roll onto your back in the night.

There are other options available such as specialized pillows, nasal strips and throat sprays. Their effectiveness will depend a lot on the underlying cause of your snoring.

It’s always a good idea to check with a health care professional to get their informed opinion before deciding on any more serious treatments for your snoring.

In general, snoring is a result of a lack of airflow through the airways at the back of your mouth and nose. This is in the area at the back of your mouth, where your upper throat and tongue meet the uvula and soft palate.

When these tissues make contact, they vibrate which results in the sound of snoring.

Lack of muscle tone in the throat and tongue are one reason people snore. If the muscles are too relaxed, they can cause the airway to become restricted, which causes blockage and ultimately snoring.

Alcohol is another cause of overly relaxed muscles. Because alcohol is a depressant, it can cause your muscles to relax more than normal, leading to snoring. If you’re planning to drink at night, it’s best to stop about 4 hours before you go to bed to minimize the chance of snoring.

Sleeping pills and antihistamines are other depressants that have a similar effect to alcohol.

Being overweight is another common problem. It can lead to excess fat deposits in your neck and throat area, which can put pressure on your airway and restrict your breathing.

Allergies can also be a factor in snoring. They often cause nasal congestion which makes it difficult to breathe and can result in snoring.

The best solution for allergies is to use a nasal decongestant. Because antihistamines can contribute to snoring, they’re not the best way to deal with allergies. At night, try to stick to a decongestant.

These are a few of the more common reasons for snoring problems. Whether one of these problems sounds like it might be what is causing your snoring or not, it’s best to discuss the problem with a health care professional to get their informed opinion.

Snoring is caused when parts of the mouth and throat vibrate against one another. The soft palate rubs against the throat tissue and causes that familiar sound. Snoring is caused by the air passage being blocked and your body struggling to get enough oxygen. In some cases, this can be a serious problem that is far more than just an annoyance.

The air blockage can happen anywhere from the nose down to the vocal cords. This blockage can occur in the daytime but in most cases it is only a problem at night when you’re sleeping. When you’re asleep, your muscles are much more relaxed so your throat is more likely to become blocked.

The four most common reasons people snore are being overweight, nasal deformities, sleeping on their back and alcohol usage.

Being overweight is a problem because it often causes fat deposits in the skin of your neck and throat. This fat helps to constrict your air passages which leads to snoring problems. The obvious solution to this cause of snoring is to lose the extra weight.

Nasal deformities can lead to airway blockage as well. The solution to this problem will depend on your particular case. Often, simple over-the-counter mouthpieces will help to improve the airflow and minimize snoring. In other cases, the only solution is surgery.

Many people only snore when they’re sleeping on their back and the solution, while obvious, is don’t sleep on your back. One simple solution to stay off your back is to put a tennis ball in a sock and pin it to the back of your pajamas. If you roll on your back while sleeping, the discomfort will make you naturally roll back on your side.

Alcohol leads to snoring problems because it is a depressant, and leads to more relaxed muscles in your throat and neck. If you must drink alcohol, it’s best to have your last drink at least 4 hours before going to bed to help minimize snoring.

• As many as 30% of people age 30 and up snore. By the time they reach middle age, the number increases to 40%.
• Men are roughly twice as likely to snore as women, but this ratio decreases after women reach menopause.
• Children are not immune either 5.6% of children snore regularly.
• 66% of married adults say they have a partner who snores.
• When asked whether they snore or not, 59% of those same married people said they do.
• Between 20 and 40 percent of adults who snore may actually be suffering from sleep apnea.
• Roughly 9% of men and 4% of women from the ages of 30 to 60 have sleep apnea.
• Children deal with sleep apnea as well studies show up to 10% of children suffer from it.
• People who suffer from sleep apnea are up to 4 times more likely to have a stroke and 3 times more likely to have a heart attack
• People who are affected by sleep apnea are up to 6 times more likely to have a serious car accident compared to those who are not, due to the fact that they are drowsy from a lack of quality sleep.
• Drowsy driving leads to at least 100,000 car crashes and 1,550 deaths each year, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.
• Partners of snorers and people with sleep apnea lose roughly 1 hour of sleep every night, waking up to 21 time an hour.

You can see from these statistics that snoring is a more serious problem than many people think. No matter how healthy you may be, you should get your snoring checked by a health care professional. Remember that it can affect other people as much or more than it affects you.

A more serious side effect of alcohol, in relation to snoring, is that it can cause a temporary case of sleep apnea – temporarily stopping breathing while sleeping.

This is not the same as a diagnosis of sleep apnea because it only happens when alcohol is consumed before going to bed. If you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night feeling short of breath or feel very drowsy the next day after drinking alcohol, it may be a sign of alcohol-induced sleep apnea. Given time, the problem could get more serious and you could find yourself with a serious sleep apnea problem.

If you aren’t able to stop drinking entirely, you can minimize the effects of alcohol on your sleep by not drinking for at least 4 hours before going to sleep. This gives your body a chance to recover from the alcohol and the effects it can have on your sleep.

Alcohol is not the only problem that can lead to these issues. Sleeping pills are another things that will affect you in much the same way as alcohol does. They are also depressants, and as such can lead to these same symptoms.

Antihistamines have also been shown to lead to these same problems. If possible, avoid using them before going to sleep. If you suffer from allergies, try to use a nasal decongestant rather than an antihistamine at bed time.

Remember, snoring doesn’t just affect you – studies show that your partner can lose up to an hour of sleep each night due to being awoken constantly by the sound of snoring.

Allergic rhinitis is a condition where the membrane lining the throat and nose becomes inflamed. It’s often set off by an allergic reaction to something that is inhaled. You’ve probably heard of seasonal allergic rhinitis – it’s more commonly known as hayfever.

When the lining becomes inflamed, it causes the airway to be blocked which can lead to snoring.

Hayfever is usually caused by trees, grass or other plant pollen and it’s usually a problem in the spring and summer. If you suffer from it all year (known as perennial allergic rhinitis) it’s often due to dust, dust mites, mould spores or pet fur.

The symptoms of allergic rhinitis are familiar to most people:

• itchy eyes and nose
• sneezing
• red, watery eyes
• runny or plugged nose
• headache
• and of course, snoring

If you haven’t been able to figure out what’s causing your hayfever, your doctor may give you a skin-prick test to determine exactly what is causing it. Even then, the cause is not always easy to determine so you may not be able to get rid of the cause.

In these cases, you’ll probably turn to some type of allergy medication. The problem with these medications, as it related to snoring, is that many of them contain antihistamines.

Antihistamines are often effective at treating allergies, but they’re also a depressant. As such, they can lead to the muscles in your throat and neck becoming more relaxed than normal while you sleep. When these muscles relax, it can lead to more severe snoring than normal.

If you’re suffering from allergies and are snoring at night, it’s best to avoid antihistamines before going to bed. If you need to use any medication, try to stick to a nasal decongestant, which can help your breathing while not contributing further to a snoring problem.

As with any health concerns, if you suspect you suffer from allergies or have a snoring problem you should always consult with a health care professional to get their informed opinion.