by Mark Daymond

Created on: June 28, 2009

Before going on to consider how to stop snoring, it is worth considering first what causes snoring. During the day time, the muscles in the airways are kept taut keeping them open and ensuring that there are no obstructions so that air can flow freely. During sleep, these muscles relax causing them to become more floppy and a degree of obstruction can result. This can lead to soft tissue, particularly the soft palate, vibrating causing the characteristic snoring noise. Snoring can be exacerbated by the following issues:

- Lying on the back when sleeping.

- Consuming alcohol prior to sleeping.

- Being overweight.

- Colds, allergies, nasal polyps, a damaged or crooked nose - can block the nose, causing you to breathe through your mouth

Studies have shown that many couples identify snoring as source of severe arguments, often leading to the non-snorer going to another room to try and get a decent night's sleep. This obviously has an impact not only on the couple's sex life, but also on the general intimacy shared at night-time. A significant number of people married to snorers seriously consider leaving their spouse due to the severity of snoring. Often snorers believe that there is nothing that can be done about the snoring leading to the non-snorer becoming convinced that her partner is just doing it to annoy her. All of this has the potential to lead to the relationship hitting the rocks.

The first step in looking to stop snoring is to eliminate the above factors, so you may need to think about some lifestyle changes to reduce weight or reduce alcohol consumption, particularly prior to sleeping. A "classic" snoring cure is simply to sew a tennis ball into the back of nightwear to stop the snorer rolling onto their back during sleeping.

Beyond this, it is a matter of looking to address the fact that snoring is more likely when the snorer breathes through their mouth when asleep rather than their nose. There are various devices available to modify the snorers breathing, either by opening up the nose (such as nasal strips and nasal dilators) or by preventing the snorer breathing through their mouth (such as chin straps).

An alternative strategy to stopping snoring is hypnosis. This draws on the fact that people are more likely to snore when they are breathing through their mouth rather than their nose and seeks to re-train the snorer to breathe differently. Another benefit of hypnosis is that it can be used to train the non-snoring partner to block out the noise of snoring and therefore allowing them to get a better night's sleep. The hypnosis can be administered by a trained hypnotherapist or can be self-administered.

Although snoring is often seen as a trivial matter, it can lead to poor sleep patterns, for both the snorer and the non-snoring partner. Not only that, snoring can lead to major relationship problems. However, as I have demonstrated, there are a number solutions available.

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