Does your partner keep you up all night snoring? Ban curries and 5 other tips to help you sleep
Described as a snorting or rattling noise snoring happens when the soft palate and tissue in the mouth, nose or throat vibrates
GOT a problem with snoring?
Or sleep next to someone that does?
While many people do not know they snore, for the other person it is a frustrating problem that is the cause for hours of lost sleep.
Described as a snorting or rattling noise snoring happens when the soft palate and tissue in the mouth, nose or throat vibrate.
While you sleep, your airways relax and narrow.
This affects air pressure within your airways and causes the tissue to vibrate.
It can also occur if your airways are partially blocked, like when you have a cold.
Some people may snore infrequently while others do so relentlessly every night - and it can even be loud enough to be heard in the next room.
Apart from the obvious tiredness and night-time arguments, snoring can actually cause some more serious health woes.
Snoring can sometimes be a sign of obstructive sleep apnoea, where a person’s airways repeatedly become partially or totally blocked for about 10 seconds throughout the night.
Sleep apnoea increases your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack and an irregular heart beat.
Snoring has also been linked to an increased risk of dementia later in life.
Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to help keep the peace in the bedroom overnight.
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1. Avoid spicy food
This is bad news for lovers of a curry, but spicy food can make your snoring troubles worse, according to Dr Yves Kamami, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at Harley Street.
He said: "Spicy food can result in acid reflux from your stomach and in a number of studies this has proven to increase the likelihood of snoring.
"If you’re unsure why you snore and like to indulge in an Indian takeaway at the weekend, why not test the theory?"
2. Get your position right
You may find you always snore when you are sleeping on your back.
Or perhaps it is on your stomach.
Sleeping in the wrong position can make you snore more and your partner sleep less.
Dr Kamami said: "If you’re prone to snoring, sleeping on your back is a bad idea.
"If you’re fed up of being jabbed in the ribs throughout the night by your partner, try to sleep on your side.
"Sewing a tennis ball into to the back of your pyjamas is a sure way to prevent yourself from rolling over.
"Extreme? Yes. Worth it, for a good night’s sleep? Absolutely."
3. Get your bedding right
No, this doesn't mean buying the most expensive bed and pillow out.
It simply means making sure your sheets are clean.
"To avoid excess dust and other particles from building up and blocking the nasal passages, which results in our bodies creating swollen turbinates [tissue in the nose], it’s important to change your sheets once a week and to vacuum regularly," Dr Kamami said.
"Many of us are guilty of only washing our bed sheets after long periods.
"Try making this a part of your routine each week, and you may well find that your breathing improves and your snoring is significantly reduced."
4. Don't drink
This might be hard to avoid on the odd social occasion.
But on the whole, avoiding alcohol as much as you can will greatly improve how well you sleep.
Dr Kamami explained: "We are much more likely to snore if we’ve had a tipple before we go to bed.
"This is because alcohol relaxes the muscles of your tongue which can lead to the narrowing of the airways, ultimately resulting in snoring.
"Avoiding that pint of beer before going to bed could therefore help to silence your snoring throughout the night."
5. Stub out the fags
If the various health warnings about cigarettes weren't enough, perhaps this will help you stub them out for good.
Smoking makes you snore.
"Smoking can enlarge tissue in the nose, called the turbinates, which makes breathing more difficult; both of these side effects from smoking are likely to increase the chances of snoring," said Dr Kamami.
"Kicking the habit won’t just improve yours and your partner’s sleep at night, but it will also improve your overall health dramatically."
6. Lose weight
If you've gained weight recently you might notice you are snoring more.
And if you haven't noticed chances are your partner definitely has.
Dr Kamami said: "This is one of the most common causes of snoring.
"The more you weigh, the more likely you are to snore.
"Even losing just a couple of pounds, if you are relatively trim, can have an impact on how often and how loudly you snore.
"Of course, weight loss should be managed responsibly, but if you’re classified as overweight, this may well be an area for you to look into."
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What should you do if none of these work?
Dr Kamami said: "There are different reasons why we snore.
"It could be an issue with the nose, throat, palate or a combination of two of three of these things.
"Unless you diagnose which of these is causing your snoring you will have no hope in correcting your night-time growls.
"For example, countless people will invest in nose strips to help their snoring…only to discover that it’s being caused by a problem with the throat.
"Equally, if you’re a ‘nose snorer’, then a throat spray is unlikely to do much to improve your snoring."
Speaking to your GP or and ear, nose and throat specialist will give you an idea of the underlying cause of your snoring.
Once you know what it is it can be easier to find a treatment that works for you.
"For patients whose snoring is being caused by the throat, a non-invasive laser treatment could help clear the airways on the soft palate in the throat," said Dr Kamami.
"A similar treatment, meanwhile, can aid ‘nose snorers’ by opening up the nasal passage.
"Treatments such as these are carried out under local anaesthetic and take less than half an hour to complete."
The treatment uses a laser to target the uvula - at the back of your throat - and surrounding area to eliminate excess tissue.
This allows for greater airflow through the throat without it getting blocked when you sleep.
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