Rec and Sports

You Snore? Here’s WHY You Snore

Snoring is easy to joke about but we soon stop thinking it is a laughing matter if the person WE share our bedroom with is a snorer.

Snoring can be deeply disruptive and aggravating, lasting throughout the night making sleep an impossibility for the “audience” or shall we say “recipient”. Sleep deprivation can cause a number of negative effects including disturbances in sugar metabolism showing patterns of pre-diabetes, thyroid imbalances and increased risk for obesity.

On the market are a variety of methods, pillows, straps to keep your mouth closed etc. to help the snorer and their near ones. The success rate of these contraptions vary a lot. One of the problems is that they do not address WHY the person is snoring, they just try to shut the person up!

Using a chin strap may bring temporary relief, so may that new pillow as long as you lay on it just in the right way. But since these devices do nothing to correct the cause of the snoring the snoring will return as soon as the device is not used. Not very helpful.

Other natural methods may work to some extent, such as changing position in bed to your side instead of sleeping on your back, yoga, abstaining from alcohol etc. While some of these methods may be helpful, they too will only work as long as you do them.

The most common causes of snoring are all related to the tissue in and around the mouth and throat from narrow nasal passages, stuffy nose, weak muscles in the throat, tense muscles in the jaw, soft palate being weak and falling into throat and the tongue being weak falling backwards and partially blocking the airways.

The great news is that all these causes can be remedied with easy to do gentle exercises. A few minutes per day, and you can sleep quietly and deeply without disturbing yourself or those sharing your bed.