According to the National Institute of Health, sleep apnea affects more than 12 million Americans. Many are not even aware they have it until the symptoms cause them problems with work or driving. Spouses of those suffering from it often notice the early symptoms, but they often think a little snoring is nothing to worry about.
Find out some of the things that causes snoring:
Obesity
Extra fat in the throat area can lead to snoring; and you really needn’t be Michelin Tire man pudgy, either. All you need is enough extra weight to cause your airway to narrow during sleep. If you’ve got a few extra pounds around your neck, you probably don’t have enough muscle tone to prevent that from happening, which could result in snoring.
Positioning
How are you sleeping? If you’re flat on your back, gravity is not going to be your friend. All that slack muscle is going to collapse around your throat, leading the same narrowing mentioned above. That, and your tongue can slide back a bit, blocking it further. Not good, and very, very noisy. You really ought to be sleeping on your side or your stomach.
Drinking
Alcohol is a depressant. It will lead to excessive relaxation of your muscles, once again leading to a narrowing of your airway and causing you to snore. Not only that, but you will far less likely to wake yourself up and turn over at some point — and less likely to respond when someone else asks you to do so. Very annoying. If you snore, don’t drink before you go to bed, and never drink in large volume.
Allergies
Allergies can make it difficult to breathe. If you can’t breathe properly when you’re upright and awake, you’ve already got one strike against you. If you can’t breathe through your nose, you’re going to have to breathe through your mouth, which is going to increase your chances of snoring. If you take allergy medications, taking them an hour or so before bed can sometimes help with this.
Colds and Flu
Working on the same principles we just talked about above, if you’ve got a stuffy nose, you’re going to need to breathe through your mouth, which is going to make you prone to snoring. Stay on top of your medicine and vitamin intake during these times, as the quicker you get over it, the sooner you will stop snoring.
Smoking
Your body isn’t keen on smoking. You may not realize it, but the mucosa of your nose is probably at least slightly inflamed from the daily passage of smoke through it. Same thing applies to your throat. Having read the previous causes on this list, you’ve probably already realized this increases your odds of snoring, as your airway is likely to be at least moderately compromised as a result of smoking.
