If you or your partner snores there are several things you can try before resorting to purchasing a specialist ant-snoring product or even surgery. Here are over a dozen simple hacks and home remedies for snoring.
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Home Remedies for Snoring
https://www.dawnstudy.com/Snoring is a problem that can disrupt your sleep and that of your partner. Lots of people snore and, although TV sketches often put a humorous spin on the problem, it’s no laughing matter.
When snoring robs you of sleep it can cause fatigue and have numerous other health implications.
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to try and reduce snoring. Over-the-counter anti-snoring devices like MADs and TSDs can work incredibly well.
However, there are also many alternative steps you can take to silence that terrible nocturnal rattling in your throat. Some of them don’t just have the potential to help you stop snoring.
They involve making lifestyle changes that can improve your overall health and well-being as well.
Home Remedies for Snoring: 13 Simple Hacks You Can Try at Home
1. Change Your Sleeping Position
A number of things can cause you to snore or make an existing problem worse. Sleep position is one of them.
As far as snoring goes, sleeping on your back is the worst option of all. It encourages the kind of airway obstructions that set off all that dreadful rattling in the throat.
Lying on your back also makes you more prone to sleeping with your mouth open. When the mouth opens, the lower jaw drops back, taking the tongue with it. When this happens, the tongue impedes normal airflow at the back of the throat, causing you to snore. Sleeping with your mouth closed can help lessen your chances of snoring – sometimes.
Sleeping on your side is a much better option. It’s a sleep position that offers additional benefits as well.
Research suggests sleeping on your left side can be particularly good. It aids digestion, reduces heartburn, and may help power up your brain function too.
2. Take Advantage of a Tennis Ball
Using tennis balls is an old home remedy for snoring. Sleep-starved wives often used to sew one or more tennis balls to the back of their husbands’ night garments.
It’s a strange-sounding idea but it discourages back sleeping and can work extraordinarily well.
However, there’s probably no need to play a numbers game. A single tennis ball should be enough.
A strategically placed tennis ball is a cheap snoring solution anyone can try at home but, if the idea of using a needle and thread is too daunting, there are tennis ball alternatives you can buy instead.
Several manufacturers have created anti-snoring devices that look like a cross between a backpack and a pillow. They cost more than a tennis ball but do the same thing.
3. Elevate Your Bed
Adding a little extra lift to the head of your bed is another simple anti-snoring hack and it’s not hard to do. With many beds, all you will need are a couple of blocks of wood or two books of a similar size.
There’s no need to be excessive. Sleep experts say an elevation of just four inches often works best. Though relatively small, the inclination helps prevent the base of the tongue from relaxing towards the back of the throat.
4. Invest In a Room Humidifier
Room humidifiers are another useful tool you can use in the war against snoring. Although dry air is unlikely to be the cause of your snoring, it can aggravate your throat and make it worse.
The extra moisture a good humidifier throws out into the air can also help relieve nasal congestion, making it easier for you to breathe through your nose.
In addition to this, sleeping in a cold room can help us to have a more restful night sleep.
5. Take Advantage of Essential Oils
Essential oils, such as eucalyptus, peppermint, and thyme are another simple home remedy that can help control snoring.
Many essential oils have antibacterial properties. Their aromas can be very good for relieving congestion. Additionally, they can help relax the body and mind.
There are several ways you can use essential oils to control snoring. If you have a humidifier, you can add it to the water. Alternatively, you could place a few drops of oil in the water when you are taking a bath.
You can also massage essential oils into your skin, or get a partner to do this for you. However, you will need to dilute the oils with a carrier oil first. This will prevent the essential oils from irritating your skin.
Olive oil can be a good choice for this purpose, as can coconut oil, but there are several other options as well. Go for a ration of 5-6 drops of essential oil for each ounce of carrier oil you use.
6. Lose Weight
If you are overweight or obese, there are many reasons you should do something about it. Reducing the volume of your snoring is just one of them. Losing weight can make you healthier and improve the quality of your life in numerous ways.
When you are overweight, the presence of the extra fat around your throat applies pressure to your airway. This can collapse the muscle tissue, causing an obstruction that makes you snore.
So, eat less, exercise more, and don’t be afraid to ask a doctor or dietitian for expert advice.
7. Make Smart Food Choices
Certain food choices can make you more likely to snore. It’s not a matter of calories, although you will need to eat fewer of them if you are taking serious steps to lose weight.
Foods that contain dairy or gluten can inflame the tissues at the back of the nose and throat. Although, the effect may not be noticeable to you, the way it influences the volume of your snoring is likely to be more apparent to anyone sleeping next to you at night.
Unless you are allergic to dairy or gluten, there is no need to avoid foods that contain them entirely. Just try not to enjoy them too soon before going to bed.
8. Drink More Water
Many people don’t drink enough water to maintain adequate hydration. If you are one of them, you need to drink more. Although, for obvious reasons, you may want to avoid drinking gallons of it just before going to bed.
Dehydration has many damaging effects. One of the things it can do is increase levels of mucus in the nose and throat.
So, how much water should you be drinking a day? Some sources suggest drinking around 1.9 liters (6-8 glasses) but the amount required can vary for many reasons.
For instance, if you are living in a dry climate or doing intensive exercise, you will require more.
9. Avoid Alcohol (Especially at Night)
Although drinking more water is good, drinking too much alcohol is bad and it’s best not to drink any of it all within a few hours of going to bed.
Alcohol is a muscle relaxant. Although you need to drink a lot before you go weak at the knees, it doesn’t take much to affect the muscles in your throat.
By reducing muscle tone in the throat, alcohol can increase airway resistance. If the thought of an alcohol-free life fills you with dread, don’t worry. There’s no need to go that far. Just try and make sure you have your last drink at least four hours before going to bed.
10. Stop Smoking
Cigarette smoke is toxic stuff. Apart from being murder on your lungs, it also irritates the lining of your throat, making you more likely to snore.
Some sources state people who smoke may be three times more likely to snore than people who don’t.
11. Take Steps to Avoid Allergies
Allergies are another thing that can make your snoring worse and dust mites are a primary cause. Using special mattress covers and pillow protectors is a good way to discourage those little mites from visiting and starting to feel too at home.
It’s also best to make sure you change the sheets regularly. Airborne particles like pollen and dust can settle and become embedded in the fabric, increasing the chances of allergic reactions that influence mucous production and snoring.
12. Use a Neti Bottle
If you are wondering what a neti bottle is, it’s a special type of water bottle you use for cleaning the inside of your nose. You squirt it up one nostril, clearing debris and congestion, which washes out the nostril on the other side.
Although they are not exactly a joy to use, neti bottles offer a cheap and simple home solution to nasal congestion. This ability also makes them good for controlling snoring and they can be extremely beneficial for counteracting the effects of dust and pollen.
13. Do Mouth Exercises
Strengthening your tongue and throat muscles is another thing you can do at home to get your snoring under control. The best thing about it is, some of the mouth exercises you can do to achieve this are actually a lot of fun.
Believe it or not, singing is a good way to exercise the muscle of your throat. So don’t be ashamed to blast out a few choruses of your favorite songs.
There’s also a simple exercise you can do to exercise your tongue. Just place it behind your top teeth, apply some pressure, and then slide it back and forth. Do this snore repelling tongue exercise for at least two minutes each day.
Home Remedies for Snoring – Summary
Most of these snoring home remedies require no or little investment. Some of the apparatus you may already have in the house already – who doesn’t have a tennis ball?
If all of the above falls the the next step is to research an anti-snoring aid – this is where it can get very interesting.
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