Snoring is not normal — I want to make sure that’s clear. So in this article, I’m going to walk through what snoring is, why you should be concerned about it, and what you can do to stop it.
What Is Snoring and What Causes It?
Snoring is the result of the muscles in the airway — your mouth, your nose, as well as your throat — relaxing, resulting in a narrowing or obstruction of the airway. This obstruction causes the soft tissue in the airway to vibrate, which causes the cadence, which causes the familiar sound of snoring.
The way I like to think of it is kind of like a garden hose. So if you’ve ever been out in the garden and you stick your thumb on the end of the hose and the water sprays out much faster — exact same principle. However, your nose is that hose. And so anything that blocks the opening, or things like congestion that narrows it down, makes the air move faster. So when the air moves faster, it causes that vibration, causes the cadence, causes the snore.
What Percentage of People Actually Snore?
Around 57% of men and 40% of women snore. Believe it or not, even 10 to 12% of some children will snore habitually.
While snoring itself can be a harmless and temporary occurrence, believe it or not, it can also indicate potential greater health problems for the person that’s snoring. While snoring becomes a common problem with age, certain risk factors will increase the possibility of snoring, including:
- Being overweight
- Alcohol consumption
- Nasal conditions such as a deviated septum or chronic rhinitis
- Smoking
- Pregnancy
- Even something as innocuous as sleeping on your back can contribute to snoring
And to make matters worse, these risk factors are often indicators for even greater health problems — like obstructive sleep apnea.
**What Can You Do to Reduce Snoring? First, Understand What Type of Snorer You Are**
Let’s take a look at the different types of snoring and snorers. I’m not going to say that one very well — and where these sounds originate. Turns out, there’s types of snores. So not all snores are the same. There’s several different types of snores, and then the type often depends on where the obstruction exists.
So there’s some in the nasopharynx, some in the oropharynx, and some in the hypopharynx. For example, snoring can result from allergens irritating a person’s nasal passages — making them a nasal snorer. Inflammation from the back of the mouth or deep in the throat can cause snoring as well.
However, snoring rarely originates in just one spot, but rather from a combination of places. I’ve got people who are nose and throat snores. I’ve got people who are mouth and throat. I mean, there’s a lot of different combinations in there — but you kind of get the idea.
I’ve developed a snoring quiz that can actually help you figure out what type of snoring that you might have. I’ve made it available on my website. These questions could help you understand what type of snoring you may have, which allows you to match your snoring to a specific treatment.
A Quick Favor — Share This With Someone Who Needs It
Got to be honest with you — normally this is the part of the article where the host says “stop everything, do me a favor and like and subscribe.” I’m not going to do that. Because instead, what I care about more is that you share this article.
Do me a favor — think of one person you know who is struggling with snoring themselves, or has a bed partner who snores. I want you to send them this article right now. I promise you, they will benefit from something like that. Because whoever it is, I just want to make sure that I’m getting the word out there and helping as many people as I possibly can get a good night’s sleep.
Do me that favor — give it a share.
All right — back to the article.
How Do We Stop Snoring? Positive Lifestyle Changes That Work
So with all this in mind, what positive lifestyle changes can you make to help you stop snoring?
1. Losing Weight
I know that’s not a simple one — but let’s start with that one anyway. To start, losing weight is often the most significant step that you can take to reduce or — sometimes even eliminate — snoring.
While people with a normal weight range can still snore, extra fat tissue around the neck and throat can narrow a person’s airway — especially guys. A lot of people don’t realize this, but we have a tendency to pack on the weight in our necks — and that’s usually where we see the snoring.
Losing some extra weight can help to open up the airway passages — sometimes eliminating the issue entirely. Once the weight goal is achieved, believe it or not, just losing around 5% of your body weight can show a reduction of about 50 dB — which, by the way, might save your marriage.
So I’m not talking about a tremendous amount of weight. A 200-pound person — 5% is 10 pounds. Right? Can you lose 10 pounds to maybe save your marriage? Probably a good idea.
However, if weight loss doesn’t eliminate the problem of snoring, there are also some other ways to proceed.
2. Stop Smoking
Okay — on top of all the other health problems that smoking presents, it can also make you or your partner more likely to snore by irritating the airways. Even secondhand smoke can increase the risk of snoring.
Quitting is far easier said than done — but doing so can help treat and prevent a variety of health problems outside of snoring.
To be fair — if you can’t stop smoking, try not smoking just before bed and not irritating those tissues — and see if you can get that decibel level to start to reduce.
3. Avoid Alcohol Before Bed
Here’s another biggie — and it’s not too fun: avoid alcohol.
It’s important to also avoid alcohol just before bed. Drinking alcoholic beverages a few hours before going to sleep can relax the tissue in your throat — causing that vibration which causes the snore.
In addition, alcohol usage is associated with sleep disorders like insomnia, circadian rhythm abnormalities, and short sleep duration. Let’s be fair — most people wake up in the middle of the night to pee after they’ve been drinking alcohol — which is a big sleep disruption.
So there’s a whole host of reasons not to be having alcohol anywhere near bedtime.
4. Avoid Medications That Promote Muscle Relaxation
Another one that a lot of people really don’t understand or haven’t heard about is to avoid medications that promote muscle relaxation.
Aside from just avoiding alcohol before bed, taking medications that promote muscle relaxation in the evening can actually increase snoring. These are called benzodiazepines — such as Xanax, Ativan, even Valium. These cause relaxation in the muscles and the throat — which can then cause snoring.
However — before changing any medications, you need to speak with your doctor first. Maybe you can talk with your doctor about moving the administration of those medications to earlier in the day — so that it doesn’t necessarily have that effect at night.
But I want to be clear: do not stop taking your medications without talking to your doctor.
5. Change Your Sleep Position
The old “bang them in the ribs so that they roll over to their side” kind of tends to work.
If you’ve tried all the things that I’ve said and are still struggling, the sleep position change might be another one that you can use.
Sleeping on your back will cause your tongue and all that anatomy to fall to the back of your throat or against the top of your airway. So if you want to remedy this, you can actually raise your head up slightly — or sleep on your side.
Now, there are wedge pillows that you can do — where it actually brings your whole torso up. That’s certainly a remedy to do that. Or again — flipping to the side — that can often help quite a bit.
For my people who like to sleep on their side and they’re trying to get used to it — sometimes a body pillow can help prop you up and put you in the right position.
You can also train yourself to sleep on your side using a tennis ball or a rolled-up pair of socks attached to the back of your pajamas.
My personal favorite is what I do: I take an old backpack, I take a football, I put a football in the backpack, and I click it on. And I can guarantee you — you aren’t going to fall asleep on your back. And within about five days, the whole thing is done and over. So it should make your life much, much easier.
6. Reduce Nasal Congestion
Also — it’s reducing nasal congestion. And by the way, this one is probably — if I had to put them on the list — this is going to be definitely right under weight loss.
Really, we want to decongest for better rest.
So if you’re congested, or if your nasal passages are irritated — rinse and clean the nasal passages with a saline solution or a neti pot. Doing so can reduce inflammation and kind of help clear away some of the debris that could be clogging up those passages.
At the very least, it’s worth getting an air purifier. This will help for any sleeper — but will remove a lot of the particulates which can actually cause congestion overnight.
Yep — you heard that right. You might not have congestion anywhere else in your house — but because you don’t have an air purifier in your bedroom and there’s some particulates in there that you happen to be allergic to — you get congested every night. And lo and behold — you start snoring.
Another good thing: a humidifier can also help reduce swelling or irritation in the airways by adding more moisture to the air that you’re breathing — again, which can also help.
7. Anti-Snoring Mouth Guards & Oral Appliances
There are a few other things out there that I think we should talk about.
Anti-snoring mouth guards can be very effective. So your doctor might suggest you get an anti-snoring mouthpiece. These are worn at night and are designed to keep your airway open by slowly moving your jaw forward.
In fact, there’s two different types:
- There’s a **mandibular advancement device**, which pushes the lower jaw and tongue forward — keeping them propped so that way, if you look here, it opens up my airway space.
- There’s just the **tongue retaining devices** — these are kind of a suction cup that attaches to the front of your tongue and pulls your tongue forward.
I’ve got to be honest with you — I’ve tried a few of them myself. They’re not for me. But I do have patients that love them.
There’s a third version that’s kind of a hybrid of the two — that brings the jaw forward and keeps the tongue from falling backwards. So there’s a lot of types out there. Personally, I like a lot of the hybrid ones — I think those work pretty well.
8. Nasal Dilators — External & Internal
Now, there are also these things called nasal dilators. Right — so what do I mean?
They’re external and internal. It’s just those — you know — those strips that go across your nose.
But I’m going to be honest with you — most people use them incorrectly. Most people put them too high. I see this all the time — they’ve got this strip up here. This cartilage doesn’t open up and move. However, if you put it just across the horizon of the nose, it will help open up the nostrils. And that’s the name of the game here — is getting more air in, getting the pipe bigger.
So these external — if worn appropriately — can be very effective.
Personally, I like the internal ones. They go — yep — I’m talking about something that goes up into your nose. But guess what? It’s in here — and it opens everything up. And it works well.
I’ll be honest with you — on the nights if my wife and I are out and I might have a bourbon or a beer — she’ll turn to me and she’ll say, “Go put that nose thingy in so you don’t snore, Michael.” And I’ve got to be honest with you — it works pretty well.
9. Over-the-Counter Snoring Aids
There are over-the-counter snoring aids. Some of the over-the-counter options that are offered by the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery include:
- Nasal — we talked a little bit about those — such as Breathe Right.
- There’s also something called nasal resistance valves. Uh — there’s only one company that I know of that has created these — it’s called TheraVent. You have to look them up. It’s an interesting product because it puts a valve on your nose and it kind of pushes air in and pushes air out — almost like having a CPAP. I found them to be highly effective.
- And then these oral appliances that we’ve been talking about — such as mouth guards — which can be self-fitted or fitted by a specialist.
Personally, I’ve used one called ZQuiet — and I found it to be incredibly effective.
10. Mouth Tape — Use With Caution
Mouth tape — this is another biggie.
Should you use mouth tape for snoring? I would have to say that the data would say yes — but only if you’re cleared from having sleep apnea.
There’s a lot of issues with mouth tape.
Number one — a lot of people are using mouth tape completely horizontally. I think this is pretty much a terrible idea. You need to have one strip that goes straight down — that’s probably the best way of doing it.
And you really do need to be cleared for sleep apnea.
Also, you need to use specialized tape — so that when it pulls off in the morning, it doesn’t pull your skin off of your lips or any of the skin around your lip area. That can be a problem as well.
But I have had people use it.
Here’s the problem — if you’ve not been tested for sleep apnea, guess what? You taped your mouth — and now you’ve masked the symptoms of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea will get worse and worse. A year from now, you could end up with rip-roaring sleep apnea — just because you didn’t check before you started using mouth tape.
So my recommendation is: do a quick screen. Figure out if you’ve got sleep apnea.
Is It Sleep Apnea? Don’t Ignore the Signs
There are now home sleep tests available — and we’ll talk about those in a second.
Snoring and sleep apnea are a big deal. Like I said in the beginning — snoring isn’t normal. Snoring can be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea — a common but serious sleep disorder that increases the risk of other serious conditions such as cardiovascular disease — even cognitive issues.
Snoring does not always mean that one has OSA. But the link between the two makes it vital to get tested and treated — to ensure that your snoring isn’t a part of a more serious disorder.
So if you’re reading this article and you’re a snorer — or your bed partner is a snorer — I want you to seriously consider getting checked for sleep apnea.
The good news is — you can now do tests from home, from the comfort of your own bed.
Home sleep tests for sleep apnea have come a long way in the last few years — since COVID. So again, there is really no downside to getting tested.
I’ve even included a link to what I think is the best HST on the market in the description below.
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