Illustration by Gianpaolo Pagni
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Health Report
Snore No More
By Amanda Spake, May & June 2008
What to do when there’s a buzz saw in your bedroom
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Jim Holmes was a serious snorer for 30 years—which meant that his wife, Shirley, was a serious sufferer.
“He was really loud,” recalls Shirley, who lives with Jim, a retired insurance-underwriting supervisor, in Plano, Texas. “When the kids were home, they could hear him in another bedroom.”
Over the years Shirley bought Jim, 60, a number of drugstore remedies to try, but none of them worked. For a while Jim even used a dental splint—a mouth guard designed to open breathing passages.
“I had a little success with that,” he says, “but my jaw would ache.” So Jim abandoned the splint—which works well for some—and went back to snoring. And Shirley went back to suffering.
The likelihood of snoring increases with age. In one study of people ages 60 through 65, 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women snored regularly.
Snoring isn’t only hard on spouses, of course. It is a leading cause of fatigue and irritability for the snorer. But there’s no denying its impact on couples. More than half of snorers surveyed by the British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association in 2005 said they argued with their mates over snoring.
There is no sure-fire cure for snoring. But, luckily, there are many things that might help both you and your bedmate get a good night’s sleep.
What Is All the Noise About?
During sleep, the muscles in the throat relax. The tongue falls backward, and the airway in the throat becomes narrower. If the airway is partially blocked by something, the flow of air causes the tissues in the throat and soft palate to vibrate, which creates the sound of snoring.
What can increase blockage is extra body weight, particularly a thickening of the neck. Alcohol or sedating drugs before bed are other possible culprits: they relax throat and palate muscles. Allergies and sinus infection cause nasal congestion, and the extra effort needed to pull air through the nose can cause the palate to vibrate. Aging is also a factor. Muscle tone throughout the body decreases with age, and that includes the muscles in the palate, throat, and tongue.
Do-It-Yourself Strategies
Lighten Up For snorers who are overweight, a 10 percent loss of body weight can greatly reduce snoring.
Kick Butts Tobacco smoke clogs your nasal passages, damages your lungs, and causes the upper airway to swell, which constricts your breathing.
Get a Move On People who get regular aerobic exercise, even brisk walking, tend to have less upper-airway congestion and more lung capacity, which improves breathing during sleep.
Snack With Care Don’t feast or drink booze before bed: a full stomach can make breathing more difficult, and alcohol relaxes the muscles in the back of the throat; both can cause snoring.
Do the Twist Snoring is most common among those who sleep on their backs. To stay off your back, sew a tennis ball into the breast pocket of an old T-shirt and wear the shirt backward to bed.
Go on Tilt The American Academy of Otolaryngology recommends that snorers raise the heads of their beds by four inches. You can do this by placing books or bricks under the headboard legs.
Avoid Sedatives Muscle relaxants, sleeping pills, painkillers, tranquilizers, and other sedatives relax the muscles in the throat, encouraging snoring.
Train Your Throat Exercises to strengthen throat muscles are available online. And playing a wind instrument can help. In one study, snorers who practiced the Australian didjeridoo for four months cut snoring threefold.
Sing in the Shower Or in the choir, the band, or any other setting for about 20 minutes per day. Singers snore significantly less frequently than nonsingers.
Attack Allergies Allergic reactions are a key cause of nasal congestion and seasonal snoring. Antihistamines of the sedating variety may worsen snoring, but steroid or saline nasal sprays could help.
Squelch Sinusitis Inflammation of the sinuses blocks airflow. Drinking fluids and using nasal sprays can ease it.
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Drugstore Remedies
Store shelves are laden with snoring remedies, but unfortunately few have been proven to work. Here are three that might help.
Schnoz Strips Nasal spreaders that stick to the outside of the nose can reduce or eliminate snoring by lifting open the nasal passages, so the snorer does not breathe through the mouth.
Mist Opportunity Throat sprays lubricate the throat and, in theory, can reduce vibrations during sleep.
Fluff Stuff Snoring pillows are meant to support the head in a position that reduces snoring. The type shaped to promote sleeping on your side (one brand is Sona) has shown some success.
When to See a Doctor
Loud snoring can be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, a serious condition in which the snorer stops breathing many times a night. Left untreated, it can lead to heart damage, stroke, and even death.
If a snorer is frequently very sleepy during the day, stops breathing during sleep, or snorts awake, gasping for breath, then it’s time to see an otolaryngologist. And even if you don’t have symptoms of apnea, this doc can ease snoring if other remedies have failed.
The Mask Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the standard treatment for sleep apnea and severe snoring. A facemask delivers air pressure into the throat. The machine is effective but can be cumbersome.
Chopper Checker A plastic dental splint fits into the mouth over the teeth. It moves the lower jaw forward and enhances nose breathing.
Stiff Upper Mouth The most common types of surgery for snoring, in which tissue is cut away from the throat and palate, are very painful and frequently not very effective. But newer procedures called palatal stiffening—shoring up the soft palate to prevent it from vibrating—can work well. The newest and possibly most effective kind is called a pillar palatal implant, in which a surgeon inserts a few one-inch-long polyester cords into the soft palate to promote scarring and stiffening. A reduction in snoring usually takes a month. In surveys, as many as nine in ten patients were satisfied with the procedure.
Jim Holmes, our problem snorer, is one such patient. He had the pillar procedure about a year ago. As expected, the implants did not immediately reduce Jim’s snoring, but now, he says, his wife tells him that his snoring has greatly lessened. Shirley and Jim Holmes now sleep together—not silently, but in the same room.
Amanda Spake has written for U.S. News & World Report and the Los Angeles Times.
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