Snoring is both harmless and harmful. It demands treatment but before that it’s useful to get to know possible causes and prevention of snoring while sleeping. These are what we’re going to figure out, and we’ll give you hands-on and easy ways to prevent snoring that you can try for yourself.
What causes snoring and how to prevent it
What prevents snoring is closely connected with what causes it. So, to get to the point gradually, let’s figure what causes snoring first.
Snoring happens because of an obstruction in the nasal passage or throat. No matter how big that obstruction is, it creates a vacuum in the airways. This is what causes snoring. And how to prevent it is the first question we face.
Usually, people with throat issues, obesity or genetic problems are considered in the risk zone. Sex and age also matter: men are more likely to snore and the older you are the chances of snoring increases. So ways on how to prevent snoring in women and men may be different. Every person demands a unique approach, but there’re some universal ways of snoring prevention.
6 ways to prevent snoring
As your health is in your hands, especially preventing disease, you should know how to prevent yourself from snoring. Here’re six ways to do that:
- Change sleeping posture. Sleeping on your side is considered to be very effective snore prevention as this posture doesn’t provoke snoring as sleeping on your back.
- Try anti-snoring devices. Nasal valves, oral appliances and others. This equipment changes your sleeping habits and helps you prevent snoring for some time.
- Do exercises. All physical activity is good but to avoid snoring, you should do special exercises. By doing tongue exercises to prevent snoring naturally, you train your muscles to work better and cope with snoring.
- Use humidifier. Research shows that dry air triggers snoring because it irritates the membranes in your airways. Adding peppermint or eucalyptus oil to the water clears the sinuses.
- Start tracking your sleep. The easiest way of preventing snoring while sleeping is using an app that does the job for you. Check out Goodsomnia Lab: the app records every noise and in the morning you get a sleeping report.
- Avoid bad habits. Drinking alcohol and smoking relaxes your tissues and provokes snoring. Eating fat food increases the neck size, also an additional cause of snoring.
How can you prevent snoring naturally?
Deciding to prevent sleep apnea naturally and snoring is a big step. Here are two pieces of advice that you may find useful:
- Snoring prevention exercises. Take 7-10 minutes before sleep or in the morning and do this: push the tongue tip against the roof of your mouth and slide the tongue backward. Then the back of your tongue must be downward against the floor of your mouth while the tongue tip should touch the bottom front teeth. Repeat 20 times.
- Set a sleeping schedule. You don’t need to take any preventive snoring products or anti-snoring aids if you’re strict with your sleeping schedule and hygiene. Avoid light and screens before sleeping, go to bed prepared to sleep, minimize the noise in your room and sleep no less than 7 hours.
Note, you don’t necessarily need to use special things to help prevent snoring. Monitor your sleep, figure the reason for your snoring and pick the treatment that works for you. And of course, sleep enough.
