Your significant other nudges you awake again tonight and you know the reason. If your snoring is severe and is keeping you awake at night, waking up groggy in the morning and causing your partner to go to the guest room, then you don’t realize the actual cost of your snoring.
The search for a solution to stop snoring typically begins with one late night use of a nasal strip and culminates in a drawer filled with unused strips. This guide cuts the guesswork and walks you through what really works (and what to be aware of as medical red flags) from tonight’s remedies to the medical ones.
About 1 in 3 adults snores at least sometimes and researchers estimate that approximately 90 million Americans say they snore at least occasionally and about 37 million snore regularly enough to make it hard for them to sleep well and for others to sleep through.
Why Do People Snore?
Air flow is when snoring begins with no willpower. During sleep, the muscles of the throat relax and constrict the airway which causes air to push through the tight opening, vibrating the soft palate and other soft tissue in the back of the throat creating the noise.
There are several reasons that further narrow that squeeze. Additional neck weight, nasal congestion, drinking alcohol before sleep and sleeping on your back all relax or block the airway sufficiently to make quiet breathing a loud snore.
Is Your Snoring Normal or a Warning Sign?
Snoring occasionally does not indicate a problem. A cold, Friday night drinks or sleeping in an unusual position could be the cause of a ‘flu’ type snore that only lasts a day or two.
But if the snoring is constant, that is not the same. Any man or woman that snores frequently is likely to have a problem for about 44% of men and 28% of women between 30 and 60 years of age and when combined with gasping, choking sounds and daytime fatigue. It can be an indicator that’s more at work than the sound is harmless.
How to Stop Snoring While Sleeping
There’s no better solution than how to stop snoring while sleeping and they’re free. Experiment with these three tonight before you turn to one product
- Sleep on your side and use a positional tool: Back sleeping will gravitate towards the throat and side sleeping will keep the airway open. The body pillow, the tennis-ball-in-pocket trick or a wedge pillow all teach your body to avoid its back during the night.
- Raise the head of your bed: A 4 to 6 inch elevation of the bed eliminates compression of the throat that occurs during flat sleeping and cuts snoring by a significant margin for a large percentage of people who sleep flat.
- Avoid drinking any alcoholic or sedative drinks: before going to bed as research has proved that alcohol causes reduction in the muscular tone of your throat leading to snoring by almost 50% within two hours after you have had any alcohol.
How to Stop Snoring Naturally
The question is “how to stop snoring naturally”? Natural remedies work over time but they address the underlying problems rather than the symptoms.
- Weight loss: Extra weight on the neck compresses the airway and a study of adults found that those who are overweight have almost twice the chance of snoring compared to healthy weight adults, so any weight loss puts the airways at a lower pressure on the throat.
- Throat and tongue exercises (myofunctional therapy): Basic activities such as massaging the tongue against the roof of the mouth or using the tone of vowel sounds help tone the muscles that always soften while sleeping and are now being regularly prescribed by sleep clinics as a real initial treatment rather than a last resort.
- Hydration: The polydipsia caused by dehydration leads to stickier mucous membranes in the throat and stickier mucous membranes vibrate louder, so more water beers and sodas during the day will keep the mucous membranes in your throat more lubricated and quieter at night.
- Essential oils and steam: Using peppermint and eucalyptus oil makes it easier to breathe since it helps get rid of nasal inflammation, and putting a few drops of essential oils in a bowl of steaming water before going to bed will help clear up the clogged airways, allowing fresh air to pass through enabling you to sleep quietly
- Heavy or late meals: When the stomach is full before going to bed, there is pressure from the stomach on the diaphragm, leading to reflux which irritates the throat.
Snoring Remedies: Devices & Products
If lifestyle changes are not a complete cure there are special snoring remedies that help fill the gap between “try tonight” and visiting a specialist.
- Nasal strips vs nasal dilators: Strips fit on the exterior of the nose and stretch the nostrils open, dilators fit inside the nose and stretch the airway from the inside both help to decrease snoring especially triggered by nasal congestion but nasal dilators last longer on a per-use basis; nasal strips are more expensive but they are user-friendly.
- Mouthpieces and mandibular devices: These devices can be used to gently move the lower jaw forward and prevent the tongue from falling into the back of the throat and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recently recommended that mandibular devices be used as first-line treatment for primary snoring.
- Humidifiers: During the night, the air is dry and irritates and inflames the throat tissue and a humidifier humidifies the air again making the throat tissue looser and less likely to vibrate.
Device Comparison: Best For & Cost Range
| Device | Best For | Cost Range |
|---|---|---|
| Nasal strips | Congestion-related snoring | $8–$15 (30-count box) |
| Nasal dilators | Nighttime nasal blockage | $15–$30 |
| Mandibular devices | Tongue-based airway collapse | $50–$150 |
| Humidifier | Dry-air irritation | $30–$80 |
Medications & Snoring
Medications are not necessarily a cure for stop snoring but rather help to address the underlying causes of snoring. During allergy season or when suffering from a cold, decongestants and antihistamines reduce congestion and open up the airway enough to allow things to calm down temporarily.
Some medicines have the opposite effect, however. Those taking sedatives, sleeping pills or muscle relaxants relax the throat muscles in addition to relaxing the rest of the body, so people who have this medication should tell their doctor that they snore.
Snoring in Women vs Men — Does It Differ?
Men snore more frequently than women, although this will become less pronounced as they get older. The research has revealed that around 44% of men snore habitually while 28% of women do in the age group of 30 to 60 years, as fat distribution in men tends to be around the neck and throat.
Menopause alters the situation for women. Women catch up to men on snoring rates much more after menopause than younger women do because they experience hormonal changes that loosen tissues in the throat and decrease muscle tone.
When to See a Doctor / Sleep Specialist
If you snore noisily and often, it’s a problem that needs to be addressed but some symptoms make it a health issue. Gasping or choking during sleep, morning headaches and daytime drowsiness despite a full night’s sleep are more likely to indicate sleep apnea than mere snoring.
A sleep specialist can determine what is really occurring. About half of the people who snore do have some sleep apnea, so there is no need to guess if you have any get a home sleep test or an overnight sleep study to find out.
Conclusion
Stop snoring is not a big deal unless it interferes with you and your partner’s sleep. For most people, the solution to the problem is small changes and these are the kinds of changes you can make without taking a prescription or visiting a specialist: sleep on your side, get a humidifier or go to bed earlier than usual.
Try the free fixes first, review the outcome for one week and escalate to devices or doctor if there is no change in noise or change in daytime drowsiness. Daily Care Insights demystifies sleep health issues like this so you can address the root cause not just the symptom and discover more guides to develop a nightly routine that actually works.
FAQs
How do I prevent myself from snoring naturally tonight?
Rest your side, raise your head on an additional pillow and avoid alcohol before sleep. During the same night, all 3 of these changes will decrease airway compression without any products.
How is it possible to sleep without snoring?
Yes, location is more important than you may think. Almost half of occasional snorers who sleep on their side (sidesleepers) gain a cure for snoring after just one night.
Is snoring a symptom of sleep apnea?
Not always but often enough to take a look. The snoring is so loud and so frequent that about half of all those who snore habitually also have obstructive sleep apnea, so snoring and daytime fatigue should prompt a sleep study.
Is it possible to completely stop snoring by weight loss?
For many people, weight loss helps a lot to diminish snoring, particularly if they have an abundance of tissue in their neck. The nasal strip does not usually treat snoring completely if there are other contributing factors involved such as nose shape or sleeping positions.
Is a nasal strip an efficient treatment for snoring?
Nasal strips are formulated to specifically widen the nostrils from the outside to combat snoring related to congestion. They are not very effective for snoring due to tongue position or failure of throat muscles to close and results vary by cause.
