SNORING

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This topic is about simple snoring. If you stop breathing, choke, or gasp during sleep, you may have a problem called sleep apnea, which can be serious.

What is snoring?

You snore when the flow of air from your mouth or nose to your lungs makes the tissues of your throat vibrate when you sleep. This can make a loud, raspy noise. Loud snoring can make it hard for you and your partner to get a good night’s sleep.

You may not know that you snore. Your bed partner may notice the snoring and that you sleep with your mouth open. If snoring keeps you or your bed partner from getting a good night’s sleep, one or both of you may feel tired during the day.

Snoring may point to other medical problems, such as obstructive sleep apnea.Sleep apnea can be a serious problem, because you stop breathing at times during sleep. So if you snore often, talk to your doctor about it.

Snoring is more common in men than in women.

What causes snoring?

When you sleep, the muscles in the back of the roof of your mouth (soft palate),tongue, and throat relax. If they relax too much, they narrow or block your airway. As you breathe, your soft palate and uvula vibrate and knock against the back of your throat. This causes the sounds you hear during snoring.

The narrower the airway is, the more the tissue vibrates, and the louder the snoring is.You do not snore when you are awake because the muscles of the throat hold the tissues in the back of the mouth in place. When you sleep, the muscles relax, allowing the tissues to collapse.

Snoring may be caused by:

• Enlarged tissues in the nose, mouth, or throat. Enlarged tonsils are a frequent cause of snoring in children.
• Blocked nasal passages, which make it more difficult to inhale. This affects the tissue of the throat, which may pull together during the extra effort it takes to breathe, which in turn narrows the airway. A blocked nasal passage can be caused by an upper respiratory infection (such as a cold), an allergy, or nasal polyps.
• A deviated nasal septum , which disturbs airflow in the nose.
• Loss of muscle tone in the throat, which makes it easier for tissue to collapse. This can be due to aging or lack of fitness.

Other things that may contribute to snoring include:

• Drinking alcohol, which depresses the part of the brain that regulates breathing. This can overly relax the tongue and throat muscles, causing them to partially block air movement.
• Obesity. Fat in the throat may narrow the airway.
• Medicines that relax you or make you drowsy, such as those taken for allergies,depression, or anxiety.

Snoring - What Increases Your Risk

Factors that may increase your risk of snoring include:

• Being male. Men are more likely to snore than women.
• Age. Snoring is most common in middle-aged people. One study reports that among men, the chance that they will begin snoring increases until 50 to 60 years of age and then decreases.
• Heredity. Snoring may run in families.
• Weight gain and obesity.
• Smoking. Exposing children to tobacco smoke may also increase their risk of snoring.
• Use of alcohol or sedative medicines.
• Chronic nasal congestion during sleep. This is often caused by colds or allergies.
• Jaw abnormalities, such as a small chin and overbite (class II malocclusion -the upper jaw and teeth overlap the bottom jaw and teeth). This may be an especially important factor in women.

How is it treated?

You may be able to treat snoring by making changes in your lifestyle and in the way you prepare for sleep. For example:

• To help prevent snoring, you can:
  • Avoid the use of alcohol and medicines that slow your breathing, such as sleeping pills and tranquilizers.
  • Eat sensibly, exercise, and stay at a healthy weight.
  • Go to bed at the same time every night and get plenty of sleep. Regular sleep patterns help you sleep better, and more restful sleep may reduce snoring.
  • Sleep on your side, not on your back. Sleeping on your back can increase snoring. Try sewing a pocket in the middle of the back of your pajama top, putting a tennis ball into the pocket, and stitching it closed. This will help keep you from sleeping on your back.
  • Quit smoking. This reduces inflammation and swelling in the airway, which may contribute to the narrowing of the airway.
  • Raise the head of your bed 4 in. (10 cm) to 6 in. (15 cm) by putting bricks under the legs of the bed. (Using pillows to raise your head and upper body will not work.) Sleeping at a slight incline can prevent the tongue from falling toward the back of the throat and contributing to a blocked or narrowed airway.
  • Promptly treat breathing problems, such as a stuffy nose caused by a cold orallergies. Breathing problems can raise the risk of snoring.

If these treatments do not work, you may be able to use a machine that helps you breathe while you sleep. This treatment is called continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP (say "SEE-pap"). In rare cases, your doctor may suggest surgery to open your airway.

Snoring is not always considered a medical problem, so find out if your insurance covers the cost of treatment.