Natural Remedies for Snoring

Snoring affects millions of people. And because people who live alone often don’t know that they snore, many times it goes undiagnosed. No one likes snoring because it keeps other people awake and can be embarrassing. But snoring can also come along with other health problems and it should be addressed.

What Are Natural Anti-Snoring Remedies?

Snoring is one of those problems that the doctor just can’t prescribe a pill to make it better. This means that you may have to change certain habits or parts of your lifestyle in order to naturally and holistically find a cure for your snoring problems. It can take a little bit longer, but the good news is that there are absolutely no side effects—and you don’t need to refill a prescription every month!

Treating snoring means figuring out the reasons you are snoring in the first place and coming up with solutions that can counteract those problems. You may find that your snoring is caused by a few different factors, and changing or eliminating those parts of your lifestyle can change everything about the way that you breathe during sleep!

Natural Snoring Remedies that Work

Here are some natural snoring remedies that you may want to try out:

Roll Over. Sleeping on your back is really the worst when it comes to snoring. Gravity impacts the tissues in the neck and throat, causing a restriction of air flow and increasing the potential for snoring. Getting comfortable on your side or stomach is truly better for sleep as it allows the air to flow freely through your respiratory system. Special pillows can be purchased to help with getting comfortable sleeping on your side, and wedges for the mattress may be effective in reducing snoring as they elevate the upper body to fight against gravity.

Drink More Water. Dehydration can cause the mucus in your nose and soft palate to become sticky, which can lead to an inability for the air to flow through your mouth and nose as easily. This stickiness can cause snoring problems. Make sure that you are drinking the recommended eight 8 ounce glasses of water each day to avoid this issue.

Drop Some Pounds. One of the most common reasons for snoring is the excess weight that many Americans carry. Being overweight or obese can mean that fat pockets are growing in the neck, limiting the amount of air that can come through the breathing passages during sleep. Often, taking off just 10-20 pounds can help the average person to breathe better at night and stop snoring.

Remove Allergens. You may have allergies that you aren’t aware of. If your nose gets stuffy at night, it may be that your pillows, comforter, or other linens are filled with dust mites that are causing you to snore. Cats or dogs that sleep in your bed may also be culprits as exposure to dander from pets can result in congestion and potentially lead to snoring. If you don’t snore during a nap that you take on the sofa, but always snore at night when sleeping in the bedroom, this could be a clue.

Get your house cleaned up from allergens by buying new pillows, investing in non-allergenic down comforters, laundering your bed linens more often, and possibly even buying a new mattress. Dusting, vacuuming, and generally cleaning more often may help as well. If you can’t seem to clean your house without sneezing, this could be a sign of allergies that can also be associated with snoring.

Humidify the Air. Dry air can create irritation in the nose and throat that can ultimately lead to snoring. Run a cool mist humidifier in your home to eliminate dry air and moisten the throat and nasal membranes. Adding essential oils (such as peppermint or eucalyptus) to your cool mist humidifier may add an extra boost to keep you from snoring.

Avoid Drinking Alcohol. Even though that nightcap might feel like a great idea in the evening, it can severely interrupt your sleep quality. The relaxation factor of alcohol means that the muscles and tissues in your breathing passages become floppy and can interfere with nighttime breathing. Avoiding alcohol in the evening could make a huge difference in your snoring habits.

Do Exercises. No, not the kind of exercises that cause you to lose weight (although that can’t hurt either). These are tongue and throat exercises. As snoring is often caused by lax muscles in the throat and neck, certain exercises performed with the tongue may help to increase muscle tone and therefore decrease snoring. Check with your doctor to find out more about which tongue exercises may help your strengthen and tone your muscles to reduce snoring.

Avoid Certain Foods. A few foods that people eat can make snoring symptoms worse as they tend to thicken the mucus that blocks the nasal passages. Milk, cheese and other dairy products should be avoided prior to going to be. Other foods to avoid include red meat, gluten, and sugar can also trigger a high production of sticky phlegm that could make snoring worse.

Stop Smoking. One big culprit of snoring can be smoking –either first or second hand. Smoking causes nasal congestion and chest congestion, as well as relaxing the throat muscles, which can obviously lead to breathing problems such as snoring.

Anti-Snoring Tools. Drugstores and other kinds of stores offer many drug-free over the counter solutions to snoring that may work for you. Nasal strips stick on to the outside of the nose and open up the breathing passages to reduce snoring. Throat sprays may lubricate and increase the tone in the neck muscles to keep snoring at bay. Chin strips help to keep the jaw where it should be so that it doesn’t fall open and become a liability for problems with snoring. Each of these tools will likely work differently for various people, depending on the cause of the snoring. In most cases, these tools are affordable and can be tried with little difficulty.

Conclusion

Snoring is a part of many people’s lives which most would rather have eliminated. Using these natural remedies (along with the possible help of a doctor) will allow you to get down to the bottom of your snoring problem. Once you’ve found the problem and the solution, you can get back to sleeping well at night and feeling healthy and well-rested in the morning!

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