Over time, your patience for their snoring has to wear thin, right? When you’re tired all the time, you’re likely more irritable and easily frustrated than usual. Your health and wellness can suffer greatly from sleep deprivation. If a snoring partner is keeping you awake at night, you might be at your wit’s end about what to do. We’re here to help.
In this article, we want to help you better understand why your partner snores, and offer what could potentially be a solution to what is often the root cause of it.
What Is Snoring?
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Snoring is the hoarse or harsh sound that occurs when air flows past relaxed tissues in your throat, causing the tissues to vibrate as you breathe.”
Almost everyone snores at various times; however, for some, it can be a problem and indicative of underlying issues. If your partner snores frequently, it could mean they are struggling with another, deeper problem.
Why Do People Snore?
A few reasons people snore include:
- Alcohol: Drinking alcohol too close to bedtime can actually cause snoring. Heavy drinking raises the chances of snoring.
- Weight Gain or Loss: If a person is overweight or has gained or lost weight recently, it could contribute to snoring.
- Smoking: Smoking can affect a person’s airways and breathing, leading to snoring.
- Sinuses: If your partner has seasonal allergies or frequent nasal drainage, it can lead to ongoing snoring issues.
- Sleep Position: Gravity causes the soft tissues in the throat to fall back and restrict your airway when you sleep on your back.
- Medicine: Some medications can carry an unfortunate side effect - snoring.
- Sleep Apnea: Sleep apnea is a condition wherein a person’s breathing is obstructed and even stopped when they sleep. This is a common cause of snoring.
- Mouth-Breathing: When a person breathes primarily through their mouth, it can lead to snoring.
- Tongue Thrust: Tongue thrust describes a condition where a person’s tongue does not rest properly in their mouth. Tongue thrust can indirectly lead to snoring.
The root cause of snoring may be unclear, but what is more obvious is that it is a problem for you and your partner.
Snoring May Be Just Part of the Problem
If your partner snores, there is likely collateral damage for you and them.
- Focus: When you are fatigued, it is more difficult to focus on simple tasks at work and at home.
- Stress and Anxiety: Lack of sleep will contribute to feelings of stress and anxiety, which can, in turn, affect your sleep habits.
- Irritability: Sleep deprivation can make it feel like you have a shorter fuse.
- Diet and Exercise: Irregular sleep patterns can make exercise and physical fitness seem more challenging and lead to over or under-eating.
If at all possible, you want to help your partner correct snoring for their sake and for your health and wellness. But, is there anything you or they can do?
Can Anything Be Done About Snoring?
There are some steps you can take to stop snoring, including:
1) Develop a good bedtime routine: Make sure your bedtime routine reduces the chances of snoring. That means winding down, turning off the television, and preparing for bed in time to get seven to eight hours of sleep.
2) Limit alcohol consumption: Make sure your last drink is well before bedtime.
3) Adjust your sleep position: Adjust your sleep position to your side to help keep your airways open.
4) Stop smoking: If your partner is snoring, it is time to stop smoking.
5) Talk to your doctor: Talk to your physician about medications and whether there are alternatives that could help reduce snoring. If ongoing sinus issues are causing snoring, ask your doctor if there are steps to take to correct allergies or congestion.
6) Seek help with sleep apnea: If sleep apnea is an issue, talk to a doctor about solutions for helping improve breathing during sleep.
7) Correct tongue thrust: Correcting tongue thrust will help to stop mouth breathing, which is the biggest culprit for snoring. could help reduce mouth breathing, which is often a contributing factor to snoring. Not sure if you have a tongue thrust? When you swallow, if your tongue tip does not go to the roof of your mouth, directly behind your front teeth, you probably have a tongue thrust.
How to Correct Tongue Thrust
Tongue thrust is often a contributing factor to snoring. If your partner has tongue thrust, they will benefit from our seven-week program that helps retrain the tongue’s position in the mouth and trains them to nasal breathe. With our program, you will get seven weekly lessons with 3-5 different tongue exercises to train you to swallow a NEW way.
This NEW way of swallowing will become a NEW habit that can improve the way a person breathes during the night and potentially help them stop snoring. This is an online product that comes with easy-to-understand videos that will show you how to do the exercises. The simple exercises are explained in detail, and they do not hurt.
Help your partner potentially stop snoring by visiting our online store and beginning the process of correcting tongue thrust today.