Archive for the ‘Snoring’ Category
Snoring: Why Do We Snore?
Most of us snore at one or another, if not all the time. Some snore loudly, some just purr. Surveys have produced different results, but it is probable that about half of us over the age of 30 snore. The probability of snoring increases with age and obesity and about 60% of men and 40% of women do it regularly, even more do it infrequently.
Snoring is caused when there is an obstruction to the free flow of air in the back of the throat and or nose. This area is ‘collapsible’, so the noise is usually produced by the flapping of the uvula against the soft (upper) palate. Therefore, weak throat muscles or a ‘fat neck’ can aggravate the condition. Consumption of alcohol in the late evening increases the chances of snoring because it relaxes the throat muscles and sleeping on one’s back allows the tongue to slip back and partially block the airway. Also, not everyone is built to exactly the same proportions - some have a longer, narrower palate, which is more collapsible and others have a longer uvula, which is more flappable.
Acupuncture
Some say wearing a ring on one of the little fingers helps because it puts pressure on a relevant acupuncture point. Others put a tennis ball in a sock and sew the sock to the back of their pyjamas. One doctor even suggested that playing the didgeridoo could cure snoring by tightening up and toning the throat muscles.
Consume Less Alcohol
Drinking less the evening, losing weight and sleeping on your side are the best ‘home’ remedies. However, there are also surgical appliances on the market and surgery is available too. The appliances vary, but they range from adhesive strips to hold the nostrils open to ‘mandibular advancement splints’, which, worn in the mouth, ’set the jaws to their optimum position’ [!].
The Social, Psychological, Physical and Medical Problems Cause By Snoring
Snoring can cause serious social, psychological, physical and medical problems and should not be taken too lightly. Socially, families may suffer from having a heavy snorer in the household. Friends and colleagues may not invite a heavy snorer to ’sleep over’ or go on holiday or on business trips together. Psychologically, a snorer may feel ostracised, embarrassed or even victimized for something that is really totally beyond his or her control. Physically, snorers suffer from lack of sleep and all that that entails; for example, daytime drowsiness and the inability to concentrate for log periods of time, which in turn can cause problems at work and in the car - a high proportion of road accidents is caused by the driver dozing at the wheel. Medically, a recent Australian survey reported that, after treatment, heavy snorers were 64% less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, because heavy snoring, which can also be sleep apnoea, puts extra stress on the heart. Obstructive apnoea is the condition where a snorer stops breathing due to complete obstruction of the airway for up to ten seconds seven times an hour while sleeping. This can happen between 30 and 300 times a night. After years of apnoea, hypertension and an enlarged heart may result.
Light snoring is not really serious but even that means obstructed breathing, which is not a good thing. Heavy snoring can be a sign of a problem or a warning of problems to come. A doctor can help; snoring is neither funny nor hopeless.
By: Michael Russell
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Do Snoring Exercises Help You Stop Snoring or Just Another Scam?
If you are a snorer, chances are you may have heard of snoring exercises that can help you stop this annoying problem. You may wonder whether it really works or are they all just nonsense. As humans, we often disregard remedies that are new or different and do not bother trying them out even more so if they are health related. Hence, you may be suspicious if someone were to tell you that these exercises do any good at all. However, these exercises are scientifically linked to the principle that snoring is caused by weak throat muscles that collapse during sleep. Therefore, they make some sense after all as they are aimed at strengthening the throat and jaw muscles which is directly related to snoring.
Improving Muscle Tone
Snoring exercises that are done consistently and regularly do stop snoring as they are aimed at improving muscle tone around the throat. These exercises are easy to perform and should be done daily for a few minutes. It can be done anywhere and does not require any equipment. All you have to do is open your mouth as wide as you can and then close it shut. Make sure your lips meet when you close your mouth. Next, pucker your lips as though you are going to kiss someone and hold this position for ten seconds before relaxing. After that, put on the widest smile you possibly can, hold it and then relax. You may perform these exercises in any order you desire.
If the cause of your snoring is due to your tongue falling back into your throat, the following exercises may help you. Stick your tongue out as far as you can, make sure it stays in the middle, hold it for 5 seconds then relax. You aim is to stick your tongue our further each day. Over time, your tongue and throat muscles will get stronger and you will notice that the results. You may also try touching the tip of your nose and chin with your tongue. This method provides some sort of guide as your nose and chin act like indicators for your tongue.
Singing also helps tone the muscle tissues that line your air passage. If these muscle tissues are weak, they tend to lax and cause you to snore when you sleep. Singing through the vowels can be helpful as well as certain notes, try singing ‘La’ and ‘Li’ repeatedly.
Most Natural Way to Stop Snoring
Snoring exercises are convenient and can be done almost anywhere at anytime of the day. These exercises are free and do not do any harm for you to try it out before moving on to other therapies. On the other hand, surgery and other aids seem drastic and may also cause some side effects as compared to the natural way to remedy snoring. So, if you are asking whether these exercises do help? The answer is yes, they do and with no side effects.
By: Ray Lam
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When And Why We Snore
Lets look at what happens when we’re awake. During the day, we gather tension in our body. Not only do we become physically tired and tense, an emotional tension is also stored in our muscles.
When you get angry, isn’t your tendency to make a fist with your hands. Even if you don’t intend to hit anybody. It’s part of our unconscious body language and our bodies do it automatically.
It’s projected, the tone of our voice and our facial expression counts for at least 80% of our total communication. The words we use count for less than 20%.
From time to time we have to hide our actual facial expressions and feelings when we are communicating with someone. A service executive may be dealing with a difficult client but yet he or she can’t scream because of the situation the person is in.
When we are in deep sleep our freeze feelings are stored in the body muscles. This has a adverse effect on the muscles of the breathing passage than any other muscle group.
Our breathing passage gets blocked by the muscle tension when we are in deep sleep. This causes early night snoring. As we go further with our sleep our muscles relaxes a little and snoring gets stopped for a while.
Now, here comes the interesting part. After sleeping for a few hours, we go back to a very light sleep called REM sleep. That’s when we dream. In a REM sleep, we also integrate all the informations and experiences from the previous day. Our subconscious takes all the emotions stored in our muscles and processes them. Imagine what’s going on in your muscles while this is taking place.
Its very sad to say that during the REM sleep tension doesn’t get liberated from our muscles. The assessment taken by our subconscious is that these muscles require to be kept anxious to freeze any sentiments the next day. This will make snoring more problematic and harder to tackle.
The important thing for you to know is that this emotional process in the REM sleep activates your muscles. They then block the breathing passages and cause snoring. We go into REM sleep 2-3 times a night. For longer period each time. That’s why early morning and late night snoring is so common.
So what’s the solution? There are two ways to eliminate the underlying cause for snoring…
1) If you are polite and non hasty than less poignant pressure is stored in the muscles. A happy attitude is required every time which is the key to well being. Indulging in hatred is like taking poison and thinking that this will kill your enemy. Showing your way of thinking realism reasonably releases and integrates the experience immediately, so your subliminal doesn’t encompass throughout the night.
2) When we are exercising with tongue, throat and jaws then it helps in releasing the tension from our muscles. Many of us have been creating muscle tensions for years so now it is required to excavate down and untie up these muscles. This exercise will help in stopping of the early night snoring as well as the REM sleep snoring.
Use of both the tactics would do wonders.
Its obvious that the current methods used in dealing with snoring target only the most apparent symptoms. Even if the symptoms get disappeared for a while, the other original and essential cause gradually worsens. This makes the snoring reappear much louder. Snoring can be cured permanently by treating the actual underlying causes. The stop snoring exercise program