World Sleep Day
15 March 2019
World Sleep Day serves as a reminder for us to consider the impact of sleep quality on our personal health and wellbeing.
Snoring is a very common problem that affects up to a third of the population, including both men and women. There are many factors that can worsen snoring, including weight gain, alcohol consumption, sleep posture, allergies and sinus problems. There are however, a variety of individual anatomical causes that can also affect the airway and trigger snoring.
Impact of snoring
Typically, snoring has the biggest impact on your partner; this can range from being a simple nuisance to causing severe disturbance to their sleep and also to your relationship.
It can also disrupt your own sleep quality, causing daytime tiredness, headaches, irritability and general health issues.
Tips to help reduce snoring
Fortunately, sleeping in separate rooms is not the only remedy for snoring. Here are some simple measures to minimise snoring:
- Avoid alcohol and sedatives in the evenings: these relax the muscles in the throat which can interfere with your breathing pattern.
- Change your sleep position: avoid sleeping on your back and elevate the head of your bed to ease your breathing.
- Exercise: this will facilitate weight loss and also increase general muscle tone including the muscles in the throat which can help to keep the airway open.
What else is available for snoring?
Snoring is potentially treatable. However, different people snore for different reasons and therefore, there is not a single treatment that will be effective in everyone.
If snoring is sufficiently impacting on you or your partner’s sleep and quality of life, you should consider seeing an ENT specialist who can arrange a careful assessment to identify the specific cause of snoring in you. This will then allow for a tailor made plan to treat your snoring using a range of non surgical or surgical measures, depending on the individual cause.
Advice from Miss Natasha Choudhury, consultant ENT Surgeon at Spire Gatwick Park Hospital. If you wish to book a consultation with Miss Choudhury, please call on 01293 778906 to find out more.