Snoring Specialist

What is snoring?

Snoring is more than just breathing heavily as you sleep. Often, it happens when air passes through tight spaces within your airways when you breathe at night. 

In many cases, snoring is completely normal and doesn’t indicate an underlying threat to your health. You might breathe particularly loudly or hoarsely at night because of:

• Swollen tonsils
• Allergies
• Cold congestion
• Irregularly shaped facial bones
• Being overweight
• Alcohol consumption
• Pregnancy
• Sleep deprivation

If you sleep alone, you might not even realize that you snore. However, it can pose a problem for others who sleep around you. Men generally tend to snore more than women, but anyone is at risk of snoring loudly at night, at least from time to time. 

When should I book an appointment for snoring?

Even healthy individuals can be loud snorers, but sometimes loud or excessive snoring indicates a condition called obstructive sleep apnea. If you have sleep apnea, the tissues and structures around your airway tend to collapse or close at night, which makes it hard for air to get through. 

You should book an appointment at Hibernation Sleep MN if someone who sleeps near you reports loud snoring coupled with pauses in breathing at night. You might also hear gasping as they wake up intermittently to start breathing again. 

Other signs of possible sleep apnea, which requires treatment, include:

• Daytime sleepiness or fatigue
• Dry mouth in the morning
• Morning headaches
• Trouble concentrating
• High blood pressure
• Moodiness

This might seem counterintuitive, but insomnia can be a sign of sleep apnea too. If you struggle to fall asleep nightly and you’re aware that you snore, you should visit Dr. Cogswell for a sleep apnea assessment. He can send you to a doctor who performs a sleep study and, depending on the results, fits you for a sleep appliance.

How can I stop snoring so much?

Snoring doesn’t always need clinical treatment, especially when it doesn’t come from obstructive sleep apnea. However, there are a few tips and behavioral guidelines you can follow to reduce your snoring. You might snore less if you:

• Use nasal strips to open your nostrils
• Lose weight
• Avoid alcohol and other sedatives at night
• Sleep on your side
• Elevate the head of your bed by a few inches

If you have sleep apnea, or if your snoring is particularly severe and resists your efforts, Dr. Cogswell might recommend a custom mandibular advancement device. There are various types available with varied materials and features, but they can help you breathe more silently by jutting your lower jaw forward to hold open space in your airway during sleep. 

If you or your partner snores excessively, especially if there are other sleep apnea symptoms present, call Hibernation Sleep MN for an evaluation or request one online today.