Major risks of smoking include but not limited to high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. Reduced airflow into the lungs strains the heart and vascular system, overburdening it over time. It is also worrisome because the sleeping sufferer is often unaware how serious his snoring is or that it keeps disrupting his sleep. When you have a disturbed sleep or reduced sleeping time, due to snoring it also adversely affects the person’s driving capabilities increasing accident toll by up to 7%.
Treatments for Snoring: Family doctors can assess risk factors for snoring and may recommend treatment at a sleep clinic. Treatment methods include.
Changes in Lifestyle to manage snoring: Personal physician might suggest the following lifestyle changes that help in combating snoring like:
Weight Management: Obesity is a risk factor for snoring. Ideal person would be a doctor who can suggest the best way to reduce and keep your weight under control. So, if you want to learn how to stop snoring, reduce your weight.
Exercise: An active lifestyle not only helps maintain a healthy body weight, it’ll lead to more restful sleep. Physical exercises likewalking, jogging, running and hiking enhance your sleep quality. Strenuous activities should not done for at least two hours before you hit the bed.
Quit smoking: First hand or second hand smoke is injurious to health and worsens symptoms because of throat irritation and coughing at night, leading to snoring.
Sleep Scheduling: Going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time every day helps to promote restful cycles of sleep. And prevents over-tiredness from a lack of sleep, which can worsen snoring.
Refrain from alcohol and sleeping pills: Alcohol and medicines like sleeping aids or pain killers relax or contract the throat muscles abnormally. These make things worse by not allowing your brain to be alert thus the duration is prolonged even more.In the long run it causes severe damage to the body.
Sleep on your side: Sleeping with your back worsens snoring as it allows the gravitational force to narrow down your airways further.
In most of the severe cases, sleep disorder clinics are suggested to assess and give their observations and test results, which they do at-home of the patient or at their clinic. Treatments include breathing devices such as CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) equipment. This device is a filter air blower that intakes regular room air and funnels it into a mask at a pressure determined by your doctor. This equipment is typically worn over your nose and the specified pressure enables smooth and free airflow thus reducing snoring.
Dental equipment is another option which will be worn during sleeping hours, to widen the air passage by keeping the lower jaw and tongue forward. Radio wave treatments are utilized to contract tissues in the throat or tongue and surgeries that reduce the tissues in the nose, uvula, and palate (roof of mouth) or the bony tissues in the back of the throat to decrease the risk of blockages.