Archive for December, 2009

And how can you get them to stop?

Snoring is not just a nuisance for your bedmate (or, in extreme cases, for your neighbor). It can be a sign of a serious medical disorder called sleep apnea. The first issue to address regarding chronic snoring is whether this is a symptom of sleep apnea.

Use a single low pillow. Sleeping on too many pillows can stretch and narrow the nasal passage. If, however, you are congested, elevate the head by placing books under the mattress to encourage better drainage.

Try to sleep on your stomach, since snoring is less likely to occur in this position. You can buy anti-snoring pillows designed to keep snorers on their side while asleep

Adopt a healthy lifestyle. Extra weight, smoking, alcohol and drugs all exacerbate snoring.

Review your meds. Sleeping pills, antihistamines and other medications increase snoring.

Consult your doctor if you suspect that allergies and nasal congestion may be causing the problem. Make sure your allergy medication is antihistamine free.

Try an over-the-counter nasal strip. These strips may widen the nasal passages and decrease congestion to reduce snoring.

Ask your dentist about using an oral appliance designed to reduce snoring.

i have trouble sleeping every night and it takes me 1 or 2 hours to get into a light sleep and another 1 or 2 hours to get into REM. REM is when ur body is actually asleep and resting. because i dont sleep well during the night it makes me sleepy iritable and unaware during the day when im awake. i think i have a sleeping disorder so i would like some more info on sleeping disorders and insomnia and some ways i can help my sleeping disorder go away. thnx alot.

Best thing to prevent insomnia is exercise! Eat well, exercise and go to bed. I used to have problems sleeping, now I exercise every day before going to bed and I sleep like a little baby. Your body just shuts down after a good hard workout.

Hi all out there. Any advice or remedies to stop or minimise snoring besides surgery, medication or devices?
Thanks.

snoring is caused by obstruction

for years i often woke up in the middle of a sleep with my heart pounding and feeling like I was suffocating, which I was and chest pain and sometimes severe headache I’m lucky i didn’t have a stroke

for me I also didn’t want devices, meds or surgery

keep your airway straight when you sleep this means do not use a pillow more than about two inches thick never have your head proped up on a pillow no matter if you are sleeping on your side or back

avoid sleeping on your back, sleep on your side with a thin pillow and tuck your chin up to make your airway open and in time it will become a habit in your sleep as well

don’t wear anything around your neck that is tight or even close to tight

keep the temperature cool and use a cool mist ultrasonic humidifyer if needed

also brush your teeth and gums and tongue before going to bed makeing sure your mouth is good and clean

don’t take sleeping pills or antihistimes before going to bed

do use your prescription inhalers as prescribed when I told my doctor the albuterol helped me more taken right before bed he prescribed it that way

if your mouth is really dry use a saliva substitue they are over the counter and you have to just try each one finding which one is the best for you

don’t smoke and if you do don’t smoke at least four hours before bed

if you have GERD make sure you are taking care of it well by not eating at least 4 hours before bed and taking any meds prescribed for your GERD

GERD makes apnea worse and apnea makes GERD worse

thin pillow, sleep on side, keep airway (throat) straight, room cool, mouth clean, no eating or drinking at least 4 hours before bed, no sleeping pills or antihistimes good luck

My fiance has sleep apnea and needs a sleep test done so that he can get the machine to help make it better. He has no insurance as he is out of work. We have been trying to find free sleep tests in Ohio but have had no luck.

alot of medical research companies have free testing for certain types of illnesses. Go to the NIH website. That is National Institue of Health. Or contact a medical school or a University hospital associated with one.

They just recently got back together and they are 60 years old. They both snore so bad that they keep each other awake at night. They’ve had to resort to sleeping in separate rooms, it’s so bad. What can they try to maybe not snore, or not snore so intensely? They snore in all positions so rolling each other over does not work. Does anyone know if those pillows that are supposed to stop snoring actually work? Does anyone know what they can try?

They need to lose some weight and get on a good nutritional program that will make them healthy. Snoring is one sign of bad health. Some people have sleep apneas that can be life threatening and others have loose tissue that "flaps in the wind" and rattles when they relax while sleeping.

What most people find is that when they lose weight and improve their diet so they are getting good nutrients in their bodies, the snoring goes away or is greatly reduced.

good luck to you

If your bedtime partner is a noisemaker at night, would it be your greatest wish for him/her to stop snoring so that you may have a peaceful sleep?

Snoring might also create relationship problems for those people who snore that they might desire to stop snoring but don’t know how. This article will answer your question on how to help snoring stop completely.

The problem of Snoring often becomes part of ridicule but it is really painful to hear from those people who are suffering from this sleep disorder. Yes, this is a sleep disorder, it’s not a mild thing that can be ignored and just let it be, it needs to be addressed because it has a serious medical and social consequences.

What kind of consequences are we talking about? Socially, you will be the butt of jokes and ridicule while medically you’re not getting enough rest.
Lack of rest will result into something serious like obstructive sleep apnea and long-term health problems. So how to help snoring stop has become a dilemma for a lot of people around the world.

According to Dr. Laura Inselman, “Snoring” happens when a person can’t move air freely through his or her nose and mouth during sleep. That annoying sound is caused by certain structures in the mouth and throat – the tongue, upper throat, soft palate, uvula, as well as big tonsils and adenoids- vibrating against each other. These are among the many reasons that will inform you on how to help snoring stop in the best possible way.

There are a lot of ways that can help you to stop snoring; there are medical treatments like Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), Thermal Ablation Palatoplasty (TAP), Genioglossus and hyod advancement, but the treatment will depend on the diagnosis on how serious the problem is.

Most of the mentioned treatments are surgical procedures but if you can’t afford it or the snoring is not so serious, here are some of the ways that will help snoring stop, a self-assist tip. But be reminded that these tips might not totally help stop your snoring but, it can lessen the frequency and the sounds it makes.

Live a healthy lifestyle, it means that you have to avoid smoking because it can affect your central nervous system and it also relaxes the muscles on your throat, causing you to snore. In addition, avoid drinking alcohol and eating heavy meals four (4) hours before you sleep. Exercise and maintain a weight that is parallel to your height and age. Excess weight especially in the neck is also a factor that causes you to snore.
By being health conscious about your diet will also play a major role in helping you to stop snoring for a better sleeping habit.

Another way to help you stop snoring is to get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation also causes a person to snore.
Sleeping positions, to help stop snoring some suggested to always sleep at your side never at your back and to elevate your bed so that you are in a half-sitting position.

Medicine intakes, you can try taking nasal congestants to clear the air passageways. Another thing to help stop snoring is to avoid taking antihistamines for allergies, and avoid sleeping pills or sedatives.

Dave Zegers
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/how-to-help-snoring-stop-119021.html

Live With A Partner That Snores? Easy Home Remedies for Snoring

If you live with someone that snores on a nightly basis, you may be searching for home remedies for snoring that will ease the noise and give you a night of peaceful sleep. The good news is that home remedies for snoring do exist and for some can prove to be quite helpful, the problem is finding the one that works best for you and your snoring partner. A commitment to trial and error should offer you with the opportunities to experiment with different home remedies for snoring until you settle on the one that works best for you.

Reach for the Stars, At Least With The Head Of The Bed

One idea in home remedies for snoring is to simply elevate the head of the bed. Raising the height of the head of the bed, by placing the two feet of the bed on bricks or another supportive product can often reduce the snoring of the person sleeping in the bed. As a home remedy for snoring, this one is also beneficial for those that become congested during the night or are suffering from a cold or intense allergies. It is by elevating the upper torso that it is possible to prevent the nasal passages from becoming congested and causing the snoring. When lying flat the person sleeping will get congested and sleep with their mouth open and thereby increase the sound and amount of snoring that occurs.

A Pillow Fight Might Provide A Home Remedy For Snoring

Science has determined that for a person that suffers from snoring, pillows only further enhance the problem. Anything that actively places a kink in the neck while sleeping can cause an individual to snore. For someone that is prone to snoring, this is a combination that will most definitely lead to a noisy and disruptive night. So, a quick home remedy for snoring might be to get rid of the pillows all together and thus prevent that primary kink in the neck and the ensuing struggle over pillow comfort and snore volume.

Tennis Anyone? The Tennis Ball Provides a Home Remedy for Snoring

An instantaneous home remedy for snoring is the modification of the snoring individuals sleeping position. If your partner snores less when sleeping on their side, consider implementing a sleeping idea that keeps your partner asleep and still keeps them on their side. Purchase a tennis ball and sew it into the back of the pajamas that your partner wears to bed. The tennis ball provides a discomfort when the snoring partner rolls over onto their back, thus forcing them to return to their side and maintains a snore free position. This home remedy for snoring does not work for everyone but it is a good place to start. The use of the tennis ball is to modify the sleeping style and pattern of the snoring individual. The idea is that the ball will reduce the habit of sleeping on the back and increase the desired behavior of side sleeping. It is believed that the tennis ball will provide the stimulus to create and modify the unwanted behavior and soon the tennis ball will no longer be necessary once the habit is changed.

Scott Goodman
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/easy-home-remedies-for-snoring-136512.html

Snoring is the noise caused by parts of your throat vibrating as you breath. Snoring only happens while you are sleeping because this is when the muscles are most relaxed. When the muscles are relaxed the components in your throat drop down to block the normal airflow through the passage which has been narrowed. The air moving through this narrowed passage is what causes the snoring.

Remedies for snoring are often very apparent. Other times they require extensive studies on factors that are related and can either aggravate the problem or cause the condition. Some of the more common causes along with simple ways to cure them are listed below.

1. Overweight-Its well known that many people in the United States are overweight due to not exercising enough, eating too much or a combination of both. Its common knowledge that that overweight people are more apt to snore than ones that are slimmer. The primary cause of their snoring is because their throats are fleshier and therefore have more blockages that can narrow the air passages. The simple way for an overweight person to cut down on their excessive snoring is to lose some weight.

2. Alcohol-Drinking alcohol relaxes the throat muscles which as we learned will be the immediate problem of excessive snoring. By eliminating any alcoholic beverages just before bedtime you can avoid many of the problems associated with the snoring.

3. Smoking-There are many reasons not to smoke and among them are the modification to your throat. Over time mucous will build up in the throat to ease the smoke and nicotine passing through it and reduce inflammation. A larger than normal amount of mucous can be released which will cause the small blood vessels in the lungs to swell along with the throat. When this happens the air ways are again being blocked causing the increased snoring. sleep apnea is also a problem caused by these blockages and can cause breathing interruptions. These interruptions are caused by irregular breathing patterns. This results to snoring and poor sleep.

4. Sleep Patterns-Going to bed at the same time and getting 7 or 8 hours of sleep will help keep your snoring in check. When your sleep pattern is interrupted your breathing will become unbalanced which can cause snoring. Noises from your bed partner or other things will also cause unbalanced breathing and snoring. Try to make your sleeping area as quiet as possible. Sometimes soothing sounds or white noises from a recording will help mask other disturbing sounds.

5. Sleeping Positions-Due to gravity pulling on their tongue and throat muscles, people who sleep on their backs usually have more problems with snoring than ones who sleep on their sides. Along with the gravity the throat is in a more restful position, which causes parts of the throat and tongue to drop down and restrict the air flow cause a person to snore.

By sleeping in an elevated position there will be some relief. The recommended amount is about 30 degrees. With this elevation your diaphragm is relaxed and the tongue won’t restrict the air flow through the throat area.

Medical Problems-There are a number of medical conditions that can cause snoring. Allergies for instance can cause swelling or inflammation of the air passage. Adenoids and tonsils are also cause of snoring especially if they are large. Many time a cold or sinus condition will block your nose causing you to breathe through you mouth which can cause you to snore.

If you do experience a block nasal passage you can use a spray to clear it so you won’t be forced to breath through your mouth and probably end up snoring. Nasal strips are another aid that may help you breath through your nose rather than your mouth.

If you still snore after trying these things you may want to explore surgery, depending on how much snoring is affecting your life as well as those around you. Of course I would think of surgery as a last resort but sometimes it is necessary for your health.

.

Don Levy
http://www.articlesbase.com/sleep-articles/what-causes-your-snoring-what-to-do-about-it-693865.html

The term “sleeping disorders” is usually associated with sleepwalking and insomnia or inability to sleep. Sleeping disorders are common in today’s society. As per Wikipedia, there are around 14 varieties of sleeping disorders beginning with twitching in the eyes to restlessness in the legs.

Sleeping disorder is a feature of the modern times caused by stress, drug abuse, alcoholism, smoking, drastic changes in lifestyle, and poor eating habits, in addition to lack of proper physical activity. Normally, people sleep for around six to eight hours. The maximum number of hours a person sleeps is ten hours. If you do not get the required amount of sleep, your immune system will become weak, and this in turn can lead to all sorts of medical and health problems.

Most of these problems can be successfully treated. You can also prevent the occurrence of these problems if you take a few basic precautions. An undiagnosed or neglected sleeping disorder can create a lot of problems for you. sleeping disorders can disrupt the harmony of your life. In extreme cases, it can also be life threatening.

If you spend your sleeping hours worrying about being unable to sleep rather than actually enjoying a good night’s rest, you could probably be suffering from a sleeping disorder. Those who have a sleeping disorder are, most of the time, not even aware that they are facing a sleeping disorder until the problem has seriously affected their life and career. People who suffer from sleeping disorders are usually depressed because their problem keeps them from living a normal, happy, and productive life.

A clinical test called Polysomnogram helps medical professionals to diagnose a case of sleeping disorder. A medical doctor has to make separate treatment plans for separate individuals because all individuals are not the same and don’t respond equally to a common treatment plan. As per Wikipedia, these methods are used for the treatment of sleeping disorders: taking prescription drugs such as Rozerem, Ambien CR, Ambien, Lunesta, and so on (these are sleeping tablets), psychotherapeutic/behavioral, and others.

People suffering from narcolepsy, a type of sleeping disorder, have to undergo a special type of test in which the activity of their brain is monitored to determine their peak sleeping points. Due to their problem, narcoleptics can’t work on machinery-related jobs that require a high degree of awareness and alertness.

Usually, people diagnosed with sleep disorders are given medication for a specific period of time. A sleep disorder makes the sufferers feel that they are not normal or that they are sick. On the contrary, a sleeping disorder is not really a sickness; with the proper treatment, you can easily treat it. Taking therapy will help you train your body to get the sleep that it requires.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/sleep-articles/sleeping-disorders-learn-more-about-this-common-problem-739589.html

Deciding if you need sleep apnea treatment depends on many factors. Do you wake up in the middle of the night? Do you feel tired and dragging during the day even though you’ve had a full night’s sleep? Do you snore so bad you keep your bedmate or even your housemates up at night? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have a serious condition called sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is simply a disorder that causes you to stop breathing in the middle of the night, sometimes for up to a minute. Eventually, you wake up, begin breathing again, and go back to sleep; often you don’t even remember waking up at all.

If you wake up all night long, why is sleep apnea so dangerous? The most obvious reason is that sometimes people don’t wake up. If you are in a very deep sleep, your body may not realize what’s going on and you’ll suffocate to death. This occurrence is similar to SIDs in babies.

The other danger of apnea is sleep deprivation. Humans experience various stages of sleep; each stage rebuilds and rests a different part of the brain or body. If you don’t receive the appropriate amount of each stage of sleep, it can cause serious problems. Constant waking up during the night, even if you don’t remember it, can reset your sleep cycle. This means you get less of the later stages of sleep, and be sleep deprived even if you’re getting a full eight hours of sleep each night. Sleep deprivation, along with physical impairments, can decrease your speech functioning, reasoning skills, and other brain functions. This increases your likelihood for having car accidents and other accidents which could be dangerous.

While you may be able to determine if you have sleep apnea through your partner monitoring your breathing, or by using a tape recorder, the best way to know is to pay a visit to your doctor. If they think your fears are warranted, they will recommend you participate in a sleep study. You will be required to sleep at the study site for a night. There they will attach you to various types of equipment, and monitor your sleep and breathing patterns. Most people find sleep studies annoying and uncomfortable, but they are an important part of proper diagnosis. Symptoms of sleep apnea can be mimicked by other disorders, like restless legs syndrome. Getting diagnosed properly will enable you to receive the proper sleep apnea treatment which will, at the very least make you feel better; and at most, save your life.

Once properly diagnosed, your doctor will recommend treatment depending on the type and severity of your condition. Mild apnea can often be treated by modifying your diet and sleeping habits. You may also be required to sleep with equipment like a specialized pillow or a device for your mouth. In more severe cases, you may require medicine or even surgery. Your doctor may also recommend you try more than one of these treatments to get the best results.

It is important to note that most cases of apnea are easily and effectively treated. Once your apnea is under control you’ll likely feel more energized, have improved mental capabilities, become less prone to sickness, and even lose weight. With the proper sleep apnea treatment, you too can enjoy the benefits of a good night’s sleep.

Jeff Wilson
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/sleep-apnea-treatment-things-you-should-know-96849.html