Ask HN: Why do we snore? And what to do about it?

There are many ways to fix snoring:

(a) if one is overweight, losing weight helps

(b) Adjustable bed bases help

(c) check with a sleep medicine provider to check for sleep apnea and cpap machines

(d) new drugs [1]

(e) see whether breathing exercises [2] help

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48242278

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48242278#48243574

Get a sleep study done to find out how serious it is

There's no one-size-fits-all advice, as the causes of snoring vary widely from person to person. Consult an ENT doctor.

Tighten up the diet to get weight down.

Exercise. Any kind of exercise, from strength training to walking.

The diet-and-exercise cliche is a cliche because it effects just about everything about us. It may not be the only factor in snoring. Or even the dominant factor. But I'd bet the house it's a factor.

My spouse snores every night. She went to see a doctor, and after waiting for a few months, they prescribed her a device that she had to attach to her face during the night to "measure" snoring. It was so uncomfortable that she didn't sleep that night at all; the device didn't detect any snoring.

The doctor said it's all good, problem solved.

I'm allergic to dust mites. Clean sheets, sleep well. After 10 days, even with afrin+allergy spray my nasal passages become completely blocked up.

I had an appointment with an ENT recently. He said that weight and age affects snoring mostly unless it’s some actual condition. The weight affects it because of some compression on the neck or something like that.

I went because I had a deviated septum and thought that was the cause of the snoring but he said that’s unlikely if the snoring only started recently.

I stopped snorting when i cut off sugar. Like snacking before bed and drinking soft drinks. Then it stopped completely. So for me I think is the inflammation. Which was caused by sugar and therefore i was puffy and as a result i was snoring.

Nasal dilators, mouth tape and possibly a nightly salt rinse for your sinuses with a neti pot are your friends buddy

If snoring might be apnea, see a pulmonologist.

Although others have mentioned losing weight, weight might be a side effect of a medical condition (e.g. type 2 diabetes) or social pressure (e.g. communal dining) which makes controlling diet and eating schedules very difficult.

Just mentioning this since no one else has yet: it could be your tonsils and/or adenoids, so it may also be worth seeing an ENT if you suspect this is the case.

Mouth taping worked surprisingly well for me. Took a week to get used to, but my partner says the snoring dropped significantly. Worth trying before jumping to CPAP."

Being fat old or having a blocked nose can make it worse. Sleeping on your side losing weight or cleaning your nose can help. If it is bad see a doctor.

I've seen some people try tongue exercises or throat stretches to reduce snoring. Doesn't sound glamorous but some swear by it.

Talk to your doctor about getting evaluated for sleep apnea.

Why?

Think of a guitar string. It makes noise as it vibrates. As you age, your airway/soft pallet/esophagus loses tone and breathing in and out causes vibrations which you hear as a snore.

What To Do About It?

Health:

Snoring is not a medical issue but is an indicator of a future issue - sleep apnea. This is when your airway closes all the way. It is silent because no air is moving through your airway. This continues until your blood oxygen levels drop to a degree that your body wakes itself up to restore airway rigidity and oxygen flow. This is sleep apnea and can happen 10s to 100s of times an hour. This is like overclocking the computer of you and creates organ strain which most often will first manifest as unhealthy blood pressure issues or blood sugar issues.

If you are snoring, get a home sleep test and determine if you've progressed to apnea. Its cheap, fast and its medical efficacy is equivalent for testing Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

https://www.cpap.com/pages/home-sleep-test https://www.sleeping.com/ https://lofta.com/ https://sleepdoctor.com/

There are other kinds of rare apnea conditions but Obstructive Sleep Apnea is the vast majority of cases.

If you have sleep apnea, the leading treatment is a CPAP machine. Dental devices ( thedaybreak.com) and weight loss pills (GLP-1s) are rising in popularity. Apnimed.com is in third stage clinicals for sleep apnea pill.

While there's a low chance, visit your ENT and make sure you don't have anything swollen our outside of normal in your airway. If you are allergic to something in your home this can also cause the swelling and snoring and reducing the triggers can reduce or eliminate the snoring. Unlikely but it happens.

Reduce/Eliminate The Sound:

1. If snoring is soft pallet related, pull your jaw forward with a dental device.

https://www.cpap.com/products/somnofit-s-anti-snore-mouth-gu...

https://tinyurl.com/mytapdentaldevice

2. Strengthen the soft pallet by playing a didgeridoo or buying and using daily an exciteOSA device https://www.cpap.com/products/exciteosa-starter-pack-cpap-co...

3. EPAP devices. They create back pressure when breathing, largely uncomfortable but will open the airway if you can tolerate them.

4. Positional devices or adjustable bed bases. Anything from tennis balls stitched into your shirt to Rx devices that sense your position and alert/encourage you to move positions. Largely a delaying action. If you are sleeping upright in a lazyboy or similar to sleep, it is a bigger deal than changing positions and you need to get checked out for apnea.

5. Mouth tape. This is largely a bad idea and I caution you against it. If you must, monitor your O2 levels when using it with a finger pulse ox.

https://www.cpap.com/products/digital-finger-pulse-oximeter?...