Suffer from a snorer?
Though it can sometimes sound like a herd of elephants, snoring is nothing more than noisy breathing through the mouth or nose while you sleep! After all, snoring is simply the fluttering sound created by the vibrations of tissues against each other in the back of the throat and nose.
Mild snoring, caused by poor head and neck alignment, obesity, a naturally narrow throat passage, or even just congestion due to cold, is not a major concern with most sleeping partners. In fact, everyone snores from time to time, including infants and family pets.
However, heavy snoring can cause serious sleep deprivation for both the snorer and their partner. More importantly, heavy snoring can have serious repercussions for your health as well as your relationship. Sleep partners of heavy snorers can wake up over twenty times per hour, which severely cuts into the quality and quantity of their sleep, as well as eventually straining the intimacy and goodwill between sleep partners. Your health can be impacted by sleep deprivation as a result of snoring, in many ways:
- Daytime sleepiness and lowered energy levels
- A compromised immune system
- Slower healing times
- Poor mental alertness and productivity
- A negative mood
- Slower reaction time
If you wake yourself up with the sound of your own snoring, do not feel rested after a reasonable number of hours of sleep, or have even had a neighbour come over to see what all the noise is about, you may be a heavy snorer. It is important to see a sleep specialist to rule out sleep apnea, a potentially dangerous condition in which the sleeper stops breathing during sleep.
All that being said, most snoring is simply a mild annoyance between sleep partners. Oftentimes, specialists and expensive gadgets are not necessary. Avoid overly soft pillows that constrict the head and neck, try sleeping on your side instead of your back (to prevent gravity from relaxing your throat muscles into your airway), and invest in a high quality contoured pillow, specially designed to balance your head and neck evenly with your spine and open the airway for a solid, snore-free rest.
Sleep Experience carries an assortment of high-quality contoured pillows. Click on the link below to see the featured NATURATM pillow accessories this month, or come see the selection in-store for yourself!
