Snoring

What is snoring?

Snoring is a loud sound that some people make at night when they breathe as they sleep. It happens when air flows past the tissues in your airway and causes them to vibrate. The narrower your airway gets at night, the louder your snoring becomes. While everyone snores from time to time, long-term or frequent snoring can become extremely irritating to those around you. 

In some cases, excessive snoring indicates an underlying condition that could be a threat to your health. You should visit Florida Sleep Solutions of Jax about your snoring or your child’s snoring if it is loud, excessive, and disruptive, or if it comes with other symptoms like:

• Gasping for air at night
• Choking
• High blood pressure
• Chest pain at night
• Poor concentration during the day
• Irritability or depression during the day

Several of these symptoms could indicate the presence of obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that impedes your breathing at night. Sleep apnea can lead to a lack of oxygen in your blood and complications like heart failure or stroke. 

What causes snoring?

While snoring can be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, sleep apnea isn’t the only cause of snoring. There are several reasons why you might snore a bit more than the average sleeper, including:

• Your mouth’s anatomy
• Nasal congestion or blockage
• Drinking alcohol before bed
• Awkward sleeping positions
• An overall lack of sleep

You’re more likely to snore if you’re overweight or obese and if you’re a man. In many cases, excessive snoring comes from more than one cause. 

How is snoring treated?

Your provider at Florida Sleep Solutions of Jax asks about the frequency and severity of your snoring, details that are usually better left to someone else to report. If you don’t have a sleeping partner or don’t live with anyone who hears you snore, they might ask you to record your snoring at night to find out more about it. 

If your snoring is severe, your provider might suggest that you take part in a sleep study. Florida Sleep Solutions of Jax provides in-lab sleep studies and home sleep testing that happens in the comfort of your own bed. Sleep studies measure your breathing rate, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, sleep stages, and other factors as you sleep. They provide a useful tool for diagnosing sleep apnea. If you have sleep apnea, your provider might treat you with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine.

Other treatments for snoring include oral devices you wear at night to hold your airway open or upper airway surgery if no other approaches work. In many cases, however, snoring is treatable with lifestyle changes alone. Your provider might suggest losing weight, sleeping on your side, avoiding alcohol, or sleeping more often to alleviate your snoring. 

To find out why you snore loudly or excessively at night, call Florida Sleep Solutions of Jax, or book an appointment online today.