You know that great feeling you get in the morning when you have just woken from a fantastic night’s sleep. It really sets you up for a great day. Nothing really can compare to that fully rested feeling.

Unfortunately for many people their great night’s sleep has been adversely affected by either themselves or a partner snoring.  A feeling of desperation often follows, trying to discover how to find a remedy to stop snoring. This can be quite a challenge because of the many different factors that can contribute to snoring.

Medically, snoring is defined as a noise triggered by vibration from the airways of the respiratory tract that happens during sleep.

So why does it only happen during our restful moments even though we’re breathing constantly. Well this is because one of the major factors in snoring is relaxed muscles. During sleep, all of our voluntary muscles are relaxed.  The throat, in the same way as the triceps are relaxed during sleep. The softness of the tissues in the throat helps to increase the output of vibrating sounds. Once this tissue relaxes the passage of air is restricted through a narrower opening which can cause louder noise because there is additional room for friction and vibration. This also accounts for the variations in the volume, pitch and tone of snores.

The loudness of a snore is affected by the force of the wind that comes through the air passages.  Therefore, when the speed of the wind is faster the snore is generally louder and more resonant.  When the respiratory tract narrows the person who’s snoring usually has to breathe harder to get enough air which increases the velocity and the loudness of the snore.

While both men and women are affected by this condition it appears to be more common with men. Firstly men have narrower air passages than women. They are also more likely to have contributing lifestyle factors such as diet and alcohol consumption issues. And women by nature produce progesterone hormones.  This is known to inhibit snoring making them less susceptible to this night time curse.  In fact progesterone is used as a main ingredient in many stop snoring remedies.

Everyone snores for different reasons. Here are some lifestyle and health factors that can contribute to snoring.

• As you age your throat narrows and muscle tone decreases.
• Colds and flu cause nasal and sinus problems, this is why some people only experience snoring when they are sick.
• Obesity or being overweight or out of shape. Fatty tissue and poor muscle tone contribute to snoring.
• The way you’re built. A narrow throat, a cleft palate, enlarged adenoids, and other hereditary physical attributes can contribute to snoring.
• Blocked airways make inhalation difficult and create a vacuum in the throat, leading to snoring.
• Alcohol consumption, smoking (even second-hand smoke), and certain medications, increase muscle relaxation.
• Sleep position. Sleeping on your back causes the flesh of your throat to relax and block the airway.

Because of the health concerns related to poor sleep it is important to take snoring seriously. Trying to ignore it may not be enough. If you are often waking up during the night, snoring might be the cause. This can be difficult to detect since the moment the snorer wakes up the snoring stops.  Initially to find a remedy to help stop snoring, you should consider a visit to your doctor or dentist or even a sleep clinic. They can potentially diagnose any other related health problems that might be causing the snoring.

Whatever you choose to do, the rewards for getting on top of this problem can potentially be very rewarding to you and your partner’s relationship and quality of life.