Health Topics A-Z

How Do I Know If I Snore?

First, your doctor will ask about any allergies you may have, as well as about your eating patterns, what drugs you take, and whether you drink alcohol or smoke. If these are not the culprits, your doctor may examine your throat and nasal passages for any signs of nasal deformities.

If your doctor suspects that you have obstructive sleep apnea, your partner may be asked to keep a diary noting your sleeping patterns, or you may take a sleep-monitoring study, which will analyze when and how often you stop breathing during sleep.

What Are the Treatments?

There are hundreds of products, exercises, medical devices, drugs, and surgeries purported to treat snoring. However, in most cases, simple lifestyle changes can stop snoring. They include:

• Don't drink alcohol within three hours of bedtime.
• Avoid sedatives and antihistamines (especially at bedtime).
• If your are overweight, exercise.
• If you suffer from allergies, try to eliminate allergens in the bedroom such as removing a pet, regularly washing your sheets in hot water to remove dust mites, or removing any mold.
• Sleep on your side.
• Use a humidifier if your home is too dry.

There is a variety of products designed to help you sleep on your side — a position that may decrease snoring. These may or may not help.

There is also a variety of products designed to dilate the nasal passages, such as nasal strips or nasal support devices. These may work in some people with congestion or nasal abnormalities.

Other products include pills, sprays, and herbal products that purport to decrease nasal congestion and devices to correct (eliminate) mouth breathing. These haven't been aggressively studied.

If you have a jaw or mouth abnormality that is causing nasal obstruction, your dentist may fit you with a mouthpiece that may correct the problem and lessen snoring.

If your doctor suspects that you have sleep apnea, treatment includes:

• Weight loss if you are overweight
• CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). This is a device that blows pressurized oxygen into your nose to force open collapsed airways.
• Surgery. Somnoplasty uses radiofrequency ablation to shrink the tissues of the soft palate. There is a variety of other surgeries less commonly performed to treat sleep apnea as well as other forms of serious snoring.