Correct your breathing and relieve your snoring
Snoring and sleep apnoea are symptoms of a dysfunctional breathing pattern. If you are an adult male, the odds are about 50/50 that your breathing is not normal when you are sleeping.
Snorers typically breathe in excess of 10 litres of air per minute when sleeping (4-5 litres/minute is normal). These high volumes can inflame and dehydrate the upper airways reducing airway calibre. If the snorer is on their back, gravity will cause the tongue, uvula, tonsils, epiglottis and soft palate to fall backwards partially blocking the airway. This produces the sonorous vibrations that can shake a house to its foundations and drive the snorer’s partner to another room. Obstructive sleep apnoea results when there is complete, temporary blockage of the upper airway.
To relieve your snoring you must learn to breathe correctly.
The Buteyko Breathing Clinics programme will help restore a functional daytime breathing pattern. This can enable you to breathe naturally and comfortably through your nose at all times even when sleeping. You can be enjoying restful, snore-free sleep in as little as one week of starting the programme. With functional breathing restored there will be less need for snoring aids such as sprays, splints or CPAP.
Natural ways to help reduce snoring
The following tips may help to reduce snoring:
- Learn to breathe automatically through your nose
- Clear your nasal passages (try our nose clearing exercise)
- Sleep on your left side (some people have resorted to sewing a tennis ball into the back of their nightshirt to stop them rolling onto their back!)
- Elevate the head of your bed
- Limit alcohol and caffeine in the evening
- Don’t eat a heavy meal within 2 hours of going to bed
- Try to avoid refined carbohydrates late in the evening
- Lose weight (however, snoring is not restricted to overweight individuals)
Up till now the only treatment options on offer were surgery, oral devices or CPAP machines. These interventions are at best uncomfortable, at worst painful and in most cases more disruptive than the symptoms they aim to fix. Furthermore they don’t address the underlying unhealthy breathing pattern which, if left unchecked, may lead on to more serious health issues, including hypertension and increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
A Buteyko Breathing Clinics programme can help you relieve your snoring and set you on the path to a longer, healthier life.
