As many as 80% of people snore at some time – yet most don’t ever seek help from their doctor or even try any snoring solutions to help themselves stop. While there are some medical conditions which cause or contribute to snoring, there are numerous snoring risk factors which are a direct result of your lifestyle.
Snoring is the vibration of the tissues of the mouth and throat during breathing while you are asleep. It occurs when air flows past these relaxed tissues, and various things can cause or worsen this.
Some of these risk factors can’t be changed – like being male and aged between 40-64. There are also individual anatomical or physiological issues which contribute to snoring risk, such as narrow airways, nasal or sinus issues, and allergies.
Lifestyle-related factors which promote snoring, however, can be addressed for better sleep, less snoring, and greater wellbeing.
How Can Your Lifestyle Make You Snore?
While it’s true that both men and women snore, men statistically snore more. Men aged between 50-59 years represent the largest demographic of habitual snorers.
Some specific lifestyle factors significantly increase the risk of snoring, but they can be addressed, and by making some healthier choices, you can overcome your snoring habit.
Health Implications of Snoring
Snoring can lead to:
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- Disrupted sleep
- Relationship issues
- Sore throat on waking
- Waking with a headache
- Restless sleep or Inability to sleep
- Daytime tiredness and Low energy levels
- Hypertension and increased cardiovascular risk
- Increased risk of developing diabetes and cancer
- Mood disorders
- Issues with concentration, behaviour, performance, and memory
- Poor decision making and increased accident risk
- Progression to obstructive sleep apnoea
Major Snoring Risk Factors
- Smoking is the biggest snoring risk factor as it causes inflammation and swelling of the airways. This makes them become narrower and reduces airflow. The risk also applies to people who later quit smoking, as well as passive smokers living with or spending a lot of time with active smokers. While the risk does decrease if you quit smoking, it remains higher than for people who have never smoked.
- BMI or body mass index is an indicator of ideal weight. A BMI over 25 indicates you are overweight; more than 30 signifies obesity. A high BMI boosts your snoring risk. Being overweight or obese increases your neck circumference and the amount of fat in your neck. Neck fat can compress and weaken the airways, compromising airflow from the mouth to the lungs. Snoring is the result of this. Having a neck circumference of more than 40cm (16 inches) increases your likelihood of snoring by 2.5 times.
- Alcohol / Sedatives impact your risk of snoring no matter whether you are very lean, of ideal weight, or overweight. The sedative effect of any substance disrupts your natural sleep cycle. It can also result in over-relaxation and collapse of the neck and oral tissues, thus impinging on the airways.
- A sedentary lifestyle is the enemy of good quality sleep, and also leads to a tendency to snore more.
Other contributing snoring risk factors include:
- Heredity plays a large part, and if one or both of your parents snore, it’s more likely that you will too. Susceptibility to snoring susceptibility also has a race-based aspect. Some medical studies have shown that people of subcontinental Indian descent are more inclined to snore than Chinese people.
- Habitual mouth breathing during the daytime dramatically increases the risk of snoring during sleep, by as much as 700%.
- If you have a chronic sore throat you are more inclined to snore. Often caused by issues like allergies, sinus issues, postnasal drip, gastro-oesophageal reflux, mouth breathing, oversized tonsils or adenoids, hiatal hernia, or as a consequence of snoring itself, swollen, inflamed, or irritated airways promote even more snoring.
- Asthma sufferers are at increased risk of snoring.
Modifying your lifestyle can improve your sleep and reduce your individual snoring risk factors for better health overall.
How Can SnoreMD Help?
Making some simple changes to your lifestyle can change your life overall through better sleep quality and less snoring. As a start, make healthier choices to quit smoking, lose weight, treat allergies, and avoid consuming excess alcohol. You can also eat dinner earlier, avoid caffeine an eating close to bedtime, drink more water, sleep on your side, and get regular exercise.
You can also invest in ApneaRX into your regular bedtime routine!
Invest in ApneaRX to Stop Snoring in 2021
Feel healthier, calmer, happier, and be safer by sleeping better with help to stop snoring with ApneaRX!
ApneaRX is the NZ brand of a top, proven stop snoring solution which is used and recommended by doctors, pharmacists, and sleep experts globally. It is worn in the mouth while you sleep, is comfortable and safe to wear, and gently repositions the jaw slightly forward. This opens the airways to promote easier, snore-free nighttime breathing.
Place your order for ApneaRX now! Or to learn more about this key to better sleep and better health, visit our website https://apnearx.co.nz/ or call 0800 111 325.
