I have just started living with my boyfriend and his snoring at night is driving me INSANE!!!:smack:
I don’t know what to do. In my experience, people usually only snore when they lie on their backs…he snores in whatever position he is in. And the worst part is that he can fall asleep almost immediately where it takes me at least 10 minutes after the lights are out. Can anyone help?
I have searched in the stores for some of that stop snoring spray, but they don’t carry that here…does anyone know how effective it is? If it’s good, then I could order some over the internet.
Do those work for snoring? I thought they just opened up the nasal passages where snoring is the uvula vibrating on the back of the throat…I may be wrong though…Can anyone explain the reasons for snoring?
When I lived with a girlfriend a while back, she
gave me breatheright strips and she said they helped some.
Of course everytime I woke up they were in my hair or somewhere in the sheets.
[public service anouncement]
If he stops breathing for a time and suddenly starts breathing again, he has sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can help contribute to heart disease and high blood pressure. It also will make a person not feel rested in the morning. If he has it, he should seek medical advice (note: this isn’t immediate life threatening)
[/public service announcement]
It’s a tricky problem, and there’s seldom an easy answer.
There won’t be any respite unless you both want to solve the problem. It’s no use if all the effort is coming from you and he doesn’t care because, frankly, he’s not the one losing sleep. So that’s the first thing to address. If he doesn’t think it’s his problem, make it his problem. Wake him up every time he wakes you up!
I don’t know what sort of shape your man is in. The single commonest and treatable cause of snoring is being overweight and unfit. If he gets himself fitter and slimmer, the chances are he won’t snore, or not as much. Of course, if he’s already pretty fit, then this doesn’t apply.
There are things he can do to try and sleep less deeply and not snore so much, such as what I said in point (2) above, and also taking a nap now and again before his ‘main’ sleep at night, so that maybe he’ll sleep less deeply. But this is a two way street. There are things you can do to be less sensitive, and to sleep more deeply. Such as not ingesting anything that interferes with the natural sleep cycle (e.g. no caffeine, no stimulants), and never taking naps or rests until it’s time for bed.
You can also look at self-hypnosis and mental training to change your response to the sound of snoring. At the moment, it’s triggering a “Disturbance! Gotta wake up!!” response. But it is possible to sleep through a disturbing sound, such as snoring. Can you train your own response so that it’s closer to “There’s a snoring sound but it’s nothing to worry about so I’m going to just carry on enjoying my sleep”.
If not of the above apply, my apologies. You may have to look into separate sleeping arrangements. Separate doesn’t have to mean any less loving, and it’s much commoner than you might think.
If the snoring is just enough to keep you from going to sleep, see if he will agree to wait until you are sound asleep before he goes to bed. If it is bad enough to wake you up, as mentioned in the previous thread cited by QED: Ear plugs. You can get soft foam ear plugs that are rated at 29 decibels and they will block out almost any but the very worst snoring, at least to the level that you hardly notice it. The only down side is that you will need to have a LOUD alarm clock or set the clock radio to a very high volume.
my SO just runs a fan in the room as I am the snorer. The fan is enough to drown out the noise and allows her to sleep comfortably. If this works for you, plan to replace your fan once in a while, we’ve been through 2 of em! As a side bonus, you’ll be cool in the summer
I snore badly, and worse if I am heavier than usual ( as I am now. Dammit :rolleyes: ). I tried the snoring spray, it made my sinus passages VERY sore, did nothing for the snoring and hurt the back of my throat. THe Breathe-Easy strips work very well.
A few thoughts on them. Although this may sound crazy, you have to very carefully clean your nose off. The natural oils in the nose skin will make it stick, then fall off just after you go to sleep. Witch Hazel or strong regular soap and water and vigorous drying will give you a good adherent surface. It matters.
Also, it will not work the first night. It’s not a drug. It won’t work the second night, either. Ask your S.O. to be patient ( or, in the case of the O.P.'er, you need to be patient ! ). You are slowly altering the volume and angle of the nasal turbinates. It will work, it will have reasonably lasting effects, in my experience. But it will take close to a week before you realize that the volume or snoring has greatly diminished.
Good luck. I fall asleep VERY fast, and the Wifestrocity does not. The snoring is torture to her. Once, in my life I had to room with a man who snored really badly. I didn’t sleep for a week, and was a zombie by the end of the job.
You have my sympathies, and I’m the snorer in the household.
fin1911 I wish I’d seen your post on Preview, I apologize for the follow-up posting. What a brilliant idea !!!
You can find a variety of Sound Machines at Sharper Image, etc. You might try something that masks or blends with the snoring, and allows you to sleep.
My improvised method of controlling my snoring is to attach a standard bandaid to cover the nostrils tight enough to force me to breathe thru my mouth - this inhibits the air flow that tickle the uvula. I may wake up with a case of gummy mouth, but my wife sleeps thru it. Since divers have to breathe thru a snorkel, I figured it couldn’t hurt. It seems to work well.
the breathright folks have just come out with their own throat spray and it is sold most everywhere drugstore wise. it does help and cost about $10 a bottle.
my own opinion is snoring is hereditary and will never completely stop, no matter what you do. it has to do with the shape of your throat and your weight.
