5 Ways to Get Better Sleep If Your Partner Snores
We can joke and laugh among friends about how frustrating it is to have a partner who snores at night. However, snoring is usually a symptom of deeper issues and can be the cause of many more.
Mary is a member of my community whose husband’s snoring was terrible. It happened most nights and would awaken her several times each night. It was affecting her sleep, her reactivity, her cravings, her interest in exercise, her relationship with her husband…just about everything.
The cause of snoring can be many things, yet its definition is simple: It is a (partial) blockage of airways. Airflow is partially blocked during sleep, causing vibrations in the tissues of the throat, soft palate, or tongue, resulting in SNORING.
Common contributors include:
Airway anatomy caused by enlarged tonsils, nasal polyps, or a deviated septum.
Nasal congestion caused by allergies, colds, or chronic sinus issues.
Weight & Muscle tone which means there is extra tissue around the neck or simply reduced muscle tone due to aging. (Catch the recording of my perimenopause/parenting webinar where I dive deep into why we lose muscle as we age here).
Sleep position, like sleeping on your back which can cause the tongue and soft palate to collapse backward.
Lifestyle factors like alcohol, smoking, sedatives, or late and heavy meals all relax our muscles.
Sleep is essential to overall health, and a snoring partner can be a huge obstacle to achieving good quality sleep. Your snoring partner negatively impacts your (and your partner’s) cortisol, growth hormone, weight, metabolism, cravings, melatonin, sex hormones, ability to grow muscle and to detox your brain – it really is everything.
Mary had enough. Her husband tried many diets, and occasionally his snoring would subside along with some weight loss. Yet, we all know dieting is so dinosaur-age thinking and can’t be sustained. Over time, the snoring continued.
Having poured over the research for years on how to address this common issue, I’ve found five solutions that have worked for both the women and their partners with whom I’ve worked.
Position. Elevating your partner’s head and encouraging them to side sleep, or even placing a tennis ball behind their back to prevent them from turning onto their back in the middle of the night.
Alcohol. Encourage your partner to decrease or stop drinking alcohol. Alcohol exacerbates snoring for many reasons:
Alcohol relaxes skeletal muscles, like the tongue, soft palate and throat, which can then sag backward into the airway.
Our brain can normally keep some tone in the airway muscles during sleep. Alcohol relaxes the nervous system as a sedative and relaxes those muscles.
Alcohol fragments our sleep, which means we breathe more irregularly.
Lastly, alcohol just causes more nasal and throat congestion.
Saline rinses. A good allergist or ENT can help you find the right potion for you. My own sleep specialist recommended a heavy dose of nasal decongestant every night after my nightly nose rinses. I am an avid nose rinser. Once I learned about the multiple benefits (stay tuned for more on this soon for the Winter months) of saline nasal rinses, I’ve become a twice-daily rinser and will never go back.
Lifestyle considerations. Start a training program. Strength training increases muscle mass, yes, even in your neck and throat. Find your happy weight. I’m a believer in the WTHR: Waist to Height Ratio.
Seek the advice and care of a sleep specialist. Even if it is your partner who physically snores, you can find some tips and methods to deploy in the comfort of your home. A sleep study intimidates a lot of people, but they are so convenient nowadays! Why not talk to the experts? It’s a no-brainer! (Email me if you’re interested in the contact info for mine)
Thankfully, snoring is not impossible to overcome. You can help address your partner’s snoring, or if you’re the culprit, you can give your partner the gift of better sleep by exploring those solutions yourself.
Remember Mary? I worked with her to address her husband’s snoring, drastically improving their quality of life. It took months, yet now he is sleeping better, stressing less about waking her, and Mary is finally getting her much-needed sleep!
Here’s how.
He lost weight.
He began elevating his head when he slept.
He saw a sleep specialist and conducted a home sleep study.
She invested in sleep-safe, noise-proof earplugs that play gentle music while she slept. I like this brand.
We all want to feel our best, and sometimes it’s hard to figure out what might be getting in the way of that. Whether it be related to sleep, fitness, diet, or something else, I would love to help you discover answers and build a wellness plan that fits your life right now. You can schedule a free fitness and wellness evaluation easily here on my calendar.
SEE ALSO: Don’t Work Out on Empty: What to Eat to See Results
