How Exercise Can Help You Stop Snoring
Snoring is a problem for millions of Americans. If you want to reduce snoring and get the rest you need, you need to exercise more. Not only does it improve your overall health, it also is one of the best natural ways to stop snoring for good.
What Causes Snoring?
Snoring can affect anyone at any age. Even children snore once in the while. The most common causes of snoring are obesity, allergies, smoking, alcoholism, sleeping pills, anti-depressants, aging, and long soft palette.
Health Dangers of Snoring
One of the primary health dangers of snoring is it can be an indicator of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is chronic condition characterized by long pauses in breathing during sleep. If left untreated, sleep apnea can lead to heart disease due to chronic stress on the body.
Chronic snoring also contributes to an interruption in overall sleep quality for both you and your sleep partner. Without adequate sleep, you are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, accidents, immune system dysfunction, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and more.
Stop or Reduce Snoring with Regular Exercise
Over-the-counter or prescription stop-snoring aids may help decrease snoring for a period of time but they won’t do anything to address the underlying cause. Even just ten or twenty extra pounds can greatly increase your chance of developing the bulky throat tissue associated with snoring. Studies have shown that just a 10 percent decrease in body mass index (BMI) can reduce snoring by an encouraging 50 percent!
Also, when a person lies down to sleep at night, fluids leave other parts of the vascular body and settle high up in the neck area. This can cause someone’s airway to collapse behind the tongue and soft palette. Daily exercise, even something as simple as walking, can decrease this fluid by encouraging the natural flow and release of blocked lymph.
The lymphatic system is responsible for collecting and carrying toxins out of the body. If you want to stop snoring or at least reduce it enough so that you and your sleep partner can get some much-needed rest, get out and get some exercise. You can go walking around the block, take a hike in the woods, jog in the park, go swimming, or hit the gym. Just thirty minutes of moderate exercise three times per week is all you need to get started.
More Stop Snoring Tips
In addition to regular exercise, there are other ways you can work to reduce your snoring and stave off sleep apnea and other, more serious, sleeping problems.
- Modify Your Sleep Position
One of the easiest things you can do to reduce snoring is modifying your sleep position. Studies have shown sleeping on your side can help alleviate snoring because it reduces the strain on your soft palette. It also helps by opening up your airways naturally, encouraging a freer airflow.
- Avoid Alcohol
You can also stop snoring by avoiding excessive amounts of alcohol. Alcohol is a sedative that reduces the resting tone of your throat muscles, making snoring much worse. There should be no problem with having one drink a few hours before bedtime but avoid consuming more than 2 each day, especially before sleep.
- Open Your Nasal Passages
Blocked nasal passages are a problem for allergy and cold sufferers. You can greatly reduce snoring by using a neti pot to flush your sinuses of dust and pollen before retiring for the evening. You can also use nasal strips in addition to the neti pot to encourage freer air flow.
- Reduce Allergens in Your Home
If allergies are the primary cause of your snoring, take steps to reduce the allergens in your home. Change and wash your bedding frequently and invest in hypoallergenic bedding. Dust and vacuum at least once per week. You can also add supplements such as stinging nettles, vitamin C, and quercetin to reduce allergic reaction naturally.
- Drink More Water
To loosen up the natural secretions in your sinuses and throat, drink more water. Millions of Americans are chronically dehydrated due to an excessive intake of coffee and soda. Believe it or not these drinks can actually dehydrate you. Drink 6-8 glasses of water per day to reduce snoring naturally and lose weight faster.
No matter how long you’ve been struggling with snoring, it can become a thing of the past. All you need is moderate cardiovascular exercise and some natural stop-snoring treatments. You’ll be amazed at how much better you (and your sleep partner) feel!