Sound Sleep Guide

Archive for February, 2007

With all the many habits that a person can have one of the most detrimental is cigarette smoking. Aside from its cancer causing elements, the smell it leaves in your hair and on your clothes, the fact it yellows your fingers and teeth, it is also a major contributing factor in snoring. So, with all these health and lifestyle disadvantages why do people continue to smoke? Maybe it’s no different than eating chocolate or dinking coffee, it just has many more potential side effects.
If you are a smoker you will have a very high possibility of being a snorer as well. Smoking affects the airways and sinuses causing swelling in the membranes of the nose and the tissues of the throat. It also damages the small vessels of the lungs by blocking them. The nicotine itself also can cause sleep disruptions that can increase the nightly snoring.
Researchers in Europe studied smokers and snoring within a large group of people from twenty five to fifty four years old. They used a study group of fifteen thousand people from five different countries to see what, if any, correlation there is between people who snore and people who smoke. The results were quite informative though not in the least surprising. To understand what they were trying to prove one must first understand better what causes snoring. The air flows along the passageway between the nose and the mouth. Then it vibrates off of the uvula and the rear part of the soft palate. That’s how the noise of a snore is made. Those who snore at least three times a week in a deafening manner are called habitual snorers.
Of the study group twenty four percent of the smokers and twenty percent of past smokers snored compared to fourteen percent of non-smokers who did not. Interestingly the more a person smoked the louder they snored. Second hand smoke also posed a problem. Twenty percent of people who lived with a smoker also snored. The study also noted that more men smoked cigarettes, but it’s the female smokers who seem more likely to snore. The key question is still what does smoking do that makes a person more likely to snore? The feeling is that it irritates the airway. But, other experts believe that the body’s nightly nicotine withdrawal causes disturbances in the person’s sleep patterns, and obstructions in the upper airway. As well, people who smoke tend to be more likely to drink alcohol. Alcohol is a snoring trigger and so the two in combination are definitely going to cause you to snore.
Knowing that smoking is so bad for your health and now realizing that it also increases the chances you’ll snore, and potentially have other sleep disturbances, isn’t it worth reconsidering this bad habit? After all quitting smoking may give you a quiet uninterrupted night of peaceful sleep. Which can make your days better, improve your relationship and maybe even add years to your life, all while stopping your snoring.

Snoring can touch anyone. So when you are lying there at night feeling whatever emotion snoring causes you to feel; frustration, annoyance, pride, or hopelessness, you should remember that you are one among a very large and varied group. Some very famous people were known to be snorers. Many of the famous snorers have the basic characteristics that many snorers share. Napoleon Bonaparte showed many of the typical signs. He was obese, with a short, thick neck and was believed to have had a nasal blockage. Napoleon was known to fall asleep anywhere, including amongst a group of people. Oddly, there are no records to his snoring, yet history claims he did.
Winston Churchill was a famous snorer. In his later years he was quite badly overweight, drank his fair share of alcohol and enjoyed his cigars. All these are snoring indicators. He was also known for his afternoon naps. Winston Churchill lived to be ninety, which was quite surprising considering his sleep disorder and health habits.
President Grover Cleveland was known to be the second heaviest American president. William Howard Taft, who was believed to have weighed three hundred and thirty pounds, was the heaviest. Cleveland was thought to have weighed about two hundred and eighty pounds. Although there are few notes on his health, he was woefully overweight and his final ten years was known to have a fleshy thick neck. Add to that his love for beer and it certainly is little surprise that he too was known for his snoring.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt suffered from hypertension and sleep apnea, both of which it is believed were factors contributing to his death in nineteen hundred forty five. He was believed to suffer from a sleep disorder that made him more tired than he should be especially in the mornings. FDR was a smoker and known to be a snorer.
Teddy Roosevelt was known not only to be a snorer, but of deafening proportions. One time when he was in the hospital, the other patients complained about the loud noise coming from his room. He, like many of the others, put on a lot of weight later in life. Sadly, he died, at only sixty, in his sleep.
Queen Victoria gained a lot of weight as she aged. A small lady of only five foot two, she was anything but petite with a forty-six inch waist. She was well known to have insomnia. It was actually bad enough that during carriage rides; her ladies in waiting were instructed to gently keep her awake by moving around her pillows, as she was known to fall asleep in the middle of the day and snore.
This is only a small list of historical figures that were known to have suffered the nightly affliction of noise making that is known as snoring. But as you can see, if you are a snorer, you are certainly are in the company of some famous and well-respected people who suffered the same as you.

There are an estimated two billion people worldwide who snore. With so many people with the same problem the exchange of information is essential. Just think how many different experiences there would be to exchange. In this day and age the easiest way to do this is through the Internet via chat rooms.
If this is what you want to do there is certainly no shortage of topics and chat rooms to choose from. There must be hundreds, maybe thousands worldwide. They can be used to share information, get views on cures, share frustrations, ask questions or simply have another person with the same problems as yourself to talk to.
Chat sites are usually divided into different rooms. In one you’ll find wives and girlfriends discussing their lack of sleep. A room filled with women empathizing with one another over the nightly racket made by their boyfriends or husbands. Then sneaking in from the side comes the voice of one man whose wife happens to snore loudly. Would the women let him commiserate with them or turn him away because he’s a man? They let him join of course; the forum is not sexist but open to anyone who has the same feelings that they want to share.
Moving through the topics to chat on there will always be forums on cures. Here is a great place to be able to talk to others and see what they have tried, their success and failures. This is a particularly useful medium for those who are hopeful that something will work but don’t know which of the many alternatives they should try. Here people can talk about trying aromatherapy or magnetic therapy. They can exchange ideas on surgeries, appliances or nasal strips. They can talk about new cures like snoreplasty or old ones like oral appliances. You may discuss hypnosis or relaxation methods.
As snorers chat the talks will often turn to health concerns. Sleep apnea will be a subject discussed. It is of grave concern to some and gets analyzed an snoreplasty d talked about a lot. Other snorers know that they snore because of different problems like being overweight or suffering from allergies or asthma. These people want to learn better ways to improve their environments and how to eat and exercise to lose some weight.
Still looking through the topics you have finally found the one that you want to talk about; pets who snore. You have two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels who not only sleep in your room but on your bed. They snore. One is really loud. You’re hoping someone will have an idea on what to do about it. It doesn’t disturb you all the time but sometimes it wakes you up. One of the others has a simple solution; so simple in fact it makes you laugh. The suggestion is to gently straighten the neck of the snoring dog, therefore eliminating the narrowed passageway and allowing the dog to breathe. You try it and have a peaceful night.