Your sleep and restfulness provide fuel to achieve the most out of every day. Whether working hard to gain a raise or just trying to make it through the day, running on low restricts your ability to achieve more.
Sleep by Dufresne understands the most frustrating part about consistently interrupted sleep is that it’s hard to find a quick and affordable solution. Here are bite-sized answers to one of sleep’s most common issues and our suggestions on how to solve snoring.
Snoring is the most common sleep issue in the world. For those who live in a snore-free environment, snoring emits harsh, vibrating sounds similar to the igniting of a lawnmower engine.
Here is the truth—snoring is a selfish sleep issue. Snoring doesn’t just disrupt your breathing and restful sleep; it hinders the quality of your partner’s rest. Here is our guide to helping the whole family sleep snore-free.
Snoring is primarily caused by the obstruction or narrowing of the airways when breathing. When we sleep, the muscles in our throat and tongue relax, and the soft tissues in the back of the throat can partially block the airway. As a result, when we inhale and exhale, the airflow becomes turbulent, causing the surrounding tissues to vibrate and produce the characteristic snoring sound.
Now that you know what causes snoring, you would think the solution would be the inverse of each factor, but unfortunately, it is not that easy. Here are five ways to improve your chances of snore-free sleep.
The best way to open your airways and prevent snoring is by elevating your head and neck while you sleep. As the airways open, there is less of a chance of the muscles in your throat vibrating, reducing the opportunity for snoring.
There are multiple ways to comfortably elevate your head when asleep. Here are two simple ways to solve snoring at Sleep by Dufresne.
Pillows offer a cost-efficient option to solve snoring. While many consider your mattress the universal saviour of sleep, your choice of pillow dictates up to 35% of your sleep quality. Investing in a pillow that suits your needs is a huge factor in creating a sleep solution that works for you.
The Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Align ProHigh Queen Pillow offers contouring support while maintaining a high profile, meaning your head and neck get the elevation you need to stop snoring without giving up the personalized comfort of a soft and plush pillow. Whether you require a wedge pillow or are looking for extra neck support, browse our selection to find a pillow that’s right for you.
While pricey, lifestyle bases are almost a surefire cure to snoring. Rather than a conventional steel bed frame, a lifestyle base introduces motion to your sleep through the ability to raise or lower your head or feet. More expensive models offer bells and whistles that enhance your sleep environment, such as colour-changing lights, Bluetooth speakers, and massage options, but the primary function of a lifestyle base is to elevate your head, neck and feet.
The Ashley Sleep Good Lifestyle Adjustable Bed offers superior motion for your head and feet. Not only does raising your head and neck stop snoring but raising your feet helps improve blood circulation while you sleep.
For more options, browse our selection of lifestyle bases at Sleep by Dufresne.
As mentioned earlier, back sleepers tend to suffer from snoring the most. The natural weight of your neck and chest makes it difficult for your airways to expand and retract without touching your throat muscles, causing snoring and restless sleep. We know it’s tough to change your sleep position on the spot, but sleeping on your side is one of the best (and cheapest) sleep remedies available.
If you find sleeping on your side uncomfortable, it could be because a part of your sleep solution doesn’t suit your sleep needs or style. Typically, back sleepers prefer the instant comfort that plush mattresses offer while trying to fall asleep. While soft to the touch, most plush mattresses offer poor motion-transfer support while you sleep. Poor motion-transfer support puts your joints at risk of collapsing and sinking further into the mattress as you sleep, causing soreness or aching muscles when you wake up.
Consider opting for a quality medium or firm mattress that offers the support you need without compromising comfort throughout the night. Our Beautyrest Diamond Hybrid One Carat Smooth Top Hybrid 10" Extra Firm Mattress offers an unrivalled mix of body-contouring comfort and the pressure-point relief of a luxury memory foam mattress with the classic feel of a traditional innerspring. This mattress makes switching from a back sleeper to a side sleeper easy while also bringing added comfort for those who want to remain on their back.
While snoring makes it difficult to stay in REM sleep, you can achieve more REM sleep by developing a consistent sleep schedule for your body to follow.
In light sleep, our body slows down all internal processes to prepare for deep sleep. Snoring is least likely to occur in deep sleep because it usually happens during REM when breathing is at its shallowest. The problem is that snoring makes a sleeper restless and often breaks the sleep cycle from noise and irritation.
One of the best ways to stop snoring is to build a consistent and reliable sleep schedule. Once your body recognizes a sleep pattern, it becomes easier to speed up the light and deep portions of the cycle so you can get more REM sleep.
The best way to ease yourself into a new nightly routine is to ensure each part of your sleep solution is up to par. A sleep solution consists of a mattress, pillow, base, sheets, mattress cover and sleep accessories. Consider how each plays a part in your sleep and find out where to improve your sleep solution.
After a long night out, your partner (or family) could probably hear your snoring from every corner of the house. That’s because drinking alcohol causes the muscles in the back of your throat to close faster than normal, causing increased amounts of snoring.
Good news, you don’t have to quit drinking cold turkey to stop your snoring—you just have to stop drinking alcohol before bed. Studies show that limiting your consumption of alcohol at least 3 hours before bed will help prevent harsh snoring.
While three hours may limit your snoring, drinking alcohol is linked to a loss of REM sleep, so our suggestion is to try to ease off alcohol as much as possible for a more restful sleep.
Have you been considering hitting the gym? If you are a chronic snorer, now is the time. Studies show sleepers who are overweight or obese are much more likely to snore than the average person due to the accumulation of fatty tissues around the throat, further narrowing the airway and increasing the likelihood of snoring.
Whether you are trying to balance your calorie and exercise deficit or are making healthy lifestyle changes, a conscious effort to slim down will help eliminate the chances of snoring.
Here are a few of our blog posts that help you stay fit from the comfort of your own home:
Your days of tossing and turning are officially over. If you are the resident snorer in your family, congrats on finally taking the initiative to cure one of sleep’s most common issues and good luck with your pursuit of a great night’s sleep.
If you struggle to fall asleep (or stay asleep) from the sound of a partner or family member’s snoring, I hope this article brings you the sleep and nighttime solace you’ve been dreaming about.
Visit Sleep by Dufresne to take your sleep to the next level. With expert sleep knowledge, cutting-edge technology and a 100 Night Sleep Guarantee, we can build a sleep solution that’s made for you.
If you need help understanding the science behind our selection, book a free appointment with our sleep experts and get a full sleep test identifying your pressure points using pressure mapping technology.
