Snoring

Snoring Treatment in Alwarpet, Chennai

Snoring is a hoarse sound or noisy breathing that results from some restriction or obstruction in your airflow during sleep. 

What do we need to know about snoring?

While sleeping, your throat muscles relax and make the airway narrow. While breathing, when air flows past these relaxed muscles in your throat, the tissues vibrate and produce snoring sounds. Snoring disturbs your sleeping pattern and quality. 

To seek treatment, you can search for an ENT specialist near me or an ENT hospital near me.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms related to snoring can vary depending upon the cause, but may include:

1. Sore throat upon waking up
2. Excessive daytime sleepiness
3. Pause in breathing while sleeping
4. Headaches in morning
5. Gasping and chest pain at night
6. Restlessness while sleeping
7. Difficulty in concentrating
8. High blood pressure

What causes snoring?

While sleeping, the muscles of your palate, tongue and throat relax. The throat tissues relax and block your airway, resulting in the vibration. Due to further narrowing, airflow becomes forceful, increasing tissue vibration, hence louder snoring. Various causes of snoring are:

1. Anatomy – Enlarged tonsils, large tongue, displaced cartilage in the nose (deviated septum) or long soft palate make it difficult for air to flow through the nose and the mouth.
2. Health issues – As a result of allergies, sinusitis or common cold, your nasal passage can be blocked.
3. Pregnancy – In pregnant women, hormonal changes and weight gain can lead to snoring.
4. Age – With aging, muscle tone decreases leading to constriction of the airway.
5. Alcohol consumption and drug abuse – They act as muscle relaxing agents, and thus restrict airflow in the mouth, nose and throat.
6. Sleeping on the back can result in snoring.
7. Sleep deprivation results in further throat relaxation and thus snoring.
8. Obesity 
9. Family history

When do you need to see a doctor?

In case you observe the symptoms mentioned above, you must visit an ENT specialist near you. ENT physicians can diagnose snoring by an imaging test (X-ray, MRI, CT scan), sleep study by polysomnography and suggest a suitable treatment for it.

Request an appointment at Apollo Spectra Hospitals, Alwarpet,Chennai.

Call 1860 500 2244 to book an appointment.

What are the risk factors associated with snoring?

1. Stroke and heart-related problems
2. Obstructive sleep apnea
3. Frustration and anger
4. Decreased blood oxygen level and fatigue
5. Type 2 diabetes

How can snoring be prevented?

1. Maintain a healthy weight
2. Sleep on your side, not on your back
3. Avoid alcohol or smoking before going to bed
4. Raise the head of your bed to increase the airflow
5. Use a nasal spray or external nasal dilator
6. Try a snore-reducing pillow to keep head and neck in proper place while sleeping

How is snoring treated?

Since snoring is a common problem, there are many treatments available such as:

1. Oral appliances – They are dental mouthpieces that keep your jaw, tongue and soft palate in proper positions while sleeping.
2. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) – This mask supplies pressurized air into your airway while you are sleeping, thus reducing snoring.
3. Laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) – This surgery reduces soft palate tissue and thus increases the airflow.
4. Septoplasty – This surgery treats deviated septum by reshaping the cartilage and bone present in the nose.
5. Radiofrequency ablation or somnoplasty – This technique shrinks excess tissue in the soft palate and tongue with the help of radiofrequency.
6. Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy – These surgeries remove excess tissues from the back of the throat and the nose respectively.

Conclusion

Snoring can occur due to many factors like cold, obesity, anatomy of your mouth and sinus. If snoring has turned into a chronic condition for you, then it increases the risks of stroke, heart attack and other health problems. You must have a healthy lifestyle, reduce weight and avoid alcohol and smoking. 

Source

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/snoring/symptoms-causes/syc-20377694

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/snoring/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20377701

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15580-snoring

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-apnea/snoring

https://www.ent-phys.com/sleep/snoring/