Sleep Apnea's Younger Cousin: Profound Snoring

Sleep apnea can make your life miserable -- but sometimes, when your air passages don't actually close off entirely but still sag a bit, you end up with a problem that makes everyone around you miserable; snoring. About 10% of the population snores, and not all of them do it often or loudly enough to disrupt the sleep of the people they live with. If you are -- or live with -- a profound snorer, Dr. Eric Johnson and Dr. Tom Risbrudt want you to know that help is just a phone call away.

Before you make an appointment for an expensive surgery or other route to address your snoring problems, however, here are some things you can do to address the problem at home:

• Lose weight -- for many people, even just losing 4 or 5 pounds is enough to take the weight off of their soft tissues and allow them to breathe without snoring.
• Avoid sedatives -- alcohol, sleeping pills, and relaxants can all cause snoring by encouraging the soft tissues to over-relax during sleep.
• Sleep on your side -- this keeps the tongue and soft tissues out of the back of your throat, allowing the air through. Even if you have to duct-tape a tennis ball to the back of your pajamas so that you don't roll over onto your back in the middle of the night, learning to sleep on your side is great for killing the snore.
• Prop your head up -- again, gravity can help you keep the flesh out of your airways. Just sleep with an extra pillow, or if necessary get a foam wedge that will keep the top of your body a few degrees above flat.
• Open your nose -- nasal strips, neti pots, and even prescription nasal dilators can help you keep breathing through your nose, which prevents about half of all snoring.

If you've tried these things and your companions still complain about your snoring, it's time to tackle the problem professionally. Call Drs. Johnson and Risbrudt's office to make an appointment to come in and get your snore turned off for good.