Snoring is extremely common: 45 percent of American adults snore occasionally, and 25 percent are habitual snorers. While many consider it a mere nuisance, snoring is actually a sleep disorder that can be the sign of a serious medical condition.

What Causes Snoring?

When you sleep, your tongue, throat muscles and soft palate relax. If they relax too much, they can droop backward and block the airway, vibrating together when you breathe. This causes the telltale noisy sounds associated with snoring. The more the airway is obstructed, the louder the snoring will be.

There are several factors that increase the odds you will snore, including:

  • Having bulky throat tissue or an enlarged soft palate
  • Experiencing frequent nasal congestion
  • Having a deviated septum
  • Having nasal polyps
  • Having enlarged tonsils or adenoids
  • Drinking alcohol before bedtime
  • Being overweight
  • Being over the age of 40

Some individuals, the airway becomes so obstructed that breathing is interrupted; this leads to a serious medical condition known as sleep apnea.

Tips for Quieting Your Snoring

If your snoring isn’t a complication of sleep apnea, implementing lifestyle changes may help eliminate the problem. Useful tips include:

  • Sleeping on your side instead of your back
  • Losing weight
  • Avoiding alcohol before bedtime
  • Treating allergies
  • Eliminating tobacco smoke

If lifestyle modifications do not solve the problem, oral appliances that reposition the lower jaw may help. Another alternative is nasal breathing strips. Some individuals might benefit from surgical techniques such as:

  • Pillar Procedure. Polyester filament is injected into the soft palate to stiffen it and reduce snoring.
  • Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP). Excess throat tissue is surgically removed to enlarge the airway. This may include the uvula, soft palate, tonsils, adenoids and/or pharynx.
  • Laser Surgery. Lasers are used to remove the uvula and excess tissue from the soft palate.
  • Also known as radiofrequency tissue ablation, this procedure uses radio signals to shrink the tissue of the soft palate.

Call ENT Specialists of Metairie at (504) 889-5335 for more information or to schedule an appointment.