Snoring is most prevalent among males who are overweight, middle- aged or elderly, writes Ciarán Brennan
NASAL STRIPS, throat sprays, nose pegs, special pillows, even a tennis ball sewn on to the back of pyjamas to force snorers to sleep on their sides - there are hundreds of products that the manufacturers claim can stop snoring.
In fact, there are more than 300 devices registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office as cures for snoring.
"If any single one of them worked, we wouldn't be having this conversation," says Dan Smyth, chairman of the Irish Sleep Apnoea Trust. "If even one was successful, people would rush to it. I would love to see some kind of a cure but I've seen too many quack cures coming around."
There are many thousands of websites offering products that claim to cure snoring, with many offering nothing more than snake oil, according to the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association (BSSAA).
One of the reasons that there are so many purported cures or treatments available is because snoring is a common ailment - around 45 per cent of normal adults snore at least occasionally, and 25 per cent are habitual snorers. It is more common in men than in women and particularly in overweight, the middle-aged and elderly up to around 75 years.
Another reason behind the search for the silver bullet to cure snoring is because it can be very disruptive for both those snoring and their partners - denying them adequate rest by disturbing sleep patterns and in some cases leading to long-term health problems such as high blood pressure.
"Snorers don't get the same level of rest that sound sleepers do," says Dr Shane Murnaghan, a Chinese medical practitioner who specialises in the area. "They have a tendency not to sleep as deeply, they are drifting between levels of consciousness, often they wake themselves up, blurting and spluttering. For them it is quite an impoverished level of sleep."
Snoring occurs when air cannot flow smoothly through your air passages - it is caused by the vibration of the tissues of the upper airway due to turbulence of air in this area particularly on inspiration. The vibration usually involves the soft palate, the back of the tongue and the back wall of the throat.
But, according to the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association, despite the plethora of products on the market, snoring is something that cannot be stopped at will, neither is it something that can be "cured". It can, however, be successfully controlled, it says.
And that involves looking at the causes before looking for the solution, according to Smyth.
"Snoring is a symptom of something," he says. "First of all you have to find out what's wrong with you before you start looking for the quick-fix solutions. You start with your GP and you look for a referral to a respiratory sleep consultant because it is a respiratory problem in that the problem is created as you breathe."
A respiratory sleep consultant may recommend that you undergo a sleep study which will monitor your brain activity, how you breathe and examine your sleep cycle.
"The great thing about a sleep study is not alone will it diagnose things it will also take things out of the equation," he says.
There may be some medical reason behind the condition such as polyps in the nose or a damaged nasal septum.
For some people, snoring may have its roots in their lifestyle, says Murnaghan. Stress, tension, being overweight, dehydration, excessive alcohol intake, exhaustion, smoking or allergies can be among the causative factors.
"When a body is unstressed and relaxed, it tends not to snore and it utilises its own ability more effectively," he says. "It would be fair enough to say that 50 per cent of people snore based on a couple of factors - one is exhaustion, the other is dehydration - a lot of us will snore when we are very tired because there is still tension within the neck and shoulder region which affects the bronchial structure."
Surgery to treat the problem is becoming more common and popular. Snoreplasty involves injections into the soft palate, causing it to stiffen and vibrate less, while somnoplasty involves a needle connected to a radio frequency generator that shrinks the inner tissues.
Both Smyth and Murnaghan caution against rushing in to surgery to solve the problem.
"There are various surgical options but, long-term, they don't work," argues Smyth.
"I think it is absolutely the last resort," says Murnaghan. "If someone is looking for surgery before they've changed their diet, given up drinking, done something about their stress, taken some exercise, lost that bit of weight and cheered up, then I think they're looking for a quick fix.
"People can get inflammation in the soft palate. People can get bad hydration with their throats and glands, but that's rare. The majority of the time, it's an imbalance in their health."
Snoring: an unhealthy condition
Snoring is bad for your health according to research conducted by the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association (BSSAA) last year. From a study of nearly 3,000 participants the research found that snorers were:
• Three times more likely to suffer the adverse health conditions of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and high cholesterol and nearly four times more likely to suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness than their non-snoring counterparts.
• Although these health risks have been known for many years to be associated with the condition Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), they have not, until now, been associated with snoring.
• Preliminary results from the survey also suggested that snoring can be hereditary.
• Nearly 70 per cent of the snorers in the study demonstrated a biological family link compared with 50 per cent of the non-snorers.
The main risk factors of snoring run in families, partly through polygenic inheritance, (factors such as cardiovascular disease and collar size), and partly through a shared environment and lifestyle.
Among the factors that help alleviate the problem are:
• Losing weight and adopting a healthier and fitter lifestyle;
• Cutting down alcohol intake, especially at night and avoiding late night meals;
• Avoiding cigarettes;
• Sleeping on your side;
• Addressing issues that may be causing stress and tension in your life.