Posture and snoring
Sleeping posture can have an effect on snoring. Especially when you sleep on your back.
Remember that for many people, snoring is caused by partial constriction of the upper airway combined with vibration of the soft palate. Changing your posture can reduce the degree of constriction of the upper airway while asleep.
There are various special pillows and devices to make it difficult to sleep on your back. While these may have some merit, they are only a “half-way house” to stopping snoring and may be useful when combined with a treatment that is known to work.
A simple change in sleeping posture can improve your quality of sleep.
For example, if you sleep with your chin pressed against your chest, then this may have the effect of partially closing off the upper airway which may worsen your snoring or sleep apnoea.
Imagine a hose pipe that has been bent at an angle. It will have a kink in it and it will be partially blocked-off. Similarly, our upper airway is a pipe and our posture can cause a partial restriction of the flow of air though the windpipe.
A simple solution if you sleep on your back, is to use one pillow instead of two, or to use a thinner pillow (or no pillow at all, but of course this may become uncomfortable when you roll over onto your side).
If you sleep on your side, then you may find it helpful to sleep with your head back rather than with your chin against your chest. If you have done a first-aid course you will know that pushing the head back opens the upper airway and makes mouth-to-mouth resuscitation easier and more effective. In other words, it is easier to breathe with your head back.
Another recommendation that some people find helpful is to raise one end of the bed, the end where your head is, using, for example, bricks or old magazines.
It must be stressed that none of these recommendations will, in themselves, definitely stop you snoring, but they may be helpful when combined with a treatment that is known to work. In particular, they may make such treatments work better. If you are serious about stopping snoring, then you should focus your attention on treatments that work.
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