Ways to Prevent Snoring: Change Your Diet
Snoring is generally caused by an obstruction of our nasal passages and airways. During sleep our throat muscles relax resulting in our jaw and tongue to fall back narrowing the size of our airways causing airflow limitation and turbulence. Air is forced to flow through a smaller gap, making our soft tissue on the upper airway to vibrate (usually during inhalation) causing the snoring noise.
What we eat can cause our snoring or help to stop snoring. For one, being overweight can cause snoring. We are more likely to snore if we are obese particularly if we have a large amount of fat around the neck. A collar size of 17 inches or more (in men) may mean our muscle tone is insufficient to keep our airways open during sleep.
Weight Loss by dieting, exercising and getting rid of the excess body fat can help stop snoring. Keeping a food and exercise diary may be a good way to help start shedding those excess pounds.
The types of food we eat can sometimes cause snoring problems.
Dairy Products: Avoid dairy products. Dairy products can increase the mucus in our nasal passages causing restricted airflow in our airways. In lieu of having a glass of warm milk before bedtime, have a cup of warm apple cider or tea. And avoiding cheese or ice cream before going to sleep unless of course they are dairy free can help stop snoring.
Alcohol: Alcohol relaxes the muscles that help keep the throat open thus causing the restricting of the airways. As a result the palate tissues vibrate more causing us to snore. Abstaining from drinking alcohol 3 to 4 hours before going to sleep can also help stop snoring.
One of the ways to prevent snoring is to eat certain kinds of foods. Some of which are:
a. Onions: Onions help reduce nasal congestion. Onions act as a natural decongestant and can help reduce the symptoms of a cold.
b. Honey: Honey can also act as a natural decongestant as well as, as an antiseptic. Try mixing a drink of honey and fresh lemon juice before going to sleep.
c. Lemon: Mixing lemon and thyme is said to reduce mucus in your air passages. Try drinking lemon tea before going to sleep and let us know if it reduced or stopped your snoring.
d. Garlic & Horseradish: Garlic and horseradish can help stop snoring by drying up the mucus in our airways and nasal passages thereby reducing any sinus blockage.
Have you used any of the above foods as ways to prevent snoring and were you successful? Are there foods that we did not mention that help you stop snoring? Are there changes in your diet or routine that acted as ways to prevent snoring? We would love to hear from you and share your experiences.
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