Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here with a classic
Speaker 1: episode from the Vault. Snoring can be so annoying that
Speaker 1: it seems like a simple fix is too good to
Speaker 1: be true. But most of the time, getting a sleeper
Speaker 1: to rest on their side instead of on their back
Speaker 1: camp stop their snores. Today's episode explores why Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Vogel bom here, almost half of all adults snore.
Speaker 1: Loud and persistent snoring may be a symptom of sleep apnea,
Speaker 1: a serious sleep condition that requires medical attention. But is
Speaker 1: it true that most snoring problems can be fixed just
Speaker 1: by sleeping on your side first? A quick snoring primer.
Speaker 1: Snoring is the result of an obstruction of the breathing
Speaker 1: pathways during sleep. As you drift off to sleep, your mouth, tongue,
Speaker 1: and throat relax. The soft tissue in your throat can
Speaker 1: relax to the point that it partially blocks your airway.
Speaker 1: If air passes through this restricted space, it causes the
Speaker 1: tissue to vibrate, producing detail tale rumble. The narrower that
Speaker 1: your airway is, the more forceful the flow of air
Speaker 1: will be, which increases the vibration of the tissue and
Speaker 1: makes your snoring sound even louder. The root causes of
Speaker 1: snoring vary from person to person. Obesity is a common
Speaker 1: underlying reason for storing because excess weight on the neck
Speaker 1: and chest compresses breathing pathways. Other causes can include allergies
Speaker 1: they cause congestion and inflammation that tighten airways in the
Speaker 1: nose and throat, and drinking alcohol before sleep, which relaxes
Speaker 1: the throat muscles. And some people are just born with
Speaker 1: an extra thick soft palette or a low hanging uvula
Speaker 1: that obstructs air flow to the throat. So where does
Speaker 1: sleep position come into all of this? Sleep experts agree
Speaker 1: that sleeping on your back exacerbates snoring. That's because when
Speaker 1: you're asleep, your tongue, soft palate, and throat muscles automatically relax,
Speaker 1: and if you're sleeping on your back, those relaxed muscles
Speaker 1: will sag downward and backward, increasing the odds of an
Speaker 1: structed airway. Sleeping on your side is most effective on
Speaker 1: true tongue snoreres where the chief cause of the obstruction
Speaker 1: is a relaxed tongue blocking your airway, but turning on
Speaker 1: your side won't necessarily solved the snoring problem if it's
Speaker 1: an allergy or obesity issue. The trouble beside sleeping is
Speaker 1: a cure is that unconscious people are terrible at following directions.
Speaker 1: If your bed partner has a hard time maintaining a
Speaker 1: side sleeping position, you might try using pillows to prop
Speaker 1: them up, or place a tennis ball under their shirt
Speaker 1: in the middle of their back to remind them to
Speaker 1: turn over with their permission. Of course, today's episode is
Speaker 1: based on the article thus sleeping on your side stop
Speaker 1: Snoring on how stuff works dot com, written by Dave Rhodes.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership
Speaker 1: with how stuffworks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.