There’s a popular saying: “Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.” If your partner is suffering from chronic snoring due to obstructive sleep apnea, you suffer from it too on some level, as it impacts you as well as them. So what do you do if your partner’s snoring is reducing your quality of sleep?
In our first blog post in this series, we discussed short-term fixes to address snoring, but as we stated in that blog post, those address the symptoms, but they don’t represent a cure. In our second blog post, we suggested some ways to encourage your partner to remain on their side throughout the night to help reduce the odds of snoring. Again, this can help quite a bit, but it’s not a long-range answer to the underlying problem.
So what are some specific things you can do to address the underlying issues related to chronic snoring?
- Encourage your partner to maintain a healthy weight. Overweight individuals often have excess fatty tissue in the neck, which can partially obstruct their airway and cause snoring. Encouraging a healthy diet and regular exercise may help with weight management and reduce snoring.
- If your partner smokes, encourage them to quit. Smoking can irritate and inflame the airway, leading to snoring. Quitting smoking may help reduce the frequency and severity of their snoring.
- Get specialized treatment to address the underlying cause of your partner’s sleep apnea.
Treatments for Snoring: Your Partner’s Options
Generally speaking, sleep apnea occurs due to the airway becoming blocked or restricted while your partner is asleep. In many cases, it’s because the tissue of the soft palate is loose enough that it drops in front of the airway, constricting your partners breathing and causing them to snore.
To address the challenge of your partner’s airway being obstructed by the soft palate, Dr. Krish offers the NightLase laser treatment for snoring. A gentle laser tightens the tissues of the soft palate to raise it up and out of the way. It’s fast, noninvasive, and produces immediate results.
In many cases, individuals have a naturally constricted airway due to an oral cavity that is too narrow. In response, Dr. Krish can fit your partner with a custom oral appliance. Used in conjunction with myofunctional therapy, the interior of your partner’s mouth can be reshaped over time, opening the oral cavity and creating an open airway. It doesn’t merely address the symptoms: this is a complete cure from snoring.
In conclusion, there are several steps you can take to help reduce or eliminate your partner’s snoring. Encouraging healthy habits and seeking medical treatment for underlying conditions can make a significant difference in reducing snoring.