Restore Sleep
Snoring & audible breathing
If you snore, I'm sure you've been told. Maybe there's a small level of denial? But snoring is worth taking seriously. If it's loud, persistent or accompanied by pauses in breathing or gasping, it's worth getting it investigated with a sleep study and also learning to breathe a volume of air more suited to the airways to reduce the level of turbulenc and support more functional breathing to quieten and calm your breathing rthythm.
When breathing gets noisy
It might be keeping your partner awake, but have you also considered that snoring might also be impacting your ability to achieve sufficient REM and deep sleep where the brain cleanses and repairs itself?
Snoring can occur when the upper airway becomes narrower during sleep. As airflow passes through the narrowed airway, the surrounding tissues can vibrate, creating the sound we recognise as snoring. When breathing becomes disrupted during sleep, it can cause brief arousals and fragment your sleep, making it harder to get the restorative sleep your body needs.
I like to explain this with the paper straw analogy. Think back to the last time you were at a café drinking with a paper straw, as it gets more soggy, the liquid is harder to take through the straw. A similar thing is happening with your airways as you attempt to take in too much air through a narrowing airway.
This is where breathing retraining can help us correct breathing habits during the day, so we take better habits into the bedroom at night so breathing becomes lighter, quieter and calmer.
Shut your mouth
Fun fact: you can't snore with your mouth open. More often than not, snorers are caught catching flies. It's common for people who snore to breathe through an open mouth. And mouth breathing can increase the likelihood of snoring because the tissues at the back of the mouth and throat can vibrate more easily.
This is where we want to start training the mouth to stay closed, so breathing can occur through the nose. Where appropriate, mouth taping can be one tool to encourage this during sleep. For some people, taping may be a short-term support while we work on developing more natural nasal breathing habits. For others, it can become part of their longer-term routine.
The nose is a third of the size of the mouth so naturally a smaller hole to breathe through is going to slow the breath down and help with reducing the turbulance and noise.
Nasal snoring may occur with the mouth shut. This may be because of physical obstruction or, again, the volume of air being too large and too fast. For those with nasal polyps, deviated septum or congestion , we can work on opening the nose with support such as the Buteyko Nose Unblocking Exercise and either nasal strips or nasal dilators.
Snoring is a red flag
It's good to get on top of snoring now, as it may be a sign of something more serious, such as sleep apnoea.
This diagram shows how snoring can be an early sign of increasing airway resistance, which can progress to hypopnoea (partial collapse) and, in more severe cases, apnoea
(full collapse), the respiratory events sleep specialists measure in sleep studies.
If you snore regularly, particularly if your snoring is loud, persistent or accompanied by pauses in breathing or gasping, I recommend speaking with your GP about a referral for a sleep study, especially if you experience daytime fatigue or wake feeling unrefreshed. Once you have your results, we can go through them together and I can explain where the Buteyko Breathing Method may fit in.
This review explores the relationship between breathing patterns, airway function and sleep-disordered breathing.
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