Want to quiet your snoring bed partner? We asked sleep experts for their recommendations

While surely you love the people in your life, you may not love their sleeping habits, especially if you have a bed partner whose loud snoring keeps you awake at night. Despite what Saturday morning cartoons might want you to think, loud, honk-shoo snoring is not a sign of deep, restful sleep. In fact, for many people, snoring can be a warning sign that there are bigger health issues waiting to be addressed.

We asked sleep experts to help break down what causes snoring, how it affects your health and what you can do to try to fix it.

Causes of snoring

To understand snoring, we first have to understand breathing. Dr. Emerson Wickwire, a board member for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and section head of sleep medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, walked us through our body’s four-step breathing cycle.

“First, the brain sends a signal to the diaphragm. Second, the diaphragm contracts. Third, air is brought into the lungs. And fourth, the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood to the brain and other vital organs,” Wickwire explains.

Throughout the day, the body repeats this cycle as we work, chat, exercise and complete our tasks, Wickwire explains. When we sleep, the muscles and the tissues in the upper airway (i.e., the nose, sinuses, mouth and upper throat) relax and make the airway smaller. This means that during sleep, the same amount of air our body uses during the day now has a much smaller space to move through. As the air moves through, it causes the relaxed tissues to vibrate.

“It’s almost like if you put your hand in front of a really powerful fan, you hear and feel the noise,” Wickwire says. “The tissues in your upper airway are vibrating, and that vibration is what we call snoring.”

Health impacts of snoring

Like a lot of other health issues, snoring exists on a spectrum. This can range anywhere from mild snoring that is so soft and light that your bed partner might not even notice any noise to severe, sleep-disrupting snoring often associated with sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Dr. Kevin Postol, a certified sleep dentist and president-elect of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, says that if you’re getting seven to nine hours of sleep per night, without tossing and turning or noticing other health issues, then your mild snoring is likely not a cause for major concern. Keep in mind that a louder-sounding snore also doesn’t automatically mean your health is in worse shape, though it might mean your sleep partner will be more direct about telling you to find a fix.

According to Postol, you should be concerned when your snoring instead sounds like gasping for air; you feel chest pains; you experience increased bouts of anxiety and depression; or you have unresolved high blood pressure, memory issues or excessive daytime sleepiness. Experiencing any of these symptoms is a good enough reason to talk to your physician about conducting a sleep study.

“There’s a lot of people who won’t go and be evaluated because they think all sleep studies are done in a lab,” Postol says. “Most sleep studies nowadays are done at home, in the privacy of your bedrooms [and] are very simple, easy to do.”

The results of the sleep study can help determine if your snoring could be connected to other conditions like mild sleep apnea or a more severe sleep disorder like OSA, where the airway is even more narrow, causing snorting, choking or gasping during the night.

Postol says many patients don’t recognize how other factors of their health are related to their sleep apnea. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reports that “sleep apnea may raise the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.” Other studies have also highlighted links between OSA and the development of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and depression.

“There’s too many patients who end up not going to see a health care professional until it’s too late,” Postol says, “which ends up being a big factor in their longevity, in their life, because just like eating and drinking are important, sleep is just as important.”

Treatments for snoring

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to snoring.

Some snoring can be improved by making lifestyle changes like losing weight, getting regular exercise, quitting smoking or avoiding alcohol before bed, Postol explains. You could also try sleeping on your side or with your head more elevated to help keep your airways open. But if at-home remedies still aren’t helping, then it’s time to seek professional help.

37 million Americans say they snore regularly, according to Yale Medicine, and in general, many people find talking about and admitting to snoring embarrassing. Women often underreport their snoring habits, making it more likely that their sleep disorders are overlooked, even though instances of sleep apnea can occur during pregnancy or menopause.

Postol says some patients hesitate to bring up snoring issues to their doctors, fearing that they may be told to wear a continuous positive airway passage (CPAP) machine, which many people find loud and uncomfortable to sleep with.

Luckily, qualified sleep dentists such as Postol can often help patients alleviate snoring and sleep apnea by fitting them for an oral appliance, a device similar in shape to a mouthguard that helps keep the jaw forward and the airways open while you sleep. While similar oral products are available at drugstores, Postol warns that it’s better to get a professionally fitted piece that won’t risk grinding or moving your teeth around.

The bottom line is if you’re thinking about your snoring — how it’s affecting your life and overall health — that’s enough of a sign to talk to your doctor. Advocating for your health is the first step in finding a snoring solution that will get you (and your partner) better sleep.

“When people are sleeping better, particularly if they have sleep disorders, when these are treated, everything about life gets better,” Wickwire says.

But if you’re not ready to pencil in an appointment quite yet, here are a few expert-recommended snoring aids you can try at home.

At-home snoring aids