Can Stress Worsen Snoring?

It’s easy to see how poor sleep and stress are associated with one another. For example, when we have poor sleep, it can cause stress in our lives when we’re awake. The stress we experience during the day can then keep us from sleeping at night.

Air Passages

When we feel stress, our bodies will release a hormone called Cortisol. This will cause the areas of our brain designed for dealing with stress to become active. Cortisol will cause changes in our nervous system. It could cause our hearts to struggle with handling the changes taking place in our bodies. Our air passages canbecome more restricted and make breathing more difficult producing a loud sound when our tongue and soft palate come in contact known as snoring.

Research has shown this situation can increase a risk for developing hypertension, cardiovascular disease and more.

Reduce Stress

We must make an effort to decrease the stress in our lives before we can control the effects of poor sleep. This will require an understanding of the things in our lives that cause us stress. We may not be aware of many of them. It’s possible our relationship is causing us stress.

Researchers at Ohio State University have studied this problem. They concluded this type of stress could be decreased with improving communication in a relationship and having a desire to compromise. It’s also possible for us to ignore many daily small irritations like the commute to work, mundane tasks, and unconscious fears. These things can take up too much time and increase our stress levels. Experts agree we must become comfortable with the idea we’re doing the best we can in life and accept our limitations.

Social Media

One of the main things causing many of us stress today is spending too much time on social media. Certain conversations and interactions could cause our blood pressure levels to increase. A study was conducted by the Pew Research Centre. It showed that people have higher stress levels the more they’re aware of the difficulties experienced in the lives of people they interact with on social media. It is recommended we make an effort to decrease our time and involvement on social media as a way to lower our stress and improve sleep.

Open Nasal Passages

It is a fact that snoring will often occur when your nasal passages are blocked. There are certain things you can do to alleviate this situation. You could place an adhesive nasal dilator strip on your nose just before going to bed. This should open up your nasal passageways. Others have had success by taking hot showers before bed and cleaning their noses with a saltwater solution.

Teeth Grinding

Stress can cause you to grind your teeth. This will cause an increase in jaw muscle tension as well as misalignment of your teeth and cause pain. When you grind your teeth at night, it will force your tongue to the back of your throat. This will narrow your airway as you sleep. This could cause you significant sleep disruption resulting from problems with breathing. Many people have had success using a mouth guard at night. This can realign your jaw as well as cushion your bite and keep your tongue from interfering with breathing during the night.

Tongue Stabilization

This is a snore solution mouthpiece. It is designed to. It is designed to move your tongue forward and clear your blocked airways. Most people who have used this experience a more comfortable and peaceful sleep. This device has proven to be very effective in most situations and provide almost no side effects.

Exercise and Diet

During the time you are exercising, endorphins are being released into your body from your brain. This will cause you to be in a better mood.

It’s important for people to avoid junk food and drinking too much coffee. Eating healthy foods like lean proteins and whole grains can decrease the risk of having anxiety and depression. Regularly exercising and eating a healthy diet can also help you lose weight. When this happens, it can clear your constricted airway and make it easier to breathe when you sleep.

Sleep Hygiene

It’s possible for stress to result from your bad sleep habits and routines. Successful sleep hygiene will often involve you creating a significant behaviour distinction between waking and sleeping. Many people have increased their quality of sleep by unplugging 15 to 30 minutes prior to going to sleep. This is quiet time. During quiet time, you should not watch television, talk on the phone or use any type of electronic device. It’s a time to eliminate stress and focus on relaxing for sleep. People have the best success with this when they remove televisions, computers and all electronic devices out of their bedroom. You should also make your bed as comfortable as possible to encourage relaxing for sleep.

When you experience problems with snoring, it can cause you quite a bit of frustration. Stress is a major source of sleep issues and problems keeping airways clear. Should you try a number of ways to improve your sleep with no success, it may be time to speak with your physician.

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