If your partner has been snoring, you probably need to query when this started and how it has progressed over time. Most probably, it has gotten worse with time and you are wondering what could have gone wrong that triggered such changes. Well, with age comes many things and one that might be happening because of old age is snoring. Yes, snoring gets worse among the old due to a number of factors that will be discussed here. Instead of getting mad your partner has been snoring annoyingly, you could help after reading these reasons that explain why snoring gets worse as you grow older.
Hormonal Changes In Women
Women undergo many changes when menopause kicks in. Post-menopausal women tend to have low estrogen levels, and as you might have learnt, estrogen helps with muscle tone. Therefore, these women tend to have softer muscles and their upper airways might be affected greatly by this. The result is that the airways will not be open enough to allow the smooth flow of air, so when one sleeps snoring becomes an issue.
Medications
As people age, the number of medications they take also increases. This could include drugs meant to cure insomnia, which could raise the propensity for snoring. Insomnia drugs cause your muscles to relax and also affect the respiratory drive through suppression.
Loss of Muscle Tone
As one grows older, muscle tone is lost, and this includes the upper airway. This makes the upper soft palate in your mouth to soften and become prone to vibrations. Those are the tissues that cause the noise when you are snoring.
Weight Gain
Another issue likely to manifest as one grows older is old age, which is accelerated by sedentary lifestyle. When one gains weight at old age, most particularly around the neck, you are likely to suffer from snoring.
How can you quiet your snoring?
Even if old age is a contributing factor for snoring, there are a number of things you could do to help quiet snoring. Below are suggestions you could try.
Dental Devices
Dental devices help a big deal to silence snoring. They fit in one’s mouth and help to hold the lower jaw in a forward position that could help keep the airway unobstructed, which reduces snoring. If you are looking to buy one, here are some of the Top Snoring Mouthpieces you could choose to help deal with snoring problems.
Lifestyle Change.
As you have seen, many of the reasons for snoring at old age come about because of lifestyle issues. Changing your lifestyle to include things like weight loss and diet changes could help you.
Positional Therapy
Positional therapy is aided by devices that help you to maintain sleeping on your side instead of the back. You could implement this with simple fixes like getting some wedge pillows that allow you to sleep on your side.
Surgery (last resort)
Surgery should be an option if all the others fail. Your reason for snoring could be tonsils or septum deviation. These can be addressed best through a surgery like pillar procedure.
Age is a contributing factor for snoring, but this does not mean younger individuals cannot suffer from snoring. There are many reasons for snoring and most of these are lifestyle related. The issues that require medical procedures are few and their remedies are available. See above for some of the solutions you could embrace to deal with snoring.
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