Carrying Out a Self-Examination for Snoring

If you are thinking of trying to reduce a snoring habit on your own, it is important to do so by first discovering what causes your snoring in the first place before you can take the adequate measures to stop it. There are various tests you can carry out to find out if your’s is a nasal, mouth, allergy or a physical cause (i.e due to the uvula or soft palate). By carrying out such a self-examination you can, if only generally, diagnose the type of snoring you suffer from, and begin the search for the appropriate treatment.

Nasal Snoring

To test whether your’s is a nasal problem, look at yourself in the mirror, place a finger over one nostril and while closing your mouth, breathing in through the remaining, open nostril. If your nostril collapsing inwards, blocking the passageway and you find breathing difficult, nasal strips or plugs may help you to breath easier while you sleep, keeping your airways clear and stopping any turbulence. Checking for allergies and congestion is as easy as closing your mouth and breathing in through your nose, if you find this difficult and you cannot take in much air you may well be suffering from allergies and congestion caused by pet hairs, pollen, dust mites, perfumes or feather bedding materials.


Mouth Based Snoring

Testing if you are a ‘mouth-breather’ requires you to try and make a snoring sound with your mouth open. Then, by closing your mouth you must try to make the same noise. If you only find yourself snoring with your mouth open then you snore while you are asleep because you are breathing through your mouth, which has the tendency to cause turbulence in the back of the throat.

Tongue Based Snoring

To test whether your snoring habit is initiated by the slipping of your tongue to the back of you mouth during sleep, and thus blocking the airflow do your airways, you must start by sticking your tongue out as far as possible and holding it with your teeth. Again make a snoring sound in this position if it is lessened with the tongue forward than it is relaxed, then you can define yourself as a ‘tongue based snorer’. This type of snore may require the use of a Mandibular Advancement Device (MAD) or Tongue Retaining Device (TRD), to keep your tongue forward during sleep.

Soft-Palate/Uvula Snoring

If you try each of these examinations and discover than none accurately represent the sound you make during sleep, then you may find you suffer from uvula or soft palate based snoring, caused by vibration of these pieces of tissue during sleep. The use of MADs may lessen the volume of you snore, by keeping the soft palate clear of the airway and reducing vibration in that area, but uvulopalatopharyngolpasty surgery may be another option.

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