It can be hard to live with a snoring partner. Every night, the sound of their snoring keeps you from sleeping. You’ve tried elbowing them at night, putting a pillow over your head, putting a pillow over their head, and maybe many more spur-of-the-moment attempts at quieting them. You want a solution that works before you go completely insane from lack of sleep. 

There are a few home remedies you can try to help your partner sleep quietly so you can rest, too. However, if they don’t give good results, you will likely need professional help to guarantee peace and quiet in your home. At StarImage Dental Boutique & Oral Surgery, we have the tools to treat your partner’s snoring so you can get deep, restful sleep again.

Remain Calm

This is important and bears repeating: remain calm when talking to your partner about their snoring. If you’re going to make any progress on this issue, you need to approach them with patience and a compassionate attitude. 

Here’s an important secret: your partner isn’t sleeping well, either. We know; it looks like they’re peacefully asleep as their snores drone on, keeping you awake. But that appearance is deceptive. Snoring is the sound of the body struggling to breathe while sleeping. They might get more sleep than you (debatable, for reasons we’ll explain later), but their sleep is likely shallow and not restful even if they do. 

Because your partner isn’t sleeping well, they might be moody and sensitive, capable of getting irrationally angry at any provocation. Since two angry people yelling at each other rarely leads to a good solution, you have to be the calm one if you want to make any progress.

Have a Snoring Discussion at a Good Time

It’s important to discuss snoring at a time when you’re both able to talk about the matter with as little stress as possible. Complaining to your partner in the middle of the night doesn’t count. If you’ve been with your partner for a while, you likely have a sense of when they’re most receptive to difficult conversations. Bring it up, then. Make sure you have enough time to have an in-depth conversation. 

Don’t be surprised if your first conversation doesn’t resolve the matter. Discussing the topic calmly is a win and will make it easier to resolve in the future.

Encourage a Sleep Apnea Test

One of the most important things you can do for your snoring partner is encourage them to get a sleep apnea test. Snoring is one of the most noticeable signs of sleep apnea, and the louder someone snores, the more likely they are to have the condition. 

Sleep apnea is when a person isn’t just struggling to breathe during sleep–they stop breathing. Then, they have to wake up enough to resume breathing, though they–and you–might not know they’re waking up. This can happen hundreds of times a night, and a person might not be aware of it. In extreme cases, a person might sleep less than a minute between wakings. This is what we mean by saying that your snoring partner might be getting even less sleep than you are. Even if you doze off for just a couple of hours between your partner’s bouts of snoring, you might get more sleep than they do during an entire night of apnea-interrupted sleep. 

Ensure your partner understands they don’t have to go to a sleep lab to get a sleep test. With the Watch-PAT200 home sleep test, they can usually do it at home in the comfort of their own bed. Plus, insurance typically covers sleep tests.

Try Some Effective Home Remedies

If your partner takes a sleep test and it shows they have sleep apnea, it’s critical that they get treatment. Sleep apnea can be deadly, and professional treatment is the only reliable way to reduce the danger. However, if your partner doesn’t have sleep apnea and is just a snorer, you can try some reliable home remedies for snoring:

  • Change your sleep position
  • Use nasal strips or dilators
  • Avoid alcohol before bed
  • Reduce airway irritants

Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea occur when the airway collapses at night. Partial collapse causes snoring by making it hard to breathe, and full collapse causes obstructive sleep apnea by cutting off the air supply. Certain positions, like sleeping on your back, make it more likely that your airway will collapse. 

Nasal strips or dilators are a few over-the-counter snoring remedies that work. However, there’s a caveat: they only work for nasal snoring–snoring in your nose. Although nasal snoring can be annoying, it’s typically higher-pitched and not as loud as snoring in the mouth or throat. 

Alcohol is a muscle relaxant. When you drink alcohol too close to bedtime, it can relax the muscles that support your airway, making the airway collapse more likely. Most sleep experts recommend avoiding alcohol within four hours of bedtime. 

Airway irritants can inflame (swell) the tissues of your airway, narrowing it. This makes breathing more challenging and can cause snoring even if your airway doesn’t collapse much. To help keep your airway open, try to remove irritants from the air. This can include general dust, pet dander, cigarette smoke, and more. 

If these don’t help, it’s time to consider professional snoring treatment.

Persuade Them to Get Professional Treatment

Professional snoring treatment is highly effective and can be customized to your partner’s needs. If you can convince them to try a snoring solution like a comfortable, convenient, custom oral appliance, it will help everyone in your house sleep more peacefully. 

Let your partner know you care about them and want them to get snoring treatment because it’s what’s best for them. Make sure they understand that professional snoring treatment works. Unlike over-the-counter gadgets and home remedies, snoring treatment has documented efficacy. Snoring treatments are similar to FDA-approved treatments for sleep apnea, and the approval process requires evidence of successful treatment. 

If your partner is still resistant to getting treatment, remind them that snoring affects their:

  • Sleep
  • Health
  • Work
  • Mood
  • Relationship with you

Also, help them understand that you will do what you have to do to get sleep because you need sleep. They need to know the possible consequences of not treating snoring.

Find a Sleep Solution for You

If your partner won’t get snoring treatment, you have to do what you can to get sleep. Some common ways that people deal with the noise of a sleeping partner:

  • Wear earplugs
  • Set up a white noise generator
  • Sleep in another room

Often, people try all three–sometimes at the same time! This may or may not be enough to let you sleep at night. 

If you can’t get sleep at night, you may have to consider moving out–permanently or at least until your partner gets treatment for their snoring.

We’re Here to Help with Snoring

If you’re suffering from a lack of sleep because your partner is a loud snorer, things can look bleak right now. However, you shouldn’t despair–there is a solution for snoring in Southlake, TX. At StarImage Dental Boutique & Oral Surgery, we offer effective custom snoring solutions. 

Please call (817) 587-4566 or use our online form to request an appointment today.