Are You Overweight?
Overeating and/or lack of exercise leads to an increase in fat around the throat. If you have a collar size of 16½" or greater, you may not have the muscle tone needed to keep the airway open sufficiently at night to allow normal breathing, and the narrow airway is more likely to vibrate. A patient with a short fat neck is likely to suffer obstruction in the oropharynx during sleep which gives rise to the noise of snoring.
Excess body fat seems to be more of a problem for men than for women. Men tend to put on weight around their necks and waists, whereas women seem to put on weight around the thighs. This means that when you lay on your back your the fatty tissue adds pressure onto the airway blocking it off. In women, the cross sectional area of the upper airway is greater and the airway walls may be less flexible and therefore less prone to yield to pressure. As a result, collapse of the airway is resisted when muscle tone falls during sleep. This means that women are less likely to snore than men. However, this situation very often changes for women following the menopause. Like men, as women get older their muscle tone tends to diminish and they put on more weight. By the time women have reached the age of approximately 70 years they are just as likely to be snorers as men of the same age. You may wish to consider consulting a GP, dietian or even a fitness programme.
Here are some tips :
- Keeping a food diary. Weigh, Write, Eat
- Photo album
- Joint effort with a partner
Why not try our BMI calculator and find out what your ideal weight should be.
This page is part of the 90 Day Snore-No-More Plan. You may also like to consider the following causes :