How to Sleep When Someone Is Snoring

What Not to Do about a Partner’s Snoring

Many people will give you solutions for how to sleep when someone is snoring. If you are sleeping with someone whose snoring is keeping you up, your first solution shouldn’t be trying to block the sound with:

• Earplugs
• A pillow over your head
• Loud music
• Sleeping in another room

There are many reasons why these are not good solutions. First, they’re not likely to work well. It’s hard to make earplugs work effectively enough to block out snoring, let alone a pillow. After all, snoring can be louder than many dangerous workplace environments. The level of earplugs needed to block this snoring can make it very hard to sleep.

The same is true of loud music. Music that’s loud enough to drown out snoring is likely to be disruptive to your sleep and to that of others in your home. It might even disturb your neighbors.

You might think sleeping in another room is a good solution, but it might not be enough to drown out the noise, either. Plus, moving to sleep in another room can seem an aggressive step if you don’t first get your partner to understand why.

Instead of trying to sleep through snoring, try to reach out to the snorer and help them understand that they have a problem. After all, it’s not just your sleep that’s at stake: they aren’t sleeping well, and their problem is likely impacting their health. Loud snoring is a sign that a person likely has sleep apnea. For your sake and theirs, it’s important to reach out to a person who is snoring, even if they seem to be ignoring you. Here are some tips for reaching them.

Help Them Understand That Their Snoring Is Severe

You say their snoring is terrible, but that’s not how they see it. After all, they’re sleeping when they’re snoring. How bad can their snoring be if they’re able to sleep through it? And if they can sleep through it, why can’t you?

You might try to help them see how bad their snoring is by recording the sound. However, don’t surprise them with a recording of their snoring. Ask for their consent to record their snoring, and try to make sure the recording and playback capture the true volume.

Try to Understand Their Perspective

Here’s an empathy challenge, even though we know you’re short on sleep: think of the situation from their point of view. To them, this problem isn’t their fault; it’s your fault. You are the one who is constantly nudging them in the ribs at night, hitting them with a pillow, complaining, and even nagging about snoring every morning.

For example, if you confront them with a recording of their snoring, it can seem like an ambush. And recording them while they’re sleeping can seem like a violation of their privacy, even an exploitation of them while they’re vulnerable. Add to this the fact that your language and manner might be aggressive and irritable, and you can shut down any hope of progress before you start.

Try to get them on board with different steps in the process, such as verifying that there’s a problem by recording their snoring. If you can get them to consent to a recording of their snoring, that can make it a much more productive starting place.

Propose a Solution

One of the mistakes people make when talking about snoring is coming to their partner with the complaint. We understand how upset you are and how much you want to air your grievances, but resist this temptation.

If you don’t have a snoring solution in Omaha, your partner will treat it as complaining for no reason. They will ignore you or respond with irritation. And then you’re fighting again. Instead, it’s best to do some research and have some recommendations about what can be done.

It’s also best if you can frame your recommendations in a loving way –snoring is a real health danger, and you are concerned about them. This combination can help make them more receptive to your suggestion.

Sleep Apnea Treatment: Oral Appliance Therapy

Your partner can find effective sleep apnea treatment in Omaha without the use of a CPAP: oral appliance therapy. Oral appliance therapy is for those with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. It’s a small, sleek orthotic that they wear every time they sleep. It looks similar to a mouthguard, but it functions very differently. Instead of providing the sole function of protecting your partner’s teeth, it also repositions their jaw forward, so there is more room in their airway for oxygen to get through. The tongue is usually one of the main culprits in obstruction. As it relaxes during sleep, it blocks or partially blocks the airway. With a repositioned jaw, the tongue doesn’t block the airway.

Your partner will find many advantages to this solution, such as

• No loud machine
• No mask over their nose and mouth
• Easy travel
• Easy cleaning
• No unwanted CPAP side effects like bloating or a dry mouth.

Find a Snoring Solution in Omaha

Snoring can be damaging to your relationship. It’s said to be one of the leading causes of divorce, so if you want to continue to enjoy a happily married life, you need to try to be understanding. At the Advanced Dental Sleep Center in Omaha, we’ve seen this situation many times. You need to get your partner on board with a solution if you’re both going to get peaceful, restorative sleep.

Hopefully, then you can get through to them that it’s important to get snoring treatment. And you’ll both sleep happily ever after.

To learn more about snoring treatment options in Omaha, please call (402) 493-4175 today for an appointment with a sleep dentist at the Advanced Dental Sleep Treatment Center, located at North Park in northwest Omaha.