Monday, July 03, 2006

Snoring Remedies

I'm home for the holiday, enjoying the icy cold water at the nearby beach, not particularly enjoying staying with my parents. They are separated but my mom is in town for a few weeks and is staying with my dad while I'm here. Fun galore. To make this even better, I am sharing a bedroom with my mother, and guess what-- she snores.
Last night was the worst yet-- it was like trying to sleep with someone revving a Harley 5 feet away. I put in earplugs and that at least took the edge off enough for me to finally doze off.
But it made me curious to see what is out there that you can buy that (supposedly) stops snoring. A quick bit of googling led me to The Snoring Shop, where you can find all sorts of interesting products, from oils to stuff you dissolve in your mouth to chin straps and more. Interestingly, their #1 selling product seems to be ear plugs, which doesn't exactly say much for the rest of their products. Most of the items are under $25, with the exception of the $70 Thera-P-Anti-Snoring Pillow:

This patented cradle pillow is designed to establish correct posture while you sleep. It features a unique ANTI-SNORING BAR to discourage sleeping on your back. Instead, it encourages side sleeping (either side) with your jaw gently supported from underneath by the curve of the foam. This helps prevent your mouth from falling open and positions your head in a way that keeps your nasal passages open.

Here's another snoring website: PutAnEndToSnoring.com, where you'll learn that there are different snoring types, and that John Wesley Harding once shot a man through the wall of a hotel room to stop him from snoring. This site mentions more surgical methods of correcting snoring, some of which sound pretty freaky: would you want polyester material inserted into the roof of your mouth? Would you want your tongue and throat tissues shrunk with radio waves? Or how about uvulopalatoplasty? According to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennesse website, surgery could set you back anywhere between $5,000 to $25,000, and even up to $100,000, which may or may not be covered by insurance.
I'll bet to a lot of people, spending thousands of dollars to cure snoring is totally worth it... or would be if it 100% worked. I think the money might just be better spent building an extra bedroom with soundproof walls to which one can retreat when all else fails!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My parents sleep seperately, mom is a light sleeper anyway and dad is a baad snorer. It works for them- they have been married 38 years

Anonymous said...

I stopped my snoring by getting a CPAP machine. Went to a sleep clinic, was diagnosed with sleep apnea and was subsrcibed a CPAP.

I now where a mask that prevents the trhoat from closing. Stopped my snoring.

Anonymous said...

Snoring is a problem for a lot of people but the solution, sometimes, can be as simple as changing your pillow or losing some weight.