Snoring: What Position and Nasal Aids Can and Cannot Fix

Snoring has several different causes and the available consumer products address only some of them. Buying the wrong one is not harmful, but it delays a conversation that some people need to have.

Where the noise comes from

Snoring is soft tissue vibrating in a partly obstructed airway. The obstruction can be at the nose, at the soft palate, at the base of the tongue, or several at once.

Which one you have determines whether any given product does anything.

Nasal strips and dilators

These hold the nasal valve open externally or internally. They help when the restriction is genuinely nasal — a deviated septum, congestion, or naturally narrow valves.

A simple test: breathe in through your nose while gently pulling your cheeks outward. If breathing gets noticeably easier, nasal dilation is likely to help you. If it makes no difference, strips will not either.

They do nothing for palatal or tongue-base snoring, which is the more common source in adults.

Positional aids

Many people snore only, or mainly, on their back, because gravity lets the tongue fall backwards. Positional aids — devices that make back-sleeping uncomfortable — address this directly and can be very effective for that group.

The old tennis-ball-in-a-shirt trick is the same idea, and modern clip-on versions are a more comfortable version of it.

Ask your partner whether you snore in every position or mainly on your back. It is the single most useful diagnostic question available and it costs nothing.

What none of them treat

Obstructive sleep apnoea, in which the airway closes repeatedly and breathing stops. Snoring is a symptom of it but not a reliable one, and no consumer product treats it.

The warning signs are worth knowing: witnessed pauses in breathing, gasping or choking arousals, waking unrefreshed regardless of hours slept, morning headaches, and significant daytime sleepiness — falling asleep watching television, or worse, driving.

If any of those apply, see a doctor. Untreated apnoea has real cardiovascular consequences and it is very treatable.

Things that help regardless of cause

Alcohol relaxes airway muscles and reliably worsens snoring; avoiding it in the three hours before bed makes a measurable difference for most people.

Weight change affects airway calibre. Nasal congestion from allergy is worth treating. Sleeping with the head of the bed slightly raised helps some people.

Setting expectations

Consumer anti-snoring products are for simple positional or nasal snoring. Within that group they work well and cost very little. Outside it they do nothing, and the honest thing is to say so before you buy rather than afterwards.

Our range is in Wind-Down and Breathing Aids. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

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Browse the full range in the shop, read the frequently asked questions, or contact us — Living Spaces Sleep Center, Lenexa, KS.