At a quick glance: Reasons for snoring | Yoga poses to stop snoring | Breathing techniques
You might have noticed weekend feasts chaffing your uncle in his early 40s about his noisy snoring episodes that disrupt the entire family’s sleep. In fact, many files for divorce stating snoring as the reason, notwithstanding the loss of quality sleep due to the spouse’s snoring.
Jokes apart, snoring is more than a nuisance!
Snoring can affect your quality of sleep and leave you feeling tired and groggy during the day. It can also be a symptom of sleep apnea and prove detrimental to your health in the long run. Besides, sleeplessness can lead to weakened immunity, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and increased risk of heart diseases. Hence, it is essential to take action.
What causes snoring?
The risk factors contributing to snoring are:
- Being a man
- Being obese
- Nasal problems
- Mouth anatomy
- Narrow airway
- Allergens
- Alcohol
- Family history of sleep apnea
When the reason for snoring is obesity, narrow airway, nasal problems, allergens or alcohol, you can try yoga to get rid of snoring.
Yoga can be therapeutic for many health problems, including snoring, thus ensuring a good night’s sleep. The following are a few yoga poses and breathing techniques that can treat snoring.
Heart-opening yoga poses to stop snoring
Bhujangasana or cobra pose:
Bhujangasana is a heart-opening pose that also gently stretches your neck. It helps improve clear air passage of any blockages as well as improve lung capacity. And, it is a pose accessible to beginners.
Dhanurasana – Bow pose:
This is another powerful heart-opening yoga pose that can be an effective remedy for snoring, similar to the cobra pose. However, the pose might not be easy for beginners and needs some practise before you feel comfortable.
Other yoga poses to treat snoring:
Similarly, you can also try other heart openers such as puppy pose, camel pose and maybe even a wheel pose (wheel pose is not for beginners) to help with your snoring problem.
Breathing practice
Nadi shodhana pranayama – alternate nostril breathing:
As you breathe in through one nostril and breathe out through the other slowly, the air passages get cleared. You will be able to feel a significant difference in your breathing after practising this technique; your breath will flow with ease and comfort. Besides, the breathing practice is very much suitable for beginners.
Ujjayi pranayama – ocean breath or victorious breath:
Ujjayi pranayama involves constricting the throat muscles and hence helps strengthen the throat area, thereby helping with the issue of snoring. This pranayama is quite accessible to beginners with some practice.
Brahmari pranayama – humming bee breath:
This is one of the fun pranayama techniques where you literally get to hum like a bee! The breathing technique helps regulate the pressure in the air passage, and the vibrations that accompany the humming can be extremely calming for the mind.
Other breathing techniques:
Lion’s breath, Kapalbhati and Om chanting are the other pranayama techniques that you can try to treat the snoring problem.
To conclude
Any problem, when attended early, has huge chances of cure. So, when you or your loved one start noticing snoring during sleep, try practising the yoga poses and breathing techniques mentioned above. Furthermore, regularly practising yoga not only helps with this particular issue but can be good for your overall well-being. All the more reason to give it a try!
If snoring doesn’t get better even after days of practising yoga, visit your GP.
Images: canva.com
