Avoid drinking alcohol or to take sleeping pills. Sleeping pills and alcohol increase the sagging of the soft tissues of the palate and throat and therefore make snoring worse. Go to bed only when fatigue is present, and relax before going to bed (see the file Did you sleep well?);
Maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight is the most common cause of snoring. Very often, weight loss is enough on its own to significantly reduce the intensity of noise. In a study of 19 men testing the effect of weight loss, standing sideways (rather than back), and using a nasal decongestant spray, weight loss was most effective. People who have lost more than 7 kg have completely eliminated their snoring1. Note that surgical treatment failures for snoring are often directly related to obesity;
Sleep on your side or, better, on your stomach. Sleeping on your back is a risk factor. To avoid this, you can place a tennis ball in the back of the pajamas or get a snore-proof T-shirt (in which you can insert 3 tennis balls). You can also discreetly wake up the snorer to put it back in the right position. Changing position cannot make major snoring go away, but it can erase moderate snoring. There are also battery bracelets that react to sound and emit a slight vibration to wake up the snorer;
Support the neck and head. Head and neck posture appears to have a slight influence on snoring and periods of apnea in some people.7. Pillows that lengthen the neck somewhat improved breathing for people with sleep apnea8. But the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of anti-snoring pillows is slim. Consult your doctor before purchasing such a pillow.
