About twenty-five years ago I thought I was on the road to fame when Andrea Melly, the famous actress wrote an article about her husband’s snoring. She noted that I had cleverly sorted it out by suggesting he wore a cotton reel sewed into the back of his pyjama top. When he rolled over on his back in his sleep the uncomfortable reel caused him to roll back on his side. The article was universally ignored, and anyway, the problem of snoring is not always as simple as a cotton reel in the pyjamas!

The problem of snoring can be unbearable for those within earshot and literally murder for the victim of snoring, sometimes literally fatal! Snoring has many manifestations, many causes and many cures. I would like to briefly explore some of the types of snoring, their causes and possible solutions. There are basically nasal snorers, mouth snorers and tongue snorers and some poor souls exhibit traits of one or all of these! Some nasal snorers have naturally small or collapsed nostrils. As they cannot breathe properly through the nose during sleep they open their mouth and the snoring becomes mouth snoring, the common gurgling in the back of the throat. This is easy to remedy with a “Nozovent” available from most chemist shops. It is a simple plastic spring device which holds the nostrils open and allows normal nasal breathing. However, when nasal obstruction leads to mouth snoring for more pathological reasons the problem becomes more difficult to remedy. Nasal sensitivity may be the result of allergic rhinitis, a very common problem. Any sort of inflammation of the nasal passage may result in swelling and nasal blockage. Rhinitis may be the result of sleeping on feather pillows or dust mite infestations. Changing pillows is a simple enough measure, but getting rid of dust mites can be a bigger problem—check out my last article on asthma for more details. Having pets in the home or using insect or hair sprays in the bed room is a common cause of rhinitis and these should be eliminated to see if the situation changes. A less common cause of nasal snoring is the growth of polyps in the nasal passage. These growths, resembling a miniature bunch of grapes cause obstruction and need to be removed surgically—though there are many instances of polyps disappearing spontaneously and even through the use of hypnotism!