Discover How to Stop Snoring and Sleep Better

Did you know that we see so many snoring patients as a busy ENT specialist in Singapore? This may be a sign of a more worrying condition called Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Find out how to stop snoring and sleep better!

Funnily enough, the snorer is usually unaware of his snoring symptoms! That is, until his partner begins to complain that it's disturbing his sleep…

Snoring is the noise which occurs when there is some form of airway obstruction. There is a narrowing of the airway somewhere. Snoring could come from your nasal passages, back of your nose, tongue base and throat. If you suffer from nasal allergies, your nose is likely to be congested quite often. This will reduce the airflow into your nose, making it difficult to breathe.

So your mouth will probably be open at night when you are asleep. Hence you become a mouth-breather which is abnormal. It leads to waking up with a sore throat, dry mouth and dry throat too. When the airway is blocked, the oxygen flow entering your lungs is limited. The airflow also becomes irregular, as the soft tissues of the throat close down to cause the snoring. So how do you stop snoring?

Snoring may be a socially troublesome symptom but what is actually the main concern? Well, snoring might be due to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)! Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious health condition as it means there is limited oxygen entering your airway during your sleep. In OSA, the oxygen levels in the blood fall repeatedly during the night when you are asleep. An apnea episode occurs when you stop breathing. This apnea could last a few seconds to as long as 2 minutes!

It isn't a good idea to allow the sleep apnea episodes to keep recurring. Your vital organs like the brain and heart won't be able to receive adequate oxygen supply. For some people with sleep apnea, these apnea episodes can happen as many as 200 times per night! That's when the risk of complications of sleep apnea increases significantly.

Usually, you would need your nose and throat carefully examined by your friendly ENT specialist in Singapore. We would identify the levels of airway obstruction causing the snoring. We do this easily in a clinic with "the nose scope". In addition, an overnight sleep study is important to investigate the severity of obstructive sleep apnea. Nowadays, most patients are able to have their sleep study at home. We can help you arrange insurance coverage for your sleep study if needed, even if it's done at home.

Depending on the findings of the nasoendoscopy and sleep study, then a trial of CPAP is the next step. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, which is delivered via a special mask attached to a machine. We select our surgical candidates carefully to ensure the best postop results to help you breathe better and sleep well. Surgery works better in those patients where weight is well-controlled with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or less. In many patients, surgery helps them to snore less and sleep better.

Weight management is important in the snoring patient. Excessive weight gain leads to external compression of the airway by the excess soft tissue in the neck. Sometimes, we refer patients to an Endocrinologist for weight management. Some patients may benefit from starting anti-diabetic medications to help their weight loss. Such drugs include Ozempic, Saxenda or Wegovy. If you don't manage your weight properly, then you may find it difficult to stop snoring.