Can A Stop Snoring Spray Stop Snoring?

By Dr. David Sparks Anyone who has had either first- or second-hand experience with snoring knows that it can be the bane of the bedroom. There have been hundreds of proposed solutions to this problem from radical surgery to stop snoring spray. Whether you are the snorer or the bed-mate of a snorer, the results are identical. Snoring disrupts normal patterns of sleep and leaves the victim of this dreadful condition at the very least with daytime fatigue and at the worst dozens of health risks that we describe as co-morbid conditions. During sleep our bodies and brains are highly active, performing an organized series of events that allow our body and brain to rejuvenate, revitalize, refresh, renew and recharge the batteries. We need a prescribed amount of sleep in order for our systems to adequately detoxify and self-repair, as well as manufacture and release hormones. Hormones control our moods, keep our weight in check, give us the energy and drive to produce happy love lives.

Stop snoring spray is a popular product but does it work?

There are two main categories of sleep. • Non Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREM) • Rapid Eye Movement (REM) NREM sleep has four stages or depth levels. Stage One is characterized by high frequency (fast), low amplitude (small) brain waves. As we move to Stages Two, Three and Four, the brainwaves get slower and slower (lower frequency), and bigger and bigger (larger amplitude), signaling that we are getting deeper and deeper into sleep. REM sleep, on the other hand, is a period in which the eyes move rapidly and erratically underneath the eyelids. REM sleep is associated with dreaming, and dreaming plays a major role in our mental health. There is a lot of evidence that shows dreaming is a time when the brain is processing information that has recently been gathered. There's also some thought that dreams help us to resolve conflicts or chaos in our lives. While dreaming, we often deal with things that fascinate or terrify us. During normal sleep, you cycle through these various stages approximately every 90 minutes to 2 hours. However, if your sleep is repeatedly interrupted because of being aroused by snoring, there is a very good chance that you will feel tired, fatigued or sleepy and may have trouble concentrating or paying attention while awake. Also, sleepy individuals are at far greater risk for driving accidents, get sick more often and have trouble maintaining their weight. Thus the immense popularity of products that purport to be remedies such as a stop snoring spray.

What Makes us snore?

When we fall asleep, it produces a loss of tone or rigidity in the soft tissues in the rear 1/3 of the roof of the mouth (toward the back of the throat). These soft tissues are called the soft palate and uvula. When an individual falls asleep, the soft tissues basically relax or lose muscle tone and collapse into the airway. This creates an obstruction to our breath-stream. When you force a lot of air through a narrow opening, it creates considerable air pressure. This is the same concept of a pressure washing water hose. If you reduce the size of the opening in the nozzle, the water comes out under much greater pressure. Thus when you have air under pressure going past these floppy tissues, it’s like wind across a flag…it causes the tissues to flutter or vibrate. Since the stop snoring spray is so popular with people, let us examine whether or not this product is effective. We just mentioned that the cause of snoring is a collapse of soft tissues into the back of the throat. One concept behind the stop snoring spray is to use an astringent, which shrinks soft tissue. If the soft tissue is rendered considerably smaller in volume, theoretically it won’t obstruct the airway as much. Great in theory but not reality. While application of stop snoring spray may be effective at first, the body quickly resorbs the effective ingredient in the stop snoring spray and renders it totally ineffective within less than an hour. Snorers would be much better served to get an oral appliance that adjusts the lower jaw (mandible) during sleep. When the mandible is slightly adjusted by being gently brought forward, most patients will stop snoring.

About Dr. David Sparks

Dr. David Sparks is a former university research professor and expert on sleep disorders including sleep apnea. Over the last 20 years he has lectured on snoring causes and cures, and worked with patients, physicians and hospital groups all over the country on the effects of poor sleep with accompanying sleep deprivation. Dr. Sparks' motivational seminars have provided thousands of grateful patients the help necessary to dramatically improve the quality of their lives thought snoring remedies. Other articals include How to Stop Snoring by Dr David Sparks