Smoking and Snoring

:stop-smoking-tips.com

2012/08/24

802

The key is focusing on the positive. Build up the good things in your life and the smoking will go away by itself.

With all the many habits that a person can have one of the most detrimental is cigarette smoking. Aside from its cancer causing elements, the smell it leaves in your hair and on your clothes, the fact it yellows your fingers and teeth, it is also a major contributing factor in snoring.

So, with all these health and lifestyle disadvantages why do people continue to smoke? Maybe it’s no different than eating chocolate or dinking coffee, it just has many more potential side effects.

If you are a smoker you will have a very high possibility of being a snorer as well. Whilst we all realize that smoking can lead to heart and lung diseases many people still select to smoke. Perhaps knowing that smoking is making their snoring worse and alienating their loved ones, will be the incentive persistent smokers need to give up the weed for good?

Smoking is known to cause respiratory problems so it should come as no surprise to learn that it contributes to and causes snoring. It is thought that the smoke inhaled by the person irritates the delicate mucous membranes in the airways causing them to become inflamed and swollen which then blocks the airways and causes snoring.

Studies On Relationship Between Smoking And Snoring

Recent studies have proven that there is a link between smoking and snoring with smokers more likely to have a higher incidence of snoring than non-smokers. Another frightening statistic is that those who are exposed to cigarette smoke in their environment, who are effectively passive smokers, are more likely to be heavy snorers too.

Researchers in Europe studied smokers and snoring within a large group of people from twenty five to fifty four years old. They used a study group of fifteen thousand people from five different countries to see what, if any, correlation there is between people who snore and people who smoke.

The results were quite informative though not in the least surprising. To understand what they were trying to prove one must first understand better what causes snoring. The air flows along the passageway between the nose and the mouth.

Then it vibrates off of the uvula and the rear part of the soft palate. That’s how the noise of a snore is made. Those who snore at least three times a week in a deafening manner are called habitual snorers.

Of the study group 24% of the smokers and 20% of past smokers snored compared to 14% of non-smokers who did not. Interestingly the more a person smoked the louder they snored.

Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke also posed a problem. 20% of people who lived with a smoker also snored. The study also noted that more men smoked cigarettes, but it’s the female smokers who seem more likely to snore.

The key question is still what does smoking do that makes a person more likely to snore? The feeling is that it irritates the airway. But, other experts believe that the body’s nightly nicotine withdrawal causes disturbances in the person’s sleep patterns, and obstructions in the upper airway.

As well, people who smoke tend to be more likely to drink alcohol. Alcohol is a snoring trigger and so the two in combination are definitely going to cause you to snore.

Damage Caused By Nicotine

Researchers are now also investigating what damage nicotine can do to the nervous system as it is thought that prolonged exposure to this chemical substance can cause nerve damage within the airways.

We all know smoking is addictive. There is a chemical addiction to nicotine and there is a habitual addiction to smoking to consider too. Smoking is harmful to the smoker and also to anyone else who is exposed to the cigarette smoke in the environment.

It is shocking to realize that such passive smoking carries with it the same risks of smoking related diseases and conditions, including snoring. Despite the well documented facts about the damage smoking does to the body, many people find it hard to give up.

Even social pressure does not seem to help. Perhaps by realizing that smoking can also cause problems in the bedroom, people will consider giving up for another reason altogether. Some smokers persist because they believe that the damage has been done. In fact this is not true.

The damage caused by smoking can be undone and smokers who give up will notice an improvement in their health and wellbeing within a relatively short period of time – and this includes a reduction in the volume and frequency of the snoring. Once they have stopped smoking, their snoring problem should decrease also.

As a smoker, it will be impossible to cure your snoring problem if you are not prepared to give up cigarettes. It really is as simple as that. By giving up smoking you not only have a much better chance of not snoring but you also improve so many other aspects of your health and wellbeing – including your relationships.