White Noise for Snoring: Does It Actually Work?

Snoring is yet another example of the gravity not helping us. However funny this may sound, there is a reasonable explanation.

Ever since we get through the puberty and our bodies develop fully, there is a chance that we are going to start snoring.

That is mostly because our bodies grow and gain more weight.

That is when sleeping on your backs gets ‘’heavier’’ for our chests and throats.

The thing is, snoring can be a very loud and unpleasant sound. 

Sometimes it could be even funny or adorable when we’re talking about our babies or children.

But for us adults, snoring can be not only irritating, but it can be a sign of some serious health issue.

My husband used to snore and produce sounds like a chainsaw and I would wake up in the middle of the night not knowing what was going on until I saw him lying next to me and sleeping like a baby.

That is why the solution had to be found, and fast.

I have been searching and searching, and some solutions have been found, but we will look a little bit more deeply in one of them a little bit later today.

Snoring – a Health Problem or Just an Annoyance

When somebody snores, it happens because of disrupted airflow through the nose and throat.

Muscles relax and the tissue in the throat vibrates as the air goes in and out.

It’s not some weird unnatural condition, even dogs or cats snore (and it’s hilarious).

It happens to a lot of people without them even noticing, often in the REM phase of the sleep cycle.

You just breathe like you normally do, and then you turn to your back.

All of a sudden, your partner is waking you up saying: ‘’Good God man, I’m taking you to the doctor’s tomorrow!’’.

There are some serious cases of medical problems that only look like a person is just snoring.

Sleeping problems like sleep apnea, a medical condition where breathing pauses or stops briefly, can manifest in snoring.

In that case, doctors must prescribe some kind of a treatment, but to you, it may only seem like a harmless snore.

Sure, in many cases snoring is quite harmless, but it does not mean you shouldn’t check your cholesterol level or do a full medical checkup from time to time.

As I mentioned, real health issues can just hide behind snoring sometimes.

Potential Causes for Snoring

As mentioned, snoring is the direct consequence of interrupted airflow into your throat or nose.

The reasons for that happening are diverse, although most common ones are narrowed sinuses from allergies or the broken noses.

Usually, after a person had a nasty flu or chronic allergy, that someone can become a local source of noise, even if they have never been snoring before.

How can allergy or a flu make you snore?

Well, the delicate system of nasal pathways can become clogged in a way because of the swelling of the tissue and/or the blood vessels.

Stuffy nose or a simple cold can close your nose and make you snore.

As my husband started to grow older and gain weight, I noticed that he sleeps less peacefully on his back, so I made him start some cardio work-outs.

It did get a little better when he lost some weight, but still, he couldn’t stop snoring completely.

Then again, he is a mouth breather because he has pollen allergies and that makes the whole thing even worse.

So it can happen to anyone at any time.

Bummer.

Also, if you like a glass of wine sometimes, you can expect that the snoring problems will occur and that they won’t be that trivial.

It is because alcohol can relax your body naturally or can cause light swelling.

The same thing stands for medications.

White Noise for Snoring: Does It Work?

Narrow pathways are not quite a medical emergency, but you and the people around you may still have difficulties sleeping.

Some of the most effective solutions are covering up the noise that is troublesome.

A human ear can hear a wide variety of sound wavelengths.

When you combine them all together you get some kind of noisy sound called white noise.

The name is analogous to the term white light. When you combine all of the colors from the specter and their shades, you get white light.

Hence the term white noise.

Even if it’s called noise, it is very useful in covering up some other sounds because it actually has all the frequencies contained in it.

A fan can be a helpful source, especially if you have somebody talking in the other room or just snoring right beside you and it just drives you nuts.

But there surely are some other methods and machines that can help you trick your brain and mask the unwanted noise you are hearing.

White Noise Machines as our friends

Ever since my husband started snoring, I have been in constant search for the right solution.

I found numerous solutions, like special earplugs and such, but I was still trying to find a better and even better one.

I saw an ad somewhere once about White Noise Machines and decided to try them out and see if that is all a myth or not.

These machines literally make noise so that your brain gets used to the subtle background sound and gets relaxed before sleeping.

The constant sound helps you to get your mind clear for some reading or yoga before bedtime. Or a peaceful sleep, for that matter.

The second benefit of these machines is that they provide a homogenous background.

It cancels out the sudden noise changes that could wake you up in the middle of a night and interrupt your sleep cycle.

The result is a fine and well rested feeling in the morning – a precious and blessed one in these days and age.

I must say, when I first heard about it I was skeptical.

Even so, after a few months of interrupted sleep, I was desperate and decided to try one of these.

And here is my recommendation:

Apps for White Noise

Some time ago, I was just complaining to a high school friend of mine about my trouble with sleeping while my husband is snoring and how I found this perfect white noise machine, and she mentioned that she found something similar to that.

It was an app for mobile phones that emitted non-repetitive sounds and produces a good type of background noise.

I found out that it could be used for all sorts of noise reduction, even snoring.

It's designed as an audio player with an equalizer that enables you to customize the background sound for the maximum enjoyment.

You could even mix different sounds that would normally awaken the feelings of coziness, like fire crackling or humming of an ocean, and much more.

In addition to the sound mixer, there is an option for a special type of alarm that starts playing the sound really softly and then gets louder and louder, which is perfect for a fresh start of a day.