Fed up with being banished from the marital bed, I went on a desperate search for a remedy for my cacophonous snoring. Was the solution right under my nose?
“What can we do for you today?” asks the kind nurse at the sleep unit in a north London hospital. “Save my marriage, ideally,” I reply. I’m only exaggerating a little. My snoring means that my cat is more likely to sleep in the same bed as my wife than me. Even my teenage daughter and her teddy bear are more likely to sleep with my wife than me.
I am one of 15 million snorers in the UK – that’s 41.5% of the adult population. In fact, I’m one of the 25% of those 15 million who snore regularly and disturb their partners’ sleep. That is, if these snorers have partners, which seems a diminishing possibility given how much misery they cause to those on the receiving end.
“There is nothing more disturbing than lying there trying to sleep and all you can do is tune into your partner snoring next to you,” says Dr Ellie Cannon, a GP and campaign ambassador for a leading anti-snoring nasal dilator. Pavol Surda, a consultant ENT surgeon based at London Bridge hospital, explains that men are more likely to snore because they have a larger space at the back of their throats and a higher proportion of fat around the neck. As we age, our tongue and throat muscles relax and weaken, which can limit airflow and cause snoring.
I’ve assiduously performed throat exercises I found online: saying each vowel out loud for three minutes, sliding my tongue behind my top front teeth, pursing my lips, moving my lower jaw side to side, and contracting the muscle at the back of my throat. But despite these exercises, I still snored.
