by Hadi M. Nor

Pix Credit: KuihLapisKu
 A few years ago, I told my girlfriend that I snore. We broke up the week after.

I apologize for sending you the wrong message here. We did not break up because I snore; that would’ve been very shallow. We broke up because I didn’t reply her text message once.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of my love life before we go deeper into the snoring topic (because my soul is tormented by this).

Snoring, what sounds like Satan speaking to us using people in slumber as a vessel, is actually caused by a few factors which are:

1)      Age
2)      Air passage Structure
3)      Nasal and sinus problems
4)      Being overweight
5)      Alcohol, smoking and medications
6)      Sleep posture

Snoring, however, is not really a serious problem as it is not fatal. Right?

Wrong! There was a homicidal case that involved a Chinese student stabbing his roommate because of snoring, so imagine how loud his roommate was. Okay, it wasn’t the snore that killed him but the student’s mental instability. But, still…

Zhao Yan is the ‘window rattler’ who was stabbed by his roommate, Guo Liwei in 2010. Guo confronted Zhao Yan about his snoring habit and Zhao Yan did not took it lightly. He got defensive and threw profanity at Guo, which provoked Guo into stabbing his roommate. It is a good story for parents to tell their snoring children before bedtime. For more of the story, click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/college-student-says-he-k_n_482180.html.

Even though people snore involuntarily, there are steps to take in order to overcome it. We have to take others’ comfort into consideration when we sleep especially when we share a room with someone else. If you snore loud enough to wake your neighbours, then you should do something about it, too.

So, how to overcome snoring? There are a number of ways, of course, but we’re going to share with you the easiest one, which is “throat exercise”. Believe us, we hate the word “exercise” as much as you do but these steps (noted below) are easy.


1)     Repeat each vowel (a-e-i-o-u) out loud
This exercise must be done a few times a day. Spend three minutes each time.

2)     Tongue exercise
Place your tongue at the back of your teeth and slide it backwards. Do this three minutes a day.

3)     Jaw exercise
Open your mouth and move your jaw to the right. Maintain this ridiculous face for thirty seconds. Repeat on left side.

4)     Singing
Increase your throat muscle by singing so that they won’t be lax.

5)     Sleep on your side
Even though this is not a throat exercise but it will make it more unlikely for your airway to be blocked.
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If you are interested about snoring for some weird reason, click here: http://www.helpguide.org/life/snoring.htm.

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