I feel your pain. My wife snores, my dog snores and my son snores. They say I snore, but I don’t believe them. I struggled with a solution on how to drown out snoring. Sometimes getting to sleep feels like it takes work, then staying asleep when someone is just growling away does not help the situation. Before you try smothering everyone in the house with a pillow, I want to share what works best for me. Maybe it will help you too! First, the obvious answer…
Drowning out snoring with an equal noise can help your body desensitize itself to extra noises in the room. Items such as a fan or TV on in the background can help you get to sleep. Once asleep, you shouldn’t really be bothered by it unless it is outright unruly. As you drift off into slumberland, your brain will “ignore” your ears and only sudden loud noises will wake you up. Like an alarm clock or cell phone.
If you are going to sleep next to someone that is known to snore, your best bet is to prepare for it. While snoring in itself is not an issue, I would highly recommend that your doctor look into it. Its more than likely nothing, but you never know. This is what WebMD has to say about snoring.
Lucky for us, once we are asleep, usually only the extreme snoring will wake us from slumber. Below are my tips on how to drown out snoring and how to beat snoring before it begins.
How to Drown Out Snoring
If you are already awake and the snoring is preventing you from sleep, then finding another noise to drown it out is the best advice. Assuming shoving cold feet on someones back doesn’t help and sleeping in another room is not an option.
I am not advocating cranking up a radio or anything exciting like that. Just something with a low enough sound to make the snoring more bearable.
Scroll down further to see how to beat snoring before it begins!
White Noise Machines
These machines like this one, can be found on Amazon or Walmart for pretty cheap, all the way to expensive. Simply plug it in and turn it on. For light snoring, turning one of these up just enough to cover the snoring can really help take the focus off of the snoring and let you get some well deserved sleep.
In a perfectly quiet room, all you can focus on is your own breathing, your heartbeat and whoever is next to you with a chainsaw. Adding a little bit of other noise can help you take the focus off of the snoring and incorporate other pleasant sounds with it.
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How White Noise Machines Work
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White noise machines can emit different sounds, such as the one in the video above, such as white, pink and brown noise variations. These noises can help mask out background noises, like snoring, to help you get to sleep and stay asleep longer.
These machines are also GREAT for baby’s and newborns to help get them to sleep as well! It helps to block out distracting noises to help create a peaceful environment for the little ones. Better sleep for the kids means a better sleep for you too!
The white noise machines are really good at drowning out sounds and letting your mind hear something else that wont drive you crazy. If white noise machines aren’t your thing, lets try something else.
Nature Noises
You can find these on your smartphone’s app store. My personal favorite is an app called “Atmosphere.” I am an Android user, but I know there is something similar in the App Store for Apple. This all will not only let you choose different nature type sounds, but also set a timer to shut off. This works great since once you are asleep, you usually wont notice the snoring, unless it gets crazy loud. If it is loud enough to wake you up, it is probably loud enough to wake them up.
These apps will let you choose sounds such as crashing waves, thunderstorms (my favorite), hard rain, scuba gear, wind, etc you get the idea. I usually set the timer for 30 minutes and I can go right to sleep. I may not be like you in that respect, but rainy days do make me sleepy. Check out my other post here on Why Does Rain Make Me Sleepy?
How Nature Noises Work
Since I live and grew up in Georgia, the sounds of a Georgia night are calming for me. The crickets, wind, police sirens… Nature noises work like a white noise in the background, but with something more natural.
Nature sounds can help to mask the noises of a snoring sleeper while you are tying to get some sleep. Check out this app on Android or iPhone.
Bluetooth Sleep Masks
You can use these types of sleep masks with your sound apps to help with someone snoring. Connect it to your smartphone via Bluetooth and enjoy your drift off to la-la land with Mr. (or Mrs) Sandman (or Sandwoman). I don’t really know if we have gotten politically correct on that one yet, but it doesn’t matter. You get what I’m laying down here.
With speakers this close to your ears, you really don’t want to be listening at high volume levels, just enough to drown out the background noise.
Stay away from music. I know, I know, we all love Justin Bieber. Now is not the time for that. Music will keep you awake and alert. This is exactly the opposite of what we want. The Bieber may ruin your ears and corrupt your very soul, making snoring the least of your problems. It’s just not worth it. Please have better taste.
How Bluetooth Face Masks Work
These types of sleep masks work like you would expect. They are designed to block out light and help muffle sounds, but with some small speakers next to your ears.
This product really shines when you are sleeping with a snorer that doesn’t like white noise machines or nature sounds. You can utilize the techniques here without bothering anyone else in the room.
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WAIT!!! Everyone Else is Telling Me to Buy Earplugs and Headphones!
Ugh. I am no professional sleeptologist that studies sleepology with a doctors degree in sleep. What I can tell you is that by making your space as quiet as possible only leaves the snoring to focus on. In a completely quiet room, the only thing you hear is the snoring. Headphones and earplugs can help quiet things down, but you will still hear the snoring!
When you are struggling to find a solution on how to drown out snoring, that’s what we want. DROWN it out. Using headphones and earplugs don’t really drown anything out, it just makes it quieter. It is still there. The snoring. Just quieter to you.
Ignore the headphones and earbuds. Get something that can ACTUALLY help you get some GREAT sleep.
How to Drown Out Snoring Without Drowning Out Snoring
You read that right. This isn’t some Bruce Lee philosophy I am dropping here, just good old fashioned science. I love science! More so when it applies to sleep!
Did you know that when you sleep, your brain pretty much turns off your hearing? That is mostly true.
When you sleep, your body is using its energy to sort of “de-clutter” your mind. Ever notice that you can fall asleep and then you hear the alarm go off and not even feel like you’ve been asleep long at all? That is a trick your brain does to really focus on it’s activities during REM sleep.
Keep reading on how it applies to snoring.
Here is the trick. Lets say your spouse snores. Instead of going to sleep after them or with them, go to sleep an hour before they do. After an hour, you should be in a deep enough sleep that they shouldn’t wake you if they don’t want to.
Now that you are in a deep sleep, you don’t have to worry about them snoring! As long as they don’t crawl right up to your ear, you will probably sleep right through it!
Sleeping in opposite rooms, or further apart is another option. I really don’t like sleeping without my wife next to me, but if she asked me to wait an hour, I’d comply. I would come to bed an hour later so she can get to sleep first.
It is definitely a conversation to be had with your other half and not argued about.
Read More
Still having trouble sleeping? Try these techniques on my post about 9 Effective Methods to Finally Kick Insomnia to the Curb.
Happy Sleeping!
