5 Ways to Stop Snoring and Get Better Sleep

There's no miracle cure for snoring, but lifestyle changes, over-the-counter remedies and medical treatments may help.

As snoring is often related to lifestyle, there are some simple changes you can make to minimize it.

• Maintain a healthy weight and diet. Being overweight by just a few kilograms can lead to snoring. Fatty tissue around your neck squeezes the airway and prevents air from flowing in and out freely.

• Try to sleep on your side rather than your back. While sleeping on your back, your tongue, chin and any excess fatty tissue under your chin can relax and squash your airway. Sleeping on your side prevents this.

• Avoid alcohol before going to bed. Alcohol causes the muscles to relax more than usual during a normal night's sleep. This added relaxation of the muscles makes the back of the throat collapse more readily, which then causes snoring.

• Quit or cut down on smoking. Cigarette smoke irritates the lining of the nasal cavity and throat, causing swelling and catarrh. If the nasal passages become congested, it's difficult to breathe through your nose because the airflow is decreased.

• Keep your nasal passages clear, so that you breathe in through your nose rather than your mouth. If an allergy is blocking your nose, try antihistamine tablets or a nasal spray. Ask your pharmacist for advice, or see your GP, if you're affected by an allergy or any other condition that affects your nose or breathing, such as sinusitis.

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Fight Allergies at Home

If you have an allergy, take as much care in reducing the number of allergens in your home as you do in avoiding allergens outside, say experts.

Dr Rob Hicks, a GP, says that allergens inside a home can trigger eczema, asthma and hay fever, along with general allergy symptoms of coughing, sneezing, itchy skin, watery eyes and a runny nose.

"If you have an allergy, avoid triggers, use your allergy treatments as advised and reduce the allergens in your home," he says. "Reducing the allergens in your home will help keep your allergy under control."

The Impact of Indoor Allergy

According to research conducted by Allergy UK, common allergens, such as house dust mites, pets and, to a lesser extent, pollen, are found in most homes. They have more of an impact on the lives of allergy sufferers than previously realized.

A study found that 41% of allergy sufferers avoid visiting a relative or friend's house because they're scared that being in their home may trigger allergic symptoms.

Cat and Dog Allergy

Pet allergens from the hairs of cats and dogs can inflame allergies. Children with pet allergies can miss out on visits to friends, sleepovers and parties where there are animals present.

Commenting on the impact of allergens on her 14-year-old son's life, Sarah Chapman said: "I have four children who would all love to have a dog. Unfortunately, due to my son's allergy to dogs, it's just not possible. I had to limit his visits to my mum's house (she used to own two dogs) just to keep his allergic reactions under control."

Dr Hicks has this advice for pet owners to reduce the spread of allergens in the home: 

• Don't allow pets in bedrooms, and keep them out of the living room if possible. 
• Wash your pets once or twice a week.

Indoor Allergy Hot-spots

As well as pet allergens from cat and dog hair, the most common indoor allergens in homes are house dust mites and molds.

House dust mite allergen is most associated with bedrooms, but it can settle on surfaces and spread around the house.

Allergens from outside such as pollen particles and pet hair can infiltrate the home through the air, especially during summer, and through open doors and windows.

But they also make their way inside by sticking to clothes, skin and hair. Once inside the home, they circulate in the air and settle on soft furnishings and hard surfaces. They may cause problems for anyone with hay fever.

Reducing Indoor Allergens

So, how can you reduce the allergens in your home? Dr Hicks recommends thorough and frequent cleaning, especially of the areas of the house you spend the most time in. Here are his tips:

To Reduce House Dust Mites 

1. Damp dust the hard surfaces in your home. Don't forget places that gather dust and tend to get neglected, such as the top of picture frames, the backs of sinks, and so on. 
2. Vacuum carpets and hard floors daily if possible, and soft furnishings twice a week. Don't forget to vacuum under your bed (where the house dust mite allergen gathers). 
3. Use a barrier mattress cover on beds. They're also available for pillows and duvets. 
4. Vacuum your mattress and pillows and wash bedding and duvets above 55°C, or put bedding, duvets and soft toys into a plastic bag and put them in the freezer for 24 hours. 

To Reduce Indoor Pollen 

1. Keep pollen out of your home by keeping windows closed. Be aware that you can bring pollen in from outside if it sticks to your hair and clothes. 
2. Change your clothes the moment you get in, put them in a plastic bag until you can put them in the washing machine, have a shower and wash your hair. 
3. Wipe down pets when they come in the house after playing outside.

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Allergy Facts You Must Know

What are the Most Common Allergies?

The most common allergies are to: 

• pollen 
• house dust mites 
• mould 
• wasps and bees 
• pets such as cats and dogs 
• industrial and household chemicals 
• foods such as milk, nuts (mainly peanuts) and eggs 

You can also be allergic to fruit, medicines such as penicillin, metals such as nickel in jewellery, and rubber.

What are the Main Allergy Symptoms?

The most common allergy symptoms are: 

• sneezing 
• runny nose 
• itchy eyes 
• wheezing 
• coughing 
• itchy skin rashes (dermatitis) 

The type of symptoms you experience depends on what you're allergic to and how you come into contact with it. For example, you may have difficulty breathing if you inhale pollen, or develop dermatitis if you apply a lotion containing a chemical you're allergic to, or nausea and vomiting if you eat a food that you're allergic to.

Allergy reaction can be life threatening

What are Allergic ILLNESSES?

Some allergic symptoms are conditions in themselves. 

• Hay fever is a runny nose, sneezing, blocked nose and itchy eyes caused by contact with pollen. 

• Eczema is itchy inflammation of the skin that is often linked to allergy. An eczema flare-up can be triggered by foods, house dust mites, pollen or pet hair. 

• Asthma is a type of breathing problem that can be triggered by allergens such as pets, house dust mite droppings in dust, pollens and moulds. 

• Allergic rhinitis is similar to hay fever but occurs all year round. 

• Urticaria is a red, itchy, bumpy rash that can occur as part of an allergic reaction, for example to foods, drugs and insect stings. 

• Allergic eye disease is also known as allergic conjunctivitis, and is where the eyes become itchy and red after contact with an allergen such as pollen or pet hair. 

Bee Stung cause hundreds of death per year

Can Allergy be Inherited?

Some people are more likely to develop an allergy because it runs in their family. If this is the case, you're said to be atopic or to have atopy. Boys are more likely to develop an inherited allergy than girls, as are babies who have a low birth weight.

Inherited Allergies

Is an Allergic Reaction Dangerous? 

Allergic reactions can be mild, moderate or severe. In some cases they can be life threatening. This is known as anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency and needs prompt treatment.

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What Your Eyes Can Tell You About Your Health

Everything from allergies to autoimmune diseases can present with ocular symptoms first. And while red eyes, discharge, itching, light sensitivity or visual changes can be uncomfortable enough to bring patients in to see their optometrists, some symptoms, such as optic nerve or vascular changes, take place inside the eye and can go unnoticed. This is why it's important for adults to have an eye exam every two years. 

'There are so many conditions we can find that don't have symptoms, so coming in every couple of years allows us to look for trends or changes,' explains Craig Meckelborg, an optometrist with FYidoctors in Calgary. Eye symptoms combined with a patient's medical history will alert doctors to possible systemic diseases. For example, Rodovich was a smoker who had previously experienced a 'hypertensive episode' ' a spike in blood pressure ' two risk factors for stroke. (She quit smoking after her stroke.) 

What's more, women are more susceptible to certain conditions that can present in the eyes, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and thyroid dysfunction, says Setareh Ziai, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute.

Watch for these additional symptoms and talk to your doctor if you have any concerns:

1. Bulging eyes： can be a sign of thyroid eye disease, a condition related to autoimmune thyroid disease that is marked by swelling of the muscles and tissues of the eye and orbit.

2. Pupil abnormalities：where one pupil is larger than the other or where one pupil reacts inappropriately when exposed to light ' could signify an underlying medical problem.

3. Yellow eyes： can signal liver disease. Both hepatitis and cirrhosis can turn the whites of the eyes yellow.

4. Redness, pain and inflammation of the ocular coats： a condition called scleritis, can be a symptom of a number of autoimmune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid disease.

5. Eye spasms, or annoying eye twitches： are caused by contractions of the eyelid muscles due to irritation of the muscle fibres. The underlying cause is almost always completely benign and can occasionally be precipitated by stress, fatigue or caffeine.

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Too Much of A Good Thing: Drinking Too Much Water Can Kill You

You’ve heard it a million times—“make sure to stay hydrated”—and if you’re a summer athlete than you’ve heard it even more. There seems to be a fascination with dehydration and the serious risks that come along with it, but you can have too much of a good thing.

According to Andy Blow, co-founder and Sports Scientist at Precision Hydration and a Red Bull High Performance partner, athletes and avid exercisers are most concerned with avoiding dehydration, but in reality over-hydration is actually a much more common problem.

"This can be especially problematic if athletes drink excessive amounts of low sodium fluids over several hours, usually immediately before and during an event and end up diluting the levels of sodium in their blood," says Blow "If it goes unchecked, this can result in hyponatremia, a potentially deadly condition where the brain swells due to having to absorb excess fluid from the blood."

Hyponatremia (also called water intoxication) doesn’t usually happen to healthy young people, but athletes taking in a lot of water in a short period of time run a high risk. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that “hyponatremia occurs in a substantial fraction of non-elite marathon runners and can be severe.”

Athletes competing for hours at a time, especially in the summer heat tend to drink way more than they need, throwing their sodium levels off and creating a big problem. Without enough sodium to regulate fluid levels, the excess water seeps into the cells and causes swelling. When that swelling gets to your brain you need to seek immediate medical help, doctors can reduce swelling using salt water.

Another tricky part of hyponatremia is the list of symptoms and that’s because they mirror symptoms of heat stroke. With hyponatremia, you can be hot, sweaty, you might have a headache and sometimes there is nausea and vomiting—all things you might see in someone suffering from heatstroke. The major way to tell the difference is to know how much water you’ve had.

The best way to avoid over-hydrating, though, is simply to drink when you’re thirsty. If you're getting ready for a fitness event or an intense training session you can increase your fluid intake slightly and start the day before.

"In the final 48 hours before events and big training sessions we advise a lot of athletes to increase their fluid intake by an extra 500-750 ml or so on top of their normal intake with some extra sodium in it to help the body absorb more of this additional fluid without diluting the blood," says Blow.

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It's Not Chlorine That Turns Your Eyes Red in the Pool: IT'S PEE

Picture yourself with your very own backyard pool. There you are, drifting on an inflatable raft, wearing a cute bikini, sipping a fruity drink, wiping the urine from your eyes…wait—what now? Sometimes ignorance is bliss when it comes the germs you’re being exposed to on the regular—otherwise how would you leave the house? But the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) would prefer you actually learned something about these issues. 

My eyes turn red after swimming in pool

The CDC has teamed up with the Water Quality and Health Council and the National Swimming Pool Foundation for their annual Healthy Swimming Program. They’re seeking to educate Americans about the many possible dangers of pools and what you can do to keep your swim as clean and healthy as possible. “We think that swimming is a really fantastic activity,” says Michael J. Beach, Ph.D., associate director of the CDC’s Healthy Water program. “We want to keep it that way.”

So what horrifying info would the CDC like to share with you? For starters, it turns out that your red eyes after swimming aren’t coming from an irritation to the chlorine. “It’s quite the opposite,” says Beach. “Chlorine binds with all the things it’s trying to kill from your bodies, and it forms these chemical irritants. That’s what’s stinging your eyes. It’s the chlorine binding to the urine and the sweat.” He gives another example of what can happen to you when chlorine binds to urine and sweat in a pool: that cough you get from an indoor pool. The trapped chemical reaction is what irritates your lungs.

According to one research, 60.30% people do pee in swimming pool

And if you think that there are safeguards in pools to shame those sneaky urinators (like dye that's supposed to make pool water change color if someone pees), not so much. “That dye is a complete myth,” says Beach. “It’s about scaring people into not urinating in the pool.”

But that’s not all. Beach explains that there’s been an increase in the number of disease outbreaks at public swimming pools, thanks to adults, children, or babies swimming while they have diarrhea. And yes, it’s much more pervasive than it used to be. “We have a new parasitic germ that has emerged that’s immune to chlorine,” says Beach. “We’ve got to keep it out of the pool in the first place. We need additional barriers.”

Not only children, but adults also

You can’t just blame those diapered toddlers in the shallow end, though. A person doesn’t have to literally defecate in a pool to spread illness—they could just have the germs on their bodies, which is why you’re always encouraged to shower off before you get into a pool. One ailing person might not be enough to do it, but “if you’re talking about thousands of people using the same pool, those germs can really add up,” says Beach.

Blessedly, there are ways to help avoid any of this nastiness. Don't go in pools when you’re sick (to protect others) or have open wounds (to protect yourself). Never ever ever pee in a pool. And don’t think that lakes or oceans are any safer. Yes, they can be vast, giving you the impression that your tiny germs will just be washed away. But: “If you’re swimming next to someone who has diarrhea, there’s no protection,” says Beach. In fact, there was recently a large norovirus outbreak at a lake in Oregon, says Beach—and according to a CDC investigation, health experts suspect that the outbreak began when someone infected with the norovirus swam in (and had diarrhea or vomited in) the lake.

Some even have skin rashes after swimming

Keep it clean, and enjoy yourself out there—assuming you are capable of going to a pool ever again after reading this.

Enjoy your swim!

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