I had a few drinks with some friends the other night and when I eventually found my way home, fell straight asleep next to my partner.
I hadn’t thought I had had all that much to drink but the next morning, I was being told off for how awful my snoring was.
I don’t normally snore, or at least not very badly, so my first impulse was to blame it on the alcohol.
This didn’t placate my tired partner much, but it made me feel a bit better!
I wanted to find out if there is actually a link, though, so I decided to look into it.
So, does alcohol make you snore?
Yes, alcohol can cause snoring. Alcohol can relax your throat and mouth muscles, meaning that your tongue relaxes into your throat and blocks airways, leading to snoring. It can also have an overall impact on the quality of your sleep, which can in turn make the snoring even worse.
So, yes, too much alcohol can definitely lead to snoring in more ways than one.
There are a couple of ways you can mitigate it, but the fact is that there’s only so much you can do about it.
Let’s look further into this.
Can alcohol make me snore?
Yes, it certainly can.
Snoring is the result of the tongue relaxing back into the mouth during sleep, causing the airway to become blocked.
Once the airway is blocked, there are much smaller openings for air to get in, and they will come in entirely through the nose.
This blockage, compared with the exclusive nose breathing, is what snoring is.
Alcohol makes this problem worse in two ways.
The most important is the way it causes your mouth to relax.
This includes all the muscles in your mouth, your jaw, your throat, but most importantly your tongue.
Alcohol means your mouth is even more relaxed than it would normally be—making snoring worse.
If you have no problem with snoring to begin with, you may well not have a problem with alcohol either.
However, it certainly can make snoring worse and it can cause usual non snorers to snore, at least a bit.
If you have a usual problem with snoring, there are a few ways you can help mitigate the snoring after you’ve been drinking.
Let’s look at a few.
How do I stop snoring after drinking?
Snoring can be a difficult thing to stop, but not impossible by any means.
One of the simplest ways is by getting hold of store-bought snoring remedies.
There are many kinds available, and you are likely to find one that works somewhat for you.
They typically work by acting almost as an adhesive strip on the top of your mouth which keeps your tongue from relaxing back.
Simply trying to limit how much you drink is another good strategy.
There’s only going to be so much you can do if you’re very drunk.
If you keep your drinking to a minimum, then your snoring won’t be so bad.
Beyond that, just make sure you are well hydrated and that you sleep in a natural and straight position.
Curling up can often make snoring worse.
How does alcohol affect sleep?
The other way that alcohol can causing snoring is by how it overall prevents your ability to sleep soundly.
You may feel as though you’ve been passed out, but your body was not in a normal state of sleep.
This is often one of the root causes of snoring.
If you are not sleeping properly, then you may be snoring more deeply.
Alcohol makes it profoundly difficult to sleep soundly, so this is another way in which it makes it worse.
A sleep aid of some kind can often help here.
Can drinking more water stop snoring?
While it is a method that can only do so much, if you do make an effort to remain hydrated throughout the night as you are drinking, then you will feel less drunk by the end of the night and you will be able to sleep more easily.
Your tongue also shouldn’t relax so far back, again because your brain is hydrated and alert.
So while drinking water can only do so much in the face of chronic snoring, it certainly won’t do any harm and could help in a big way.
If you already have a problem with snoring, then, the simple fact is alcohol is going to make it worse.
You can prepare for this in a few ways, but there is only so much you can do with present treatments.
Snoring is a big problem for a lot of us, and what it usually comes down to is the quality of our sleep.
If you are not sleeping as well or as deeply as you should be, this too can make snoring worse.