Studies have shown that nearly 70 percent of people snore at least part of the time.
Snoring is caused by the throat and mouth tissues vibrating due to a blockage or restriction in the airway, including the person’s nose, throat and mouth.
Besides being very annoying to a bed partner or anyone within hearing distance, snoring can also be a sign of a serious health problem like sleep apnea, which causes someone to stop breathing while they sleep.
With all the treatments and suggestions to help someone stop snoring, one question often asked is does raising the head of the bed help snoring?
Raising bed level and snoring
Some studies have shown that if you raise the head of the bed about six degrees, this can stop or lessen snoring.
There are a few ways of accomplishing this from buying an adjustable bed to putting something under the bed to raise it up.
There are also special raised pillows meant to raise a person’s head up too that are said to help you to stop snoring or to snore less.
When someone sleeps on their back, gravity drags down their tongue, soft palate and tonsils.
This causes those body components to fall downward and partially or totally block your airway.
However, if you can raise the level of your head even a small amount, these body components won’t get pulled down so much and therefore you will be able to breathe more clearly.
Methods of Raising the Head of the Bed
Some people attempt to raise their heads up by sleeping on high stacks of pillows.
However, that’s not very efficient because pillows can fall over in the night, plus too many can give you a neck cramp.
Adjustable beds, however, have safety features that let the sleeper be able to sleep at the perfect angle to stop them from snoring, yet give good neck and back support.
One of the top ways to easily raise the level of the head of your bed is to buy an adjustable bed.
These beds have special mattresses and bases and allow someone to sleep at varying angles.
Adjustable beds can help with other problems besides snoring, such as acid reflux or GERD, and back and neck pain.
Bed Risers
A less expensive method of raising your bed up higher is to use bed risers.
These are special products that get placed under the legs closest to the head of your bed.
You should get a riser between four and six inches tall for best results.
If you don’t want to buy a bed riser, you can actually try using bricks, wooden blocks or even heavy books to accomplish the same thing, but specialized bed risers are probably the best bet and will be less likely to come out and cause the sleeper to become injured.
If you decide to use wooden blocks (the best size is four inches by four inches), it’s best to permanently affix them to the bed legs by nailing, gluing or screwing them into the bed legs.
Commercial bed risers come in different materials including wood, metal and hard heavy plastic varieties.
Use a Bed Wedge
If you don’t want to actually raise up the bed itself, you can buy a specialized wedge shaped pillow meant to go under the top part of your body or sometimes they go under the top of a mattress.
These wedges will allow you to sleep in a raised up position, thus should help lessen your snoring problem.
There are many different sizes, styles and brand of bed wedges to choose from.
Look for wedge pillows on Amazon
Inflatable mattress overlays
Another possible method of raising the head of the bed is by using an inflatable mattress overlay.
These are like air mattresses and can be placed over the existing mattress to make it higher.
You can therefore put one of these overlays into a position that would raise the top of the bed the appropriate number of inches needed to help someone stop snoring.
There are several types, sizes and brands of these mattress overlays to pick from.
Look for inflatable mattress overlays on Amazon
Inclined bed frame
Another way to make the head of a bed higher is to actually buy or make an inclined bed frame.
You can find many patterns online for creating your own inclined bed frame to get an idea of how they are made.
Or, you can buy specialized inclined bed frames that are already made and ready to set up.
Make sure you have the right type of mattress that will fit into one of these types of bed frames prior to buying or making one.
Look for inclined bed frames on Amazon
Mattress lift
Yet another method of raising up the head of your bed is a mattress lift, sometimes called a mattress bladder.
These use a rubber bladder that you place under the mattress.
That bladder is hooked to a air pump (make sure you are close to an electric socket).
You then turn on the pump and the bladder fills with air to the desired height, and in doing so it raises the mattress higher so your head will be at a higher level to help you stop snoring.
No matter which of these techniques you decide to use in order to raise the height of the head of the bed, the main factor is to raise it about four to six inches.
This is the amount shown to have the best chances of helping you to stop or lessen your snoring.
The bottom line is that lots of people snore at night and snoring itself can be due to many reasons from your sleep position to the medications taken, to if you are overweight or have a cold, flu or misshaped nose, mouth or throat tissues, or even at times due to a dangerous condition like sleep apnea.
If you snore, it is a good idea to talk to your doctor and see if what is being caused by and perhaps they can prescribe a better way to help you stop snoring.