Occasional snoring may be normal to children. Recent studies show that 3 to 12 percent of children between the age of 1 and 9 snore. But frequency doesn’t mean normality. Habitual snoring can be a cause of a more serious medical condition called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) or simply, sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition characterized by loud snoring with periods of breathing interruptions. Interruptions may be short or prolonged, usually between 5 to 30 seconds. During this period, the child’s could not get straight sleep. He or she rouses and moves to another sleeping position, then resumes sleep. After a while he or she will once again begin snoring. This activity often happens several times during the night, each night. Although this condition rarely appears on children, it is very important that parents should watch out for symptoms that come along with it.

Symptoms of sleep apnea include:

• Poor speech habits – talking that sounds like words over a mouthful of hot potato.
• Reduced growth rate. Children suffering from sleep apnea use more energy in breathing during the night. During meals, they tend to eat slowly since it is hard for them to breathe and chew at the same time. The result is, they have insufficient nutrients to support their growth.
• Hyperactivity. Lack of sleep can cause drowsiness on children during the day. To stay awake, children act frantically.
• Poor performance in school. Since children do not get the right sleep during the night, they tend to appear tired and lack the concentration to focus at school, thus, having a poor performance.

When these symptoms are visible, it is imperative for parents to bring their child to a paediatrician and have him/her examined and try to find a snoring solution. A child can be happy and smiling when he is brought to the doctor and therefore, it is difficult to diagnose if he really has sleep apnea. Parents are advised to record their child’s snoring so that the doctor can analyze the situation in actually.

Meanwhile, sleep apnea is not the sole reason why children snore. Other reasons include allergy attack, obesity, asthma, and enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils caused by cold or tonsillitis.

Some allergy attacks can cause swelling on the linings of the nose that can direct to the enlargement of adenoids. This keeps the child from breathing normally. This causes the child to snore. After the allergy attack, the snoring stops.

Obesity can also lead to snoring. In fact, 20% and 40% of the obese children snore. This is because fats can form around the throat that can cause constriction and makes the limited airways. Also, fats in the stomach can cause the diaphragm to function irregularly

Asthma is said to be another cause why children snore. A study revealed that 40% of the children diagnosed with asthma snore.

Enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils caused by cold or tonsillitis also results to snoring. While cold or tonsillitis can be cured by decongestant and antibiotics, adenoid enlargement is treated by surgical procedure to remove adenoids and tonsils.

Underdevelopment of the jaw inside the womb can cause snoring as well. There is also the possibility that the nerves and the muscles cannot control the airway properly and cause that child to snore.

Snoring is a fairly common affliction. In fact, it’s so common that many have learned to disregard it. Unfortunately many are those who do not know the causes for snoring and how to prevent these causes.

Snoring is normally caused by loose hanging tissues that prevent the normal air passage in the throat. This happens when the body and the muscles surrounding the throat are at their most restful positions. This explains why though we literally breathe the whole day, only during sleep do we experience snores.

The tongue, for example, would fall back into the throat when the jaw drops. Thus, narrowing the air passage. The pressure then passing through the throat would be doubled (or tripled depending on the speed of the wind that runs through it). Thus, vibration is created. We often hack this problem by creating states wherein the muscles would not fall back to create blockages.

To prevent snoring, patients are often advised not to sleep on their sides. This is because there is constraint of air passage when one sleeps on his back. Coupled with gravity, the tongue and other loose muscles will fall back to the throat, which then creates much less space. This is why the first device created to keep a person from snoring is the sock that covers a tennis ball stitched at the center of the snorer’s pajama shirt. If this is worn, the snorer will be kept from sleeping on his back due to discomfort.

Among the many advert effects of carrying too much pounds, overweight individuals are also more likely to be victims of snoring. Since their necks are a bit more fleshy, there could be more loose muscles that would hamper the normal passage of air. Thus, the heavier one gets, the more prone he is to have louder and deeper resonating snores.

Obviously, the best solution to prevent the development of too fleshy throats is not to raise the bar in the weighing scale. You would not only be saved from a number of coronary diseases, personal impairments and lack of self confidence, you would also get away from the loud noises your throat creates at night time.

There are various methods of loosing weight. From yoga to dieting, find one that would suit you best. Be patient in waiting for the effects of weight loss to come though. Remember that you did not gain weight overnight so you wont lose it overnight either. It takes much painful effort when you are hastening things to come to you. Work on it and never cease on following your diet or exercise plan. You know that it’s all worth it.

Substances that induce relaxation can also trigger snores. Therefore, you must refrain from drinking alcohol or drugs that has this very effect right before bedtime. Additionally, these substances can make your breathing slow. Be careful also not to get too tired during the day so that you wont get too relaxed during sleep.

Moreover, see to it that you go to bed at the same time each night. Creating an established sleep plan is known to induce better sleep. Thus, even when snoring can awaken your bed partner, you are mush less likely to wake up due to your own grunts.

Avoid breathing using your mouth. This often is the issue when it comes to snoring. Those who breathe through their mouths often have more aggravated problems since their dropped jaws encourage the tongue to drop back towards the throat. You can practice nasal breathing as early as you detect that you are beginning to get used to mouth breathing. After all, treatment for snoring often requires you to switch from mouth to nasal breathing. Indeed, another proof that prevention is much better than finding ways of treating the condition.