What I knows

What I knows was Originally Posted on July 26, 2006 by lavarock

My Father used to snore. I say “used to” because that is how my Mom knew something was wrong. The house had gotten very quiet and she discovered that Dad has passed away. This happened quite some time ago and it allows me to be a bit humorous about the statement I used to make. That is that most people die of the same thing. No matter what else is wrong with them, the main cause of death is forgetting to keep breathing.

Dad had sinus problems and used nasal sprays (what I considered excessively) and slept with the windows open. I don’t use sprays but have found that I too sleep better with the windows open. Here it gets a bit too cool for me to do that but it seems that the cool air opens the nasal passages. When you breathe better you seem to have a tendency of snoring less also. It appears that if you can’t breathe fully through your nose, you tend to want to make up for it by opening your mouth to gulp in more air.

I have noticed one thing and perhaps others have also. I sleep better on one side than the other. In my case, sleeping on my left side allows that part of my nose to open and I get more air. As I roll onto my right side, the left nasal passage closes some and I have trouble breathing as well. I would guess that by sleeping on my left side, I don’t snore as much as when I sleep on the right. I also have less indigestion by sleeping on the left. All in all, I’m in pretty good health so don’t let this convince you that I have all sorts of ills

Another way to breathe better is to us an extract of the goldenseal plant. Often packaged with echinacea and used when you have a cold, the goldenseal opens up the nasal passages and I find I breathe better in as little as 20 minutes. A quick trip to Wikipedia.Org finds that goldenseal comes from the buttercup family, but the entry does not mention the effect on nasal passages or that the plant product somewhat raises blood pressure and should be taken with care by those who have high blood pressure.

A non medical way to breathe better is to use a product such as Breathe Right strips (http://www.breatheright.com) which are a special adhesive strip covering a springy plastic piece. You clean the oil off the outside of your nose and apply one like an adhesive bandage. It slightly pulls on the fleshy part of the nose to help open it. The first time I used one I felt stupid, yet slept a lot better. With my nose being held open a bit, I found I slept better and didn’t snore as much. Some people tend to wake themselves up by snoring. I tried some generic strips which are of a different design and did not work quite as well. Still it is an alternative if a somewhat expensive one as strips can only be used once each. I found that I used them a few days in a row then had to stop for a few days as my nose gto a bit sore (as it would have from applying bandages each day over the same location). I also found that by constantly pulling open the nasal passage a bit, it seemed to stay open a while and perhaps my body got used to breathing through my nose more.

There are some people who take in extra oxygen by way of oxygen bars where they breathe the gas (sometimes mixed with other gasses and aromas) just to feel better.

Without oxygen (the major component of air), we would wither and die and thus the reason I remind you to just keep breathing