6 expert tips to help you sleep next to a snorer
Olivia Perl
Wellness
Reading time: 6 minutes
Snoring keeping you up at night? We know the struggle. Consider this 5-step plan for a more restful night’s sleep
Do you ever find yourself jolted awake because of your partner’s loud snoring? If the answer’s yes, we feel your pain — the struggle to fall back to sleep and keep your eyes open the next day is real.
With stats from the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association revealing that snoring affects around 30 million people in the UK, it’s safe to say snore-induced sleep deprivation is definitely a thing. So what can you do to get less interrupted shut-eye besides grabbing your pillows and stumbling to your couch in the middle of the night (we’ve all been there)? The good news is that there are options you can try from the comfort of your own bed to help deal with this extremely common problem.
Desperate for some tips for sleeping next to a snorer? We don’t blame you. But before we get into how you can improve your own chances of a good night’s sleep, it’s useful to understand why your bedmate may be snoring in the first place.
Not getting enough sleep can affect your immune system and ability to concentrate during the day
What causes snoring?
“Snoring is caused by a partial blockage of the airway, which can be by part of your respiratory tract such as your tongue or throat,” explains Dr Lindsay Browning, sleep expert at Trouble Sleeping. “When we fall asleep, our muscles relax and our airway may not be as firm or open as when we are awake, leading to a narrowing of it and the snoring sound is the result.”
As well as having an impact on the snorer’s quality of rest, sleeping next to a snorer can be a serious challenge, especially if you find yourself waking up multiple times a night and struggling to get back to sleep. Dr Browning says, “Not getting enough sleep can affect your immune system and ability to concentrate during the day.
“Even if you’re able to fall back to sleep when someone is snoring, your sleep quality may be affected without you even realising, due to the noise disturbing you during the night.”
Does a snorer know they snore?
If you’ve been woken up by a snorer and you’re feeling particularly bleary-eyed and tired, it can be easy to feel like they’re doing it on purpose or it’s something within their control. But, it’s worth remembering that it really isn’t their fault. They are asleep, after all.
However, if like many people, you tell the culprit they snore and find they’re not keen to accept the fact, Dr Browning runs down some of the signs you can encourage them to look out for.
“If they wake up with a dry throat, a headache, or simply wake up after what should have been enough sleep and feel tired, then that may indicate they’ve been snoring,” she tells us.
How do you sleep beside a snorer?
If you’re part of the near 15 million people who aren’t snorers themselves but are affected by snoring, you may find yourself thinking despairingly, “how do you fall asleep next to a snorer?” Rest assured that it’s absolutely achievable.
From encouraging your partner to try side-sleeping to investing in some earplugs, these are our top tips for a less interrupted night’s slumber.
Find yourself waking up at 3am? Read more useful tips to help you get back to sleep.
1. Encourage your partner to address the cause of their snoring
This tip has probably crossed your mind as you’re lying awake in the wee hours, desperately wishing your partner would stop snoring — but you may not know where to start. Here are some lifestyle changes your partner can implement that could help reduce their snoring in the long-term:
• Are they a smoker? Nudge them to quit.
• Ask them to cut down on drinking alcohol, especially before bed.
• If your bed partner uses sleeping pills, encourage them to try other methods to help them drift off, as pills can sometimes worsen snoring. Read our useful guide for tips on how to wind down before bed to give their bedtime routine a bit of a rejig.
• Losing weight may be able to help if they’re overweight.
If your partner is struggling with any of these changes or you’re concerned they might suffer from sleep apnoea, encourage them to book in with a GP for more advice.
2. Wear ear plugs
One of the simplest ways to soften the impact of a partner’s snoring on your sleep is to use ear plugs.
There are three main types of ear plugs to choose from: silicone, foam and wax ear plugs, which you mould to the shape of your ear.
For heavy duty noise cancelling, opt for wax ear plugs; if you’re looking for something cheap and cheerful, then foam is the way to go; and for an option that’s lighter than wax but more effective than foam, choose silicone.
Sleep saviour
Try: Boots Soft Silicone Earplugs
• 3 x 3 pairs
• Complete with carry case
• Waterproof
These soft silicone earplugs cleverly mould to the shape of your ear opening for a more comfortable fit. There are three pairs that can all be used up to three times each, which means up to nine night’s per box.
3. Go to bed before your partner
If one of your biggest bugbears is not being able to fall asleep in the first place because of your partner’s loud snoring, then try retiring for the night before they do. This can give you a head start so, fingers crossed, by the time your partner hits the hay, you've already received some much-needed Zzzs.
Sleep saviour
Try: Feather & Down Sweet Dreams Pillow Spray
• Size: 100ml
• Infusion of lavender and chamomile essential oils
• Vegan-friendly*
To help you unwind (and drop off quicker), try using a sleep spray on your pillow each night. This soothing spritz harnesses the calming powers of lavender and chamomile essential oils to create a relaxing scent to accompany you to bed each night. A sleep study shows that inhaled lavender scent, when combined with a good sleep routine, can help improve your overall quality of sleep, which is the dream (if you’ll pardon the pun) when you’re struggling because your partner can’t stop snoring.
4. Listen to white noise
White noise is a bit of a buzzword when it comes to sleep, but its effectiveness is backed up by research. In fact, one sleep study helpfully looked into the effects of white noise on sleep for people living in high noise environments and concluded that it led to a significant improvement. We don’t know about you, but we’d very much class loud snoring as a high noise environment.
But what is white noise? It’s noise that contains all frequencies from the entire spectrum of audible sound in equal volume. It’s often compared to the static that you might hear through a radio or old TV aerial.
Giving white noise a go is easy – you can play it on your phone or invest in a white noise machine, if you’re someone who prefers not to have devices in your sleep space.
Sleep saviour
Try: Soap & Glory The Rest Assured Sleep Mask
• Silky-feel
• Adjustable elastic
Every sense plays a part in how quickly you fall asleep, so we’d recommend not only soothing yourself with white noise, but also making sure you’re in the best environment possible for a good night’s sleep. Enter the sleep mask. Research has found wearing one of these overnight helps block out any light that might be coming into the room and can, therefore, help you get more out of your sleep and feel more alert the next day.
5. Encourage side-sleeping
Getting your partner’s snoring in check could be as straightforward as encouraging them to switch sleeping positions. “Often, snoring can be worse when someone sleeps on their back,” explains Dr Browning. “If this is the case, your partner can sleep on their side to help reduce it.”
When you sleep on your back, your tongue and soft palate fall into the back of the throat, creating a blockage that can lead to snoring. However, if you encourage your partner to sleep on their side, this is less likely to happen, or at the very least might make their snoring quieter – a small win, but we’ll take it.
For more tips on sleeping positions, read our full guide.
Sleep saviour
Try: Widgey Plus Multi-Use Pregnancy & Sleep Pillow
• Mouldable
• 100% cotton cover
• Fully machine washable
• Can also be used postnatally
Although technically a pregnancy pillow — and it is, of course, great for pregnancy — it can also be used to gently nudge the snorer in your life to sleep on their side, thanks to its pliable structure and soft and squishy feel.
6. Try the tennis ball trick
A quick search online and you’ll probably spot the tennis ball anti-snoring trick. Although it sounds like it could just be a trend, this hack is actually approved by the NHS, so it’s well worth giving a go. Dr Browning gives us the low-down.
“If you want to stop someone rolling on to their back in the night, sew a tennis ball into the back of an old T-shirt for them to wear to bed.”
The outcome? When they roll on to their back (which we now know can make snoring more likely) the tennis ball should encourage them to gently roll back again into a new sleeping position, without the need to wake them up. A genius trick that’s mega cheap for a quieter and more blissful bedroom.
Looking for more sleep advice? Shop more sleep products in our full range and for more sleep tips, check out our Boots Live Well Panel talk with Kathryn Pinkham, insomnia specialist and founder of The Insomnia Clinic.
