No Stupid Questions

CPAP

MAD - Mandibular Advancement Device!

It works by placing the lower jaw further out from your neck. A quick test to see if it will work for you is to sit back in a chair and relax, then roll your head forward so your chin is close or touching your chest, then, whilst relaxing your throat, then check your breathing. Now, move your lower teeth in front of your upper teeth and check your breathing again. If you find that you can breathe easier, a MAD may help with your snoring. A company I am not affiliated with but whose products I use is sleep pro, the device I use is a sleep pro easyfit (https://sleeppro.com/collections/anti-snoring-products/products/sleeppro-easifit). 40 quid, much cheaper and very much quicker than all the other stuff!

As other people are saying, being tested for and treating sleep apnea is a good first step - IF IT IS SLEEP APNEA. What many people don't realize it's that loud snoring is not exclusive to apnea. It is an indicator of it, but one can indeed be a loud snorer and not have apnea. Additionally, there are multiple kinds of apnea that cannot all be treated in the same way. There's the CPAP machine, the nose guard, wedge cushions to lay in your side, surgery, implantable device, weight loss of overweight, and so many more. When the snoring is not due to a one if the apneas or another easily identifiable cause, the are tongue and throat exercises that have become popular recently to a certain degree of anecdotal success. Drinking a certain beverage right before bed. Medications/supplements. Weird stuff

Because there are hundreds of potential causes (and even more potential solutions, more than half of which only kind of work with some people) and the only thing we know is that he snores - there's no answer that can be given except to say a doctor needs to pinpoint the cause. My guess is your dad is an adult and know he snores, and still doesn't feel the need to go to a doctor, you are asking because it bothers you? If it's not leading to an effect in his health, then there's not much to worry about (eg, he not waking up still exhausted, or waking himself in the middle of the night by gasping for breath, waking up with a sore throat or headache, etc) and going through those tests is going to be crazy expensive even with insurance (assuming you are in the US)

With the family I grew up in, it be hard to convince you the house wasn't a sawmill with how many logs all of us were sawing every night. My sister was the only one between my parents and my siblings and I that didn't snore. She used to complain about it, but now she sees it as reassuring because she can keep track of where we all are in the house and that we're all still alive (this is mostly for our parents who are now much older - them snoring at least means they aren't dead), if we're still awake or if she can sneak Christmas presents down to the tree, in the morning she can tell whose woken up and whose still asleep. And yes - every single one of us has spent multiple thousands of dollars (after insurance) to found out there's literally nothing we can do, there's no position we can sleep in to change the fact that we snore, there's no tongue exercises that will fix it, no magic pill. That's not to say that will be the case with your dad, but trying to give you realistic expectations.

Stop sleeping would technically solve it, and we all know technically correct is the best type of correct.

For those of us not overweight?

Sleeping on his side, losing weight, and not smoking are all immediate things that could help, assuming he doesn’t do those things already. Have him get tested for sleep apnea, as that can sometimes be a cause of snoring.

A sleep test if you have the resources (health insurance and such). Most common cause for apnea is obesity but there are other potential factors like issues with tonsils, sinuses, septum, turbinates, and/or adenoids that wouldn’t require a cpap but other things like surgical correction

Additionally lifestyle changes can make a huge impact especially if it is related to obesity

Nowadays you often can do sleep tests for things like apneas at home, you usually dont have to go to sleep centers. It can be worth it to make your dad aware of this. Ive had older clients who were very avoidant of sleep studies before they found this out because before a few years ago it was far more common that sleep studies were a much bigger pain in the ass. Youd have to go to the sleep center and sleep there, hooked up to a bunch of machines, uncomfortable bed, not necessarily on your sleep schedule. Now thats really just reserved for certain sleep issues like narcolepsy and severe insomnia

if you can’t get a sleep test and cpap the old school way to manage apneas was to sew a pocket to the back of a tshirt that held a tennis ball, which would force you to sleep on your side. Not ideal but better than dealing with the health impact of an apnea. Not to inspire fear but apneas are terrible for your health. They cause you to wake up briefly and return to sleep.

This happens fast enough for you to not remember and as a result the “cycle” of sleep is interrupted. If the apnea is severe this can happen many times per hour or even per minute, causing you to never get restorative sleep. You “sleep” all night but feel exhausted all the time because you never enter the deeper cycles. Luckily it’s not an immediate danger at all but after years or decades the effects compound just like having a consistent extreme lack of sleep would

9mm

Sleep test -> C(or V)PAP machine. I snored horribly before getting diagnosed with sleep apnea and using a CPAP, although especially annoying for a week or so, made a world of difference.

as the first two comments, get a test for sleep apnea. SWMBO used to snore badly until she got her c-pap

ps Sleep apnea is a recognized risk factor for stroke

Cpap machine.

Of the many suggestions in the comments here, the biggest contributor is weight. Lose weight and snoring disappears. Simple as that.

I remember when my dad would snore loudly, I'd always punch him in the balls really really hard, and then drop to the floor.

One time he went to the doctor trying to run tests to figure out why his balls hurt every night. Doctors had zero clue what to make of that.

I have an AMAZING poker face. Inside I was dying laughing. Outside, stonefaced.