If you smoke then you probably already have innumerable people telling you to stop. You have seen pictures of what a smoker’s lungs look like. You have read the numerous articles linking smoking to cancer, heart disease, damaged teeth, sagging skin, wrinkles, premature aging, cataracts, asthma, bronchitis, stroke, heart attack, and countless other conditions.
None of these adverse consequences have bothered you sufficiently to quit smoking, but what if kicking the nicotine addiction is all you need to do to stop snoring? Would you be willing to try?
The Effect of Smoking on Snoring
Acknowledging air has to flow through a high-traffic nicotine area to get to your lungs, it should not be too unexpected that smoking can cause snoring. Not to mention, smoking raises your risk of respiratory issues, which makes it more difficult to breathe. If you snore, your body is already lacking oxygen. It does not need a respiratory disease, too.
Weakened Respiratory System
Each time you inhale, smoke irritates mucous membranes inside your throat and nasal cavity. Irritation causes inflammation, which favors the production of phlegm as a natural protecting reaction. Of course, phlegm increases nasal stuffiness. If you have a stuffy nose, then your windpipe does not stay open sufficiently to allow for adequate airflow. As air forces its way through it produces the vibration of soft tissues. This vibration ends up in a snoring sound.
Increased Production of Mucus
Several studies have shown that mucus production progress when you smoke. There is a protein named BIK in your lungs that inhibits cells from generating mucus at a critical rate. Unluckily, BIK is suppressed by chemicals in cigarettes. Decreased levels of this protein in your lungs, an exorbitant amount of mucus can be produced by your body. Excessive mucus causes obstructions in the airways. In addition to making snoring, this reduces overall lung function. Also, smoking destroys cilia, which is the mechanism that moves excess secretions to the upper airway. Without cilia, excretions settle in the lower airway.
Lung Damage
Smoke obstructs small vessels in your lungs. When these vessels capacity diminishes, airflow hinders. Snoring results from this weak airflow.
Airway Damage
Nerves in the airway are hurt every time you smoke a cigarette; airway collapse contributes to snoring.
Disturbed Sleep
As a person who snores, your sleep is already disrupted enough, or maybe it would be appropriate to say that smoking cause snoring, which disturbs sleep. Well, this may be true, but smoking affects your sleep pattern differently. Each time you finish a cigarette, your body goes into withdrawal. When you are awake, you approach this retreat by lighting another cigarette. When you are asleep, your body upsets you, trying to tell you to smoke. So, your sleep is being interrupted due to withdrawal and snoring.
Not too Late to Quit
Many people believe that when they are older or have smoked over half of their life, there is nothing else to do and the damage is already done. Is there any purpose in quitting? Of course, there is!
The human body starts to heal by restoring cells right after your final cigarette. Nerve endings are growing within 48 hours, and lung function changes within 72 hours. Within nine months cilia have built back in your lungs to control mucus production better. Your risk of esophagus, mouth and throat cancer lowers by 50% within the first ten years.
Will you cease to snore instantly? It is highly unlikely. Wearing a snoring mouthpiece can assist reduce your symptoms. However, as your body heals, you may find that you do not need the mouthpiece later on. So, you quit snoring, and as a plus, you lower your risk for many medical conditions.
Watch a video about the Effects of Smoking on Snoring