Unveiling the Night Symphony: Understanding Three Common Causes of Snoring

In the realm of peaceful slumber, the subtle sounds of snoring can sometimes disrupt the tranquillity of the night. If you find yourself wondering why snoring has become your nocturnal companion, let's explore three common culprits that might shed light on the mystery.

Today, we unravel the intricacies of jaw issues, mouth breathing, and diet as key contributors to the nighttime symphony.

Jaw Issues: The Silent Architect of Snoring

Often overlooked, jaw issues can play a pivotal role in orchestrating the symphony of snores. When the jaw alignment is off balance, especially during sleep, it can lead to snoring. This misalignment may partially obstruct the airway, causing vibrations in the soft tissues of the throat – the classic sound of snoring.

If you find yourself waking up to your nocturnal melody, it might be worth exploring the relationship between your jaw alignment and the nighttime serenade.

Mouth Breathing: A Gateway to Midnight Harmonies

The way we breathe while sleeping can significantly impact the prevalence of snoring. If you are a nocturnal mouth breather, it could be a key contributor to the nighttime orchestra. Mouth breathing tends to dry out the throat, promoting the relaxation of throat tissues and increasing the likelihood of snoring.

Pay attention to your breathing habits during sleep – the shift from nose to mouth might be the nuanced clue to your nocturnal melody.

Diet: Culinary Choices and the Midnight Sonata

Believe it or not, your dietary choices can influence the way you serenade the night. Certain foods and beverages, particularly those that relax the muscles, can contribute to snoring. Alcohol, sedatives, and even heavy meals close to bedtime may induce muscle relaxation, including the muscles in the throat, potentially intensifying the nightly performance.

Reflect on your dietary habits, especially in the hours leading up to bedtime, to unveil potential connections to your snoring serenade.

The nocturnal symphony is often a subtle signal from our bodies, prompting us to explore the intricate nuances of our health. If the melody of snoring is a familiar tune, consider delving into the realms of jaw alignment, breathing patterns, and dietary choices. These three common reasons might offer insights into the nocturnal harmonies that accompany your sleep. Remember, the journey to a quieter night begins with understanding the subtle cues that echo in the stillness of the dark.

That's Where I hold My Stress!

Workplaces have been intense this year. Whether business have suffered, or in some cases boomed, there have been so many external factors influencing the place we know to call 'work'. With the surge in work from home arrangements, staggered staffing and endless amounts of 'zoom' conferencing, it would be understandable if you had said that 2020 has left the mind a little stressed out...just a little.

What's been interesting across all our clinics, is the rise in the frequency of people presenting with neck pain. Of course, that may well be from being less (even less) mobile than before; and perhaps a less than advantageous work from home setup... but what has been consistent, is increased stress. 

A 2016 study by Oretgo et al. reviewed and categorised research performed to assess the association between stress and generalised neck/shoulder pain.. When collating their findings, there was a strong association found between stress and neck/shoulder pain, with the proposed causing mechanism being "cognitive-emotional sensitisation". (visit this study here - or ask us for the full copy)

"Cognitive-emotional sensitisation" refers to the "overstimulation of pain related areas in the forebrain and brainstem regions'' due to psychological stress...

Yes, your pain may have become more noticeable because of stress.. but that doesn't mean it's all in your head. 

Psychological factors create a hypersensitivity of nerves, and so your brain detects more signals being fired, in comparison to less stressful circumstances. 

Here are some questions about stress and how it relates to your pain: 

- If stress is related to my pain, will treatment help? Yes, not only will it help you achieve some targeted relief, but with the release of endorphins that come from receiving treatment, you'll also have a chance to change your state of mind. It has been documented that after receiving treatment you have an increase in serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin - which are all hormones which make you feel good.. Of course, this feeling is temporary, but it gives you a chance to improve your thoughts and actions in the short term. 

- Why do I 'feel my stress' in my neck? There are multiple causes for this.. It may be that you already have an existing issue in the neck and stress is sensitising it; it may be that you're also straining your jaw which has a strong relationship with the neck; it's common to take short shallow breaths when you're stressed, so it may be that you're not breathing through your nose, and neck pain is linked to breathing shallowly through your mouth; it may be that you're staying in a fixed position all day, looking at your computer creating a "compter vision syndrome" (check out our instagram post about it)... We could continue coming up with reasons why it's your neck that becomes irritated, and it's largely dependent on your unique situation. 

- So my pain won't go away until I stop stressing? I'm always stressed... Stress is a normal part of life. It's unreasonable to ask any person to "stop stressing", but what we need to look at is how you're managing that stress. Do you have enough strategies in place to help you deal with the psychological load placed on you. Firstly, it's ok to not be ok.. but you need to speak up.. especially to help you manage the people or events around you that can afford to ease up and let you ride out the wave of stress. Try not to manage to many high stress things at the same time - this is very dependent on your personal ability to tolerate stress - know you're limit. You're pain can go away if you learn how to manage your stress levels. 

- If I can't reduce my stress, how can I manage it better? 4 easy ways that you can do right away... 

1. Exercise - this immediately changes the way your brain is working. 

2. Food - Get to know which foods you should avoid for your gut health and have a good balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats to help nourish your brain with the fuel it needs to function - (comfort foods taste good, but lead to more discomfort). Also if you need a good nutritionist, let us know. 

3. Breathing exercises - breathing in for 6 seconds repeatedly will allow you to take control of you breath and your mind - as the breath is one of your body's indicators of whether you're in a relaxed or stressful state. We like to take 3 drops of RocketFuel to clear the upper airways and nose breath 6 seconds in (letting it out) for 90seconds every morning and every night. (Ask us about our get to sleep routine). 

4. Meditation - building awareness and leanring to manage your emotions is a skill that can be learnt. Meditation allows you to face them and wrestle with your mind so, long term, you can learn how to control your mind. If you manage to do all 4 stress management strategies we have put forward here, you have given yourself a fighting chance to manage and control the stress you have in your life... Especially if you can't lower the causes of your stress. 

Our Chiropractors and Physiotherapists are always here for you, ready to Make a Difference to your life, and to your family and friends. If you know someone that could do with our help in Castle Hill, Bondi Junction, Brookvale, or Penrith OR, if you know someone on the northside of Brisbane, in Virginia, feel free to Make a Difference to them by sending this to them and we hope to be able to help them the same way we have helped you - to the best of our abilities.

Why Do My Shoulders & Neck Always Feel ' Tight'?

Patients come to us time and time again..

“My neck and shoulders are just constantly tight and nothing I do helps”

Usually these people have seen multiple Chiros and Physios and some “get it” better than others… It’s not really until we start to dive deeper and ask a simple question.. “Did you injure your neck? Or did this develop gradually?” most people say, “...it developed gradually”.

When a problem is not traumatic, and is behavioural, we need to look at why YOUR behaviour creates pain, rather than trying to find a ‘fix’ or a solution in the clinic.

The solution is already in your hands 

Here are 3 main things we find as significant contributors to this constant neck and shoulder tightness: 

Prolonged positions. Even if you have 'good posture', not moving for extended periods of time is not something to be proud of. Let's put it this way... Would you drink stagnant water? Conceptually we need to think of our bodies the same way; constantly moving, dynamic and fresh, like a flowing stream of water.

Staying stuck in a position also forces some muscles connected to your neck and shoulders to over work to maintain an upright position, especially if you're also in a seated position all the time. You don't have the support of your hips helping you out and you're mainly looking in one direction.

Not only that, but ‘Computer Vision Syndrome’ is something that people start to experience because of prolonged positioning, but also adding the strain of constant eye focus on the screen of your computer. So, a combination of not putting demands on your body along with an overuse of only a few muscles to keep your position constant and glaring at a screen can result in always feeling 'tight' in the shoulders and neck.  

Prolonged fight or flight.  Have you ever been told that you "need to reduce your stress"? And how likely is that? I'd say not very.

Stress is a normal part of our lives. Without it, we're all comfortable. It really does come down to getting to know yourself well enough to know how to manage that stress that's incoming… but even the best of us aren't perfect and we can creep into a chronically stressed state... and that's one issue that leads to a range of deleterious health effects and with respect to tightness in the neck - an increased sensitivity to pain signals and an upregulation of perceived environmental threat.

Sensitivity to pain signals - anything that was just a little bit tight, can start to feel painful. Mechanically it will 'feel' tighter but that's often because of the chronically stressful state rather than what's happening mechanically.

Upregulating perceived environmental threats - our nervous systems are geared for survival - in nature, we're smart, but we're not exactly hunters.... So really, if we hear something loud, or see something moving fast, we have reflexes that tighten our neck and shoulders so we can react quickly...

This is the same stress response we are eliciting when sitting at your computer, so your neck and shoulders are tightening up in preparation to fight or flight... That's why stretching them out doesn't really work - you need to change your state and change your environment to help you reset.

Poor breathing patterns. Let's combine stress with prolonged positioning, now let's just slouch a little too - now there is no room for your diaphragm to lower.... but you still have to get the air in - so you breathe through your chest by elevating your shoulders.

The way you breath tells your nervous system what state it's in, so when you combine everything we've talked about so far - you can see that it's a vicious cycle. Remember, your shoulders and neck are busy sustaining your position all day, but the added extra is that we take around 25,000 breaths a day, so if you're raising your shoulders to do so, now your shoulders and neck are working hard to help you breath AND sustain your position WHILST your in a stressful state...

I hope that explains why your neck and shoulders feel tight all the time!

We’re here for you, providing Chiropractic and Physiotherapy in 4 locations in Sydney - Norwest, Bondi Junction, Brookvale and Penrith and our brand new location in Virginia QLD - so hopefully we’re close to you or someone you know. 

Whether it’s neck pain, headaches, shoulder pain or just need some tips, we can help.. And if you’re not sure, feel free to reach out via email admin@balancehp.com.au or give us a call on (02) 9899 5512.