Snoring may appear at any age. The major reason to cure the snoring condition right away, is that with aging, the snoring can get worse and lead to obstructive sleep apnea, OSA.
For example, take a theoretical patient, Jack. Jack had mild snoring at age 20. This was due to weak throat muscles and recurrent sinus infections. By age 40, he had gained weight and so his flabby throat muscles were now heavier and had more tendency to fall back and block his breathing. Meanwhile, the periods of blockage with his sinus infections, acted to increase the degree of acid reflux which further caused swelling of throat areas. The more the blockage, the more the reflux. By age 50, he had a full blown OSA with many episodes of apnea during sleep. He had fatigue, hypertension, and the need to overeat for his fatigue.
This mechanism is well documented in the excellent book by Stephen Park, Sleep Interrupted.
Note that at age 35 Jack could have cleared his sinus problem, lost weight, treated his acid reflux, and strengthened his throat muscles. Then he would have avoided his life long OSA at age 50. Actually, any single one of these therapies might have been sufficient. We see serious OSA patients cured just by losing weight.
I wrote of how you can stop snoring with singing and voice practice in part three of Why You Should Stop Snoring:
o Build strong muscles
o Reduce fat accumulation
o Less chance of strong muscles falling back by gravity.
The idea is that the strong muscle actions when you practice singing and voice lessons, acts to reduce the fat around those muscles, just as doing weight lifting would for the arms.
An ingenious method to build strong muscles and reduce fat is done by practicing the Didgeridoo. This is a six foot long Australian horn. To play it you blow rather hard; this blowing action works to make the throat muscles strong.
Didgeridoo horns are available on the internet and there are lots of places that give lessons. They cost about fifty dollars.
At my clinic, Tower ENT at Cedars Sinai center, we have had success with the didgeridoo because our patients perform Hydro Pulse™ sinus irrigation to clear the nasal problem, and perform Hydro Pulse™ throat irrigation to massage away swollen throat tissue.
Many patients find playing the didgeridoo fun, and so they are more apt to continue to practice it on a regular basis. This can even help patients with OSA – obstructive sleep apnea.
We have couples that play the didgeridoo together. The goal is to continue this practice, and if couples find it fun, so much the better.