BBC One’s ‘Dr Xand’s Con or Cure’ looks at gadgets to treat snoring

15 February 2024 (Last updated: 19 Feb 2024 15:39)

This week, episode 12 of BBC One’s ‘Dr Xand’s Con or Cure’ looked at snoring devices.  If you are someone who snores, then you may be blissfully unaware of the noise you are making but if you are someone who shares a bed with a snorer then you may do anything to find your partner a cure. 

Andrew Swift, ENT Consultant and ENT UK President explained to viewers that ‘snoring is due to a low-frequency vibration in the soft tissues in the throat, often associated with congestion in the nose or some airway narrowing’.  When we are asleep all that relaxes and the airway narrows more and you get that really deep sort of snoring.  Snoring is a spectrum that starts off with occasional simple snoring and then becomes a chronic disorder that becomes very loud, eventually going into the far end of the spectrum where you get obstruction of the airway, called an apnoea, which is released with a loud snorting noise. 

A pattern of loud snoring and then stopping, and not breathing for a bit, is obstructive sleep apnoea, which is associated with quite severe health problems.  Andrew added that ‘if those episodes are occurring regularly and frequently through the night it leads to sleep deprivation but also a desaturation of oxygen levels in the blood and that can affect your long-term health’. 

If you are snoring normally, but it is disrupting your sleep so you are very tired in the morning or you are falling asleep at inappropriate times then you need to do something about it.   

The programme checked out two snoring gadgets:

• A chin strap which works by keeping your mouth closed.  This is a major problem if you have a blocked nose as it means you won’t be able to breathe, and you will wake up gasping for breath.
• A device with flexible silicone with flanges that you insert into the right and left nostril.  When you switch it on propellors drive air into the nose. It is a nice idea but it has a very gentle airflow and is likely to have limited effect.

Andrew’s advice for snoring included simple things such as keeping yourself propped up at night relieving congestion and making sure your nose isn’t stuffy or congested.  Avoiding alcohol at night is very important and some people are susceptible to loud snoring with increased weight.

Watch the full programme, Series 2: Episode 12 of Dr Xand’s Con or Cure on BBC iPlayer. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001wb05/dr-xands-con-or-cure-series-2-episode-12