Well I can say that Breathe Right strips don't necessarily work. They do a little, but have a tendency to come off during the night and they don't give you very good instructions for where to put them on your nose so maybe I'm just doing it wrong.

Is there a problem with separate bedrooms? I'm being serious here: separate bedrooms have saved my relationship.

I find people who choose the `seperate bedrooms` route, often eventually split up.

@Rubyredgirl: Is it because of the serperate bedrooms or just other reasons? I know a couple who does the seperate room thing and it's good for them.

My thought is just get the surgery if it's that big of a problem.

getting tested for sleep apnea and then getting a C-pap may also help. the spouse may need to get used to the C-pap though. but hey at least you won't die from sleep apnea.

I agree with Vannila-Fro. I have been on a cpap for years and no longer snore.

some people don't have that many bedrooms. which means that someone ends up on the couch.

I know that I would also hate to sleep apart from my s.o. Even when he snores, I want him nearby.

@Arlahna: I find Breathe Right is AWESOME for helping me sleep when my allergies are acting up and my nose isn't STUFFED but the nasal passages are narrowed by allergy-related swelling, but they do nothing to stop my husband's snoring.

@Maude Buttons: I presume it depends on the couple. I know some who have separate bedrooms quite happily. For me, I've always been a light sleeper, and I actually never slept through the night until I started sharing a bed with my husband. I still have insomnia problems, but they're much much much better with him there, and I HATE when we have to sleep separately (when one of us is sick or traveling). I hardly get any sleep then. Even when he's snoring, I sleep better if we're in the same bed.

Personally I use kicking as my snoring remedy. My husband AND both of my cats all snore, so I just sort of kick around at random until I jostle the snoring cat or husband into rolling over and stopping.

@vanilla-fro: Sorry to differ with you VANILLA-FRO--I have Sleep Apnea and you can die from it!

It would be a long story, but what made me get a sleep study done was my Wife, a Registered Nurse, noticed my increasing periods of non-breathing in addition to my snoring. The sleep study was very enlightening. Not only was my breathing stopping, but so was my heart. In fact they stopped the non-CPAP part of the study after the first heart stopping episode. I was told that I was very close to dying in my sleep in a very short time. I have been using my CPAP religiously every night for over 12-years now.

Snoring needs to be taken seriously. Too bad sleep studies are very expensive and not all insurance companies will cover it.

@Maude Buttons:

my boyfriend is the WORST snorer EVER. i have to put in ear plugs, turn on the Brookstone noise machine to 'white noise' and put it next to my pillow. yes. it's that bad. we've thought about separate bedrooms. i hate the idea...but sure would be nice to get a good night's sleep.

@vanilla-fro: what is c-pap?

Sorry to differ with you VANILLA-FRO--I have Sleep Apnea and you can die from it!

@DadCooks: Vanilla-fro meant that the C-pap is supposed to stop you from dying from sleep apena, not that sleep apena is itself not fatal. That's supposed to be a comma instead of a period before "but".

I don't know if I snore but I do get nosebleeds in my sleep. Anybody got a solution for that? My nose doesn't bleed while I'm awake.

@DadCooks:
I think Vanilla meant that if you had the c-pap, it might cause some discomfort for the wife, but it would prevent you from dying from your sleep apnea.

My husband snores. So do I. It's only a problem for me if he falls asleep first, and even then, he's quite tolerant of my repositioning him so he isn't snoring in my ear anymore, until I do fall asleep. Sleeping on his back will make him snore the worst, but he does still snore when he's on his side.

I'll either poke him or rub his back (depending on how long I've been listening to him snore) so he's at least facing away from me. Position changes make him stop snoring long enough for me to drop off.

My father used to snore, and had sleep apnea. He taught himself to do the same thing a C-PAP does - to draw in air more quickly, to keep the sinus cavities open. He doesn't snore anymore.

I got to second (or is it third, or twelfth?) the C-PAP. If your snoring loudly, go see a doctor. Not only does it keep your spouse, roomate, person that lives in the next apartment from sleeping, but you don't sleep nearly as much. I just got one a little over a year ago, and have found that I feel more rested off 6 hours of sleep than I used to feel after 10. In fact, I can't sleep 10 hours anymore, my body won't do it. I feel better throughout the day, and am less "forgetfull". Sleep apnea is a very serious illness.

LAGIRL , A cpap is basically a machine that forces air down your nose when you sleep. It keeps your throat from closing up, causing snoring, and all the other problems (like not breathing!). [en.wikipedia.org]

I'll only try this if my husband will agree to do it, too! (the tennis ball routine) Still.... interesting. I cannot imagine ever adjusting to a C-pap.

@Arlahna: I tried Breathe Right strips one week when I was sick and, as a result, snoring and keeping my boyfriend up. They kind of hurt my nose and definitely came off during the night. I guess they helped a little bit, but they were pretty uncomfortable.

My tactic for when my boyfriend snores is the little elbow jab in the side -- it either makes him roll over, or wakes him up enough that he stops snoring and I have a window of opportunity in which to fall asleep.

@rect
Keep your finger out of there. ;)

My husband has a CPap, I imagine it's a lot like sleeping next to Darth Vader.

Hey, Consumerist? It's not "Scoreclipse." It's "Snoreclipse." As in Snore + Eclipse.

@Rectilinear Propagation: As a kid I used to get nosebleeds in my sleep. My mom put a humidifer in my room, which stopped the problem. Bear in mind that humidifiers can cause other problems, though: [www.epa.gov]

@DadCooks: They're all right, I used improper punctuation. I know many cpap users that would probably be knocking on death's door if they never got tested.
They all actually looked better after a couple of nights of using it. I've actually been thinking about getting tested as well.

@LAGirl:
Hey, wait -- *my* boyfriend is the worst snorer ever. And I'm a "difficult" sleeper. Bad mix. Same thing every night, earplugs + white noise, which don't quite do the trick.

Snoring is not always due to sleep apnea -- he was tested twice and did not qualify for CPAP. Nasal strips and throat spray did nothing. And since he just called the tennis ball a "gerry-rigged torture device" I guess that's not gonna happen.

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for a little catch-up shut-eye at my desk.

@Rectilinear Propagation: "I don't know if I snore but I do get nosebleeds in my sleep. Anybody got a solution for that?"

Saline nasal spray (the brand I know is "Ocean" but I'm sure there are tons of brands and generics out there). It's like $2.50 for a thing and it lasts for ages. Use it right before you go to bed. If that's not helping, use it an hour before bed and then again right before bed.

Usually nighttime nosebleeds are just from the membranes drying out at night. (My husband gets a lot of them, particularly in the winter when the air here is very, very dry.) Staying adequately hydrated helps, but the nasal spray helps more.

(Obviously mention it to your doc, IANAD, frequent nosebleeds can be a sign of things like clotting problems, blah blah blah, but usually it's either nose-picking or dry membranes.)

Incidentally, saline nasal spray also provides a heckuva lot of relief for colds and sinus infections.

Incidentally, if you're single no one can hear you snoring. The best way to know if you do snore, how bad it is, and if you have sleep apnea invest in a voice activated tape recorder and leave it on your nightstand.

@MercuryPDX: Good idea. Also you can sleep wearing a small mic plugged into a 400 watt Marshall guitar amp next to your head. Sweet dreams.

For nosebleeds, try "Ayr." It is a gel that helps keep your nasal passages moist.

I never realized how bad my husband snores until I got my CPAP. I guess my snoring drowned out his. Now I'm pushing him to get one, too, because I hear him stop breathing during the night.

I don't like using a CPAP but I got accustomed to it, and my quality of life is greatly improved.

@MadMolecule, @Eyebrows McGee, & @Enola ####: OK, wow, I didn't think I'd get real answers to that. Nifty! Thanks.

@rubberpants: See, I was expecting a response more like that but I'm pretty sure I don't pick my nose in my sleep.

Count me as another CPAP user who might not be alive without it. (And my father might still be alive if he'd used one.)

It took me a while to get used to it, but now I can't even nap without it. And my wife is so used to it that if I get up in the middle of the night, she asks me to leave it on for the white noise.

I don't know what to use anymore. We can't afford surgery, and sleeping in separate rooms puts a strain on our relationship. But then again, so does his snoring. I've started going to bed at 3am, staying awake until he gets up at 5 to go to work, and then sleeping until noon (I work at 3).

My sweetie snores. I guess I'm more accustomed to it than I used to be, but some nights it does drive me a little batshit.

Sometimes, when I know we're in for a long night (his snoring is worse when he's tired or congested), I take Tylenol PM. It's kinda weird that he's the one with the snoring problem but *I'm* taking medicine, but sometimes it's the easiest thing to do, really. I might try that tennis ball trick.

Earplugs have worked for me for pretty much my entire life (when I was little my sister and I shared and room and she used to snore...now that I am older my fiance does too sometimes)! The boy doesn't snore very loud, but for some reason even just the tiniest noise that sounds like it might be snoring drives me insane. But earplugs have really worked like a charm!

@LAGirl: C-PAP is the common abbreviation for "Continuous Positive Airway Pressure" (more in the linked wikipedia article).