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Sharing a bed with a snorer and can make even the calmest person feel murderous. Whether it be the whistle, the freight train, the constant low rumbling, darth vadar rasping, or full sleep apnoea, where the snorer actually stops breathing for a time. It's estimated snoring causes 25 percent of couples to sleep apart.
Snoring with sound coming from the throat Photo: Drcamachoent
Physiotherapist and breathing educator, Tess Graham regularly works with snorers and their partners - many of whom are at the end of their tether.
She says snoring is treatable, and it all comes down to how we breathe.
The Canberra based therapist and author has spent the past 22 years working with snorers, and teaching them breathing techniques to prevent snoring.
I have helped over 6000 people breathe and sleep better, simply through changing the way they breathe. I have been told that I've saved countless relationships
Tess Graham says most people breathe too fast, and into their chests rather than their diaphragms. Proper breathing, that will prevent snoring, should be silent, through the nose and at about 8 - 12 breaths per minute.
Undoubtedly, the number-one breathing fault today, in incidence and the trouble it causes, is mouth-breathing. It is well recognized that asthma, snoring and sleep apnea are worse in people who use their mouth to breathe.
Tess Graham is visiting Christchurch next month to hold a seminar on breathing to prevent snoring.
She talks to Kathryn Ryan about how to re-train ourselves to breathe properly.