The Connection Between Dairy Products and Snoring

When we or a person we love snores, we often try and do everything we can to remedy the problem. Stopping the snoring by discovering its cause can become a futile mission if we aren’t looking in the right direction.  If exercise, dieting, or natural health aids haven’t won the snoring war it might be time to look in another direction. The answer to quieting the rumblings of a snorer might be in that glass of milk they had with their dinner.

Milk contains materials that can produce mucous in some people.  There’s an old wives tale that suggests that if you have a head cold you shouldn’t drink milk.  The reasoning is that the milk will contribute to the build-up of mucous that is already present and make the person suffering from the cold that much worse.  Their nose becomes stuffier, their chest might feel congested and it becomes more difficult to breathe. 

It’s that idea that leads some people to avoid the consumption of dairy products before bed.  They believe that if they drink a glass of warm milk to help them fall asleep, that sleep with be riddled with the sounds of snoring.  The milk producing mucous which becomes lodged within the throat passage and causes a narrowing which leaves less room for breathing, hence the resulting noise we refer to as snoring.

If you are dining later and consuming milk it might be worth noting if you snore that night or if you snore when normally you don’t.  If you do discover that this is true, than the next step would obviously be to restrict your dairy intake or to consume products from the dairy family earlier in the day so your body has time to digest them before bedtime. If you rely on the milk you are drinking with your evening meal as a form of daily calcium, perhaps try drinking it with breakfast or lunch instead.  Those few hours might make all the difference in whether or not you snore. 

Adults aren’t the only ones who snore.  Often you can hear your infant or child while they sleep. Their breathing perhaps not as loud as your spouses when they are snoring, but it’s evident that the subtle drone coming from your offspring is snoring in some form.  The idea that milk and dairy products contribute to snoring is illustrated by the fact that children do snore.  They consume, on average, more milk than most adults.  For a child who tends to develop mucous build-up their breathing might be even more pronounced after they’ve had a dinner that included several servings of dairy products.

Although it’s not wise to limit your child’s intake of dairy if they are snoring, it could be a great and effective alternative for someone older.  By choosing to take a calcium supplement as a replacement for a glass or two of milk, you could come out on the winning end by finding a peaceful night’s sleep that’s free of snoring.