How to Stop Snoring: Treatment Options Compared

When Snoring Follows You From the Campsite to the Guest Room

A tent zipped against the night, a cousin's guest room during a family reunion, a cabin bunk shared at a summer retreat: shared sleeping quarters put snoring on display in a way a closed bedroom door never does. Someone always hears it, whether it's a hiking partner nudging you awake or a co-counselor mentioning it over breakfast.

If you're looking up how to stop snoring before the next trip, you have more real options than a single drugstore strip. Some snoring responds to a few changes in how you sleep. Some needs a closer look at your airway.

At Austin Sleep & Airway Health, we help people sort through exactly this, from a first try at side sleeping to a custom oral appliance built around their own airway. This guide compares the main ways people address snoring: what to try first, what a custom option adds, and when it's worth an evaluation.

What's Actually Causing the Snoring?

Snoring happens when air moves through a narrowed or relaxed airway and the soft tissue at the back of the throat vibrates. The American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (ENThealth) notes that nearly half of adults snore and more than a quarter snore habitually, so you're in familiar company.

What narrows the airway varies by person. Sleeping on your back lets gravity pull the tongue backward. Alcohol relaxes the same muscles. Nasal congestion, from allergies or a cold, forces more air through a smaller opening, and extra tissue around the neck or throat can add to the crowding. Camping and shared rooms tend to expose all of this at once: a stiff travel pillow, a drink around the fire, a stuffy nose in a new environment.

None of this means anything is wrong with you. It means your airway is telling you something about its shape and habits.

How to Stop Snoring: Simple Changes Worth Trying First

Sleep Position and Pillow Support

Side sleeping is one of the most consistently recommended starting points. MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, lists avoiding back sleeping among the basic changes worth trying, since it keeps the tongue from falling toward the back of the throat. A body pillow or a wedge can make side sleeping easier to hold through the night, at a campsite or at home.

Alcohol and Evening Timing

Alcohol relaxes the muscles in your throat, part of why snoring often gets louder after an evening out. Spacing your last drink further from bedtime is a simple, no cost change worth testing for a few nights.

Congestion and a Stuffy Nose

A stuffy nose forces more air through a narrower opening, making snoring louder no matter the cause. If allergies or ongoing congestion are part of the picture, ask your physician or allergist about options rather than guessing at an over the counter product.

Anti-Snoring Mouthguards and Custom Oral Appliances

A boil and bite mouthguard from the pharmacy is often the next step people try, and for some, it helps by holding the jaw slightly forward. The fit is rough, since you shape it yourself rather than a dentist building it to your bite.

A custom oral appliance starts from an impression or scan of your own teeth. At Austin Sleep & Airway Health, it is built to your measurements, then adjusted gradually over follow up visits, called titration, with a follow up sleep test coordinated with your physician. We compare the two options in our guide to anti-snoring mouthguards versus custom oral appliances.

Either option works on a similar idea: holding the jaw or tongue in a position that keeps the airway more open. What differs is precision and whether anyone tracks how your body responds over time. Our custom oral appliance therapy page walks through the process.

Laser Soft Palate Tightening: A Non-Surgical Option

For snoring on its own, without an oral appliance, laser soft palate tightening is another option we offer in office. It is a non-surgical treatment that tightens soft palate tissue to help reduce the vibration behind snoring, with short sessions and little to no downtime for most people.

It is not a fit for everyone, and it does not replace a sleep study if pauses in breathing or gasping are part of the picture. Dr. Culotta discusses whether it makes sense alongside, or instead of, an oral appliance during your evaluation. Our soft palate tightening page has more on how the visit works.

What to Track Before Your Evaluation

You do not need a diagnosis to start paying attention. For a week or two, keep a short note: how you slept, back or side, whether you'd had alcohol, and whether a stuffy nose or new pillow made it worse.

If you share a room with someone, ask what they actually notice, not just whether you were loud, but whether the snoring was steady or came with pauses, gasping, or restlessness. A few nights of specific detail tells Dr. Culotta far more than a general sense that snoring is a problem.

When Snoring Is Worth an Airway Evaluation

Occasional snoring after a long travel day is common and rarely means much on its own. It is worth scheduling an evaluation if snoring is loud and frequent, a partner or campmate has noticed pauses in your breathing, gasping, or choking, or you wake up with a headache or dry mouth more mornings than not. For more on telling ordinary snoring apart from something worth a physician's attention, see our guide on snoring versus sleep apnea.

You do not need to wait for a bad trip to bring it up. An evaluation is a reasonable step even if you are simply unsure whether the changes above are doing enough. Only a physician can diagnose sleep apnea, through a sleep study.

How Austin Sleep & Airway Health Helps With Snoring Treatment

Austin Sleep & Airway Health, in the Mueller area of Austin, is the dental sleep and airway practice of Dr. Kacie Culotta, DMD, a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine and a Qualified Dentist with the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. Patients come to us at every stage, from a drugstore mouthguard that did not quite work to an already diagnosed condition.

Our airway focused exam looks at tongue mobility and posture, palate width, bite, jaw joints, tonsil size, and nose versus mouth breathing at night, alongside a sleep and health history. When useful, in-house 3D CBCT airway imaging adds a closer look at airway shape, volume, and structures such as the tonsils, adenoids, and nasal passages, an awake, upright scan that takes about 45 seconds, uses a low dose, and does not diagnose sleep apnea on its own.

From there, we build toward whichever option fits: a custom oral appliance, laser soft palate tightening, or coordinating sleep testing with your physician if CPAP or a combination of treatments makes sense. As Dr. Culotta says, "Positive change is possible at any age. Awareness is the first step."

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I stop snoring without CPAP or surgery?

Most people start with side sleeping, limiting alcohol before bed, and treating nasal congestion, then move to a mouthguard or custom oral appliance if snoring continues. CPAP is generally reserved for diagnosed sleep apnea, and surgery is one option among several, not the first step for most people.

Do anti-snoring mouthguards actually work?

A drugstore anti-snoring mouthguard can reduce snoring for some people by holding the jaw slightly forward, though results vary with fit and consistency. A custom oral appliance, adjusted to your own bite, tends to fit more precisely.

Does sleeping on your side actually stop snoring?

Side sleeping often reduces snoring because it keeps the tongue from falling backward toward the throat the way back sleeping does. It helps many people, though it rarely resolves loud, frequent snoring on its own.

Should I warn people I snore before sharing a tent, cabin, or hotel room?

Mentioning it ahead of time is a simple courtesy that takes the pressure off everyone once the lights go out. Packing earplugs for your roommate, or skipping alcohol that evening, can also take the edge off.

Is it normal to snore every night, or should I be concerned?

Occasional or mild snoring most nights is common and does not automatically mean anything is wrong. It is worth a look if it is loud, disrupts a partner's sleep, or comes with pauses, gasping, or daytime fatigue.

What's the difference between an anti-snoring mouthguard and a custom sleep apnea appliance?

An anti-snoring mouthguard from the drugstore is shaped by you at home and typically marketed to reduce snoring noise alone. A custom oral appliance is fitted by a dentist to your bite and can be part of a coordinated plan for diagnosed sleep apnea.

Where can I get help with snoring treatment in Austin?

Austin Sleep & Airway Health, at 1701 Simond Ave, Suite 107A in the Mueller area, offers airway focused evaluations and treatment options for snoring. Call (512) 900-9715 or start with our adult sleep and airway screening.

Ready for Quieter Nights, at Home or Away

Whether the next trigger is a camping trip, a shared hotel room, or another night keeping a partner awake, you do not have to guess at what might help. Take our adult sleep and airway screening for a low pressure start, or call (512) 900-9715 to schedule an evaluation with Dr. Culotta and find the option that fits your airway.