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MrsJ has started snoring REALLY LOUD !! I've been obliged to do what I don't like to do which is go to the spare room. Probably there is stuff she could do to be quieter, but right now this is my problem, not hers. I've tried using the normal foam ear plugs, which don't cut out the sound, and I've used wax/similar plugs like Boules Quies but I don't find them comfortable. I bought some rubber flanged type thingies from Boots but they were too small for my cavernous lugs, and one got lost down the tubes which was a bit alarming.
My social media is now full of adverts for different products and to be honest if I could pay 30 quid for something that works, I'd be happy, but it's too much to pay just to chance it. So please tell me if you've found something that works for you, and that sounds like it might work for me!!
BioEars
BioEars
They are like the wax ones - they feel like bullets in my head 🙁
No type of ear plugs will work fully, although boots wax earplugs are the best for me. I can't imagine what vast uncharted territory your ear canal is if you can lose one down it though. 🙂
There are only a couple of things that 100% work IME.
Sleep in a different room, wearing earplugs
Tight-fitting earphones with this running at a reasonable volume all night.
My suggestion, if it persists, is to get your wife to visit the GP and get a referral to a sleep clinic...she may have some kind of apnoea.
These are my current cheap and cheerful favourites for sleeping.
I've got expensive moulded ones, but I don't find them comfortable to sleep in.
Alpine Sleep Deep are very comfortable and I find them to be excellent.
For her, not you. Can vouch for its effectiveness.
If it has only recently started then one option is to do nothing and see if you adjust to it.
You are probably not using the ear plugs correctly. Are you putting them in your wife's nostrils?
Macks pillowsoft mouldable plugs work really well.
I tried all sorts of disposable ear plugs then eventually stumped up for some custom ACS Sleep Sounds - they give you a voucher to go to one of their participating audiologists who take a mould way down inside your ear, then a few weeks later you get some mighty fine earplugs.
+1 for doris5000's Amazon recommendation above. I bought that same pack of 100 pairs in 2021 and the improvement to both the quality and length of my sleep has been immense. Total game changer, my wife hasn't been smothered and I'm not sharing a cell with another lifer, who would probably snore even more than she does. They are also good for cycling and fishing weekends when sharing a room with beery blokes.
What about something along the lines of https://www.snoozeband.co.uk/ or a cheaper alternative
Following with interest as I am in the same boat. Fed up with sleeping on the sofa for a night's sleep. If I get to bed/sleep first I can survive a few hours, if my wife falls asleep first I have no chance of nodding off so hit the sofa. My wife was sent to the sleep clinic but no apnea, they think it may be related to weight gain pressing on whatever causing it.
It takes me ages to nod off, I've been using Alpine Sleep Deep for a few months and find they work for me.
I used to use these & they worked pretty well
https://www.audilo.co.uk/473-3m-e-a-rsoft-fx-foam-ear-plugs-39-db.html
I'm in a similar boat, except I'm the one who snores and unfortunately for her, I fall asleep in half a nanosecond.
I want to find something that works for me other half.
oh man, I sympathise. This is timely thread as I had to buy some new earplugs this afternoon for the same reason ( am away on hols and forgot to take the earplugs I use at home). The ones I use at home are some relatively inexpensive foam ones that bought in France pre-pandemic - not perfect but I’ve managed to get some good runs of sleep wearing them - even in a Bothy dorm with 3 proper noisy snorers.
I’ll try and remember to provide an update on the new ones and brands when I get back home. (Ones I bought in France look v.similar to the 3m ones mentioned above).
Tried all the foam ones and expensive audio ones (not custom fitted though)
Tried the wax ones which were horrible
I really rate the silicon ones. You can heat up a bit between your palms and squidge them in well. Never fall out and absolute perfect fit. Plenty of different types (I use ones in linky below) but you can get softer or firmer ones. Saved my marriage for sure! Ha ha
Note - I see you have tried bioears. These are quite hard and large... I always tend to rip off a bit to make the plugs smaller (obviously not too small!) but I can happily make a single plug fit both ears (so they don't feel too large).
I use the silicone ones when camping to good effect. I always find standard plugs make too much noise when I turn my head. My mate's a world class snorer and I can sleep ok with silicone plugs when he's in the same tent as me 🙂
Separate room
forget earplugs, noise cancelling ear buds / headphones are your friend. Sofagirl snores quite badly (as do I, I hasten to add - but not my problem if I’m asleep!), and if she’s snoring whilst I’m trying to get to sleep there’s little chance of me dropping off. In that situation nc earbuds / head phone are ideal as it’s exactly the low frequency sound they’re best at dealing with. Soothing podcast with noise cancellation and can’t hear a thing. Of course not much use if the snoring is loud enough to wake you once you are asleep!
Thanks all - lots of good ideas ! I think I’ll start with trying to find some soft silicone ones. The ones I have are not comfortable but maybe I was unlucky !
Don't think anyone has mentioned earloops. Got some for driving on the motorway. From memory they have different levels of quietness so you have to choose the right type (like sleep for you, but engage for me) and they come with different sized plug bits depending upon ear size, so you can try different sizes. Think they also have a complete blocker insert bit to reduce even further. Easy to use, bout 30 quid ish and decent warranty/ returns policy if they don't work. Might be worth a try.
A new wife?
get some custom in ear plugs?
I think the trouble with super amazing earplugs is I'd worry about being mugged, broken into or my house burning down without even knowing it. This time of year I'm lucky if I can sleep beyond 7am just because of the very tiny tweeting outside the bedroom. MrGolfChick works funny shifts so either goes to bed and is asleep before me or can fall asleep within seconds and he snores/imitates Darth Vader so for both reasons we sleep separately and its utter bliss!
This thread may be useful for a holiday with @duncancallum later in the year as I've been told he snores loud enough to hear through walls, I wonder what Spanish prisons are like?!
Laser Lites as mentioned above is what i use at work as the guy in the next room snores and the walls are paper thin. Used them for years and have always been my goto, I even go out a certain door at work that always has them rather than the others that have a different type.
A spare room. That's what I've been relegated too currently, I was ill at the back end of last year (and still am), one of the side effects is I've started snoring like a bastard.
For me, I've tried various foam plugs and I haven't found anything better than Mack as someone else mentioned earlier. There is a method to fitting them though, if you're just stuffing them in then they won't work. I'll explain if you need.
Do those snoreban mouthguards really work? I snore a bit (a lot sometimes) but the wife sleeps mostly ok. I always wondered if those mouthguards were too good to be true. Anyone used them to good effect?
This time of year I’m lucky if I can sleep beyond 7am just because of the very tiny tweeting outside the bedroom.
Think yourself lucky you don’t live in my house! With my new double glazing at the moment it’s blissfully quiet, but once the weather warms up, and I have my bedroom window open, earplugs are essential - partly because of the traffic, but mainly because of the gang of starlings that pitch up to raid the feeders, somewhere around fifty of them, screeching and squabbling and making an unholy racket! 😖
Separate rooms +2. You can’t beat the inverse square law.
Another vote here for noise cancelling headphones as an alternative.
Not a cheap way of doing it solely for snoring, and can be a bit heavy to sleep in etc but after a long year of domestic noise (roadworks generators), hospital visits and no spare room etc I've found them,.quite literally, life changing.
What has definitely helped for us is a wedge shaped pillow under her regular one. It raises Mrs B's head and upper body up enough that it must release most of the pressure on the snore engine.
Worth trying, if, like me you're not keen on the earplug idea.
An alternative...Mrs A has tried a thin (1cm) plaster strip/tape vertically over her mouth/lips.
No snoring, and she reckoned she slept better.
I thought it seemed bonkers, but tried it and slept really well. No idea why, but game changer
My silicone ones are called Pluggerz and I’ve had them for about 3-4 years now, they’re super comfortable, very effective and easily cleaned, plus have a nice little case for storage. Not expensive and available in the usual places.
Do those snoreban mouthguards really work? I snore a bit (a lot sometimes) but the wife sleeps mostly ok. I always wondered if those mouthguards were too good to be true. Anyone used them to good effect?
Yes, it works. I was recommended it by a mate and was skeptical. It takes a bit of getting used to but I don't snore with it in, but I wonder if a cheap mouthguard like the ones they use for rugby (never used one) would work the same as what it seems to do is just stop you breathing through your mouth, like the strip of tape mentioned above.
If she has only just started snoring look at tackling the issue ?
Is she putting weight on, is she drinking more, is her pillow knackered etc etc
If she’s snoring also potentially means she’s not sleeping as well
A nice pair of noise cancelling buds - jabra something or others here (maybe active 8, something that sounds like that). 1 the noise cancelling element is surprisingly good as an anti snore remedy (you hearing it) and 2 you now have a pair of buds in and can listen to a dull podcast if woken up as you try to get back to sleep.
I can’t imagine headphones of any type being comfortable to sleep in.
The Pluggerz I find effective enough that I just have one in the upper ear and then swap if I turn over. Anything in the lower ear sleeping on your side feels weird to me.
I can’t imagine headphones of any type being comfortable to sleep in
Maybe I'm lucky that I've found a perfect match to my lug holes, but I find them more comfortable that any off the shelf earlier plugs I've used.
My mrs snores really badly, but only sometimes.
I use panadol night, it helps me drop off more easily and has no side effects.
Its not a spare room its my (your) room. Sleeping alone is one of the best things you can do for a relationship in my view.
Its not a spare room its my (your) room. Sleeping alone is one of the best things you can do for a relationship in my view.
+1
Though for full transparency, I am currently single and my last GF was a terrible snorer.
Wearing headphones to sleep is nuts IMO, surely she wants to get help for the problem herself?
Pillow over face. They can still breathe and it trains them to stop snoring.
I haven't tried it myself so don't quote/blame me if it doesn't work but there are sleep headbands on the market.
They are like a soft headband with some sort of earbud/headphone embedded in them meaning you can listen to music or white noise and then just fall asleep with a timer set for it to turn off.
The advantage being of course that you can fall asleep to music/radio/white noise without then immediately turning your head on the pillow and stabbing your ear on your earphones which immediately wakes you up again.
I got some custom moulded ear plugs made for me about 6 years ago and they have been fantastic. I was cautious about spending that much on a pair of ear plugs at the time but it has been money will spent, and saved me money compared to trying lots of different ear plugs with varying success.
I recommended them to some friends and family and they thanked me later.
A different suggestion - to train yourself to accept the noise? You can learn to sleep through pretty much anything, but it can take some training and acceptance of the situation.
Not sleeping is pretty miserable though, so I hope you find a solution. I suspect that you will never totally muffle out the sound as even with solid block ear plugs you sense noise around you. But there might be a level you're happy to sleep through.
Is she putting weight on,
That conversation isn’t going to end well - I’d be sleeping with my eyes open in case she smothers me
ive got AirPods but I could only wear one in my “top” ear leaving the “bottom” ear vulnerable to thundering vibrations.
If it is apnea or something similar, get along to a sleep clinic and trial a CPAP machine. Amazing benefits for everyone. My partner became a different person after a few days of decent sleep.
Pop down to a local audiology shop and get some moulded ones.
Really comfy, can sleep on your side happily, cut out most of the noise.
I was offered side sleeping and non side sleeping ones. I went for the non side but they are fine on side as well.
moulded ones.
Really comfy, can sleep on your side happily
I can't, they're rock solid! Mine are not side-sleeping ones - they're great for what I bought them for (gigs and clubs) but I certainly can't sleep in them.
We used to sell the Alpine ones, they are really comfy and work. I also had some custom ones made for nights away with big snorers, they are bonkers, they fit so well no sound gets through, getting up for a piss in the night was eerie as you couldn’t hear your own footsteps. £80- £100.
That conversation isn’t going to end well – I’d be sleeping with my eyes open in case she smothers me
But weight is linked to many serious illnesses/ diseases so actually it is worth having the conversation
Its not a spare room its my (your) room. Sleeping alone is one of the best things you can do for a relationship in my view.
We are all clearly different and in different relationships, but I don't think I could disagree with this more. Not talking about giggy giggy time - but some of our best conversations are in bed. Preferring to sleep in the same house but apart by choice on a regular basis is a sign of concern for me.
getting up for a piss in the night was eerie as you couldn’t hear your own footsteps.
How do you know you’ve hit the bog if you can’t hear the water ?
Update - assembled a smorgasbord of ear plugs on the night stand last night but MrsJ was silent as a mouse so didn’t need them. Feel so much better this morning!!
assembled a smorgasbord of ear plugs on the night stand last night but MrsJ was silent as a mouse so didn’t need them
Doesnt that defeat the whole object of eearplugs. Put them in when you go to bed so you don't know if she snores or not...?
Gonna try some of those silicon ones, Mrs Epic sometimes snores, and once I've been woken up it's hard to get back to sleep even if she stops
Doesnt that defeat the whole object of eearplugs. Put them in when you go to bed so you don’t know if she snores or not…?
Sure, but I'm in "testing mode" just now 🙂