How to Stop Snoring: 14 Natural Remedies That Work

Lying on your side keeps gravity from pulling your tongue and soft palate back into your throat, and it's the first strategy I give for snoring.6 In a sleep-lab analysis of 72 habitual snorers, most of those without sleep apnea snored less, in both time and loudness, on their side than on their back, while people with sleep apnea responded more variably.1 In 25 adults with position-related sleep apnea who slept one night on their own pillow and then two nights on a head-positioning pillow, with no comparison group, the median snoring index fell from 218 to 115 snoring events an hour, though in the overweight patients only how severe the snoring felt improved.21

How to do it: I like a slightly curled, fetal position with a pillow between your knees and something to hold in your arms, because having something between your knees and in your arms also keeps you from rolling onto your back.6 A long body pillow does both jobs at once.22 Some people also sew a tennis ball into a pocket on the back of a sleep shirt, so rolling over feels uncomfortable.

Give the change a couple of weeks. I was a stomach sleeper all through my teens, until it gave me back pain, and when I switched to my side, it took me two weeks before I could fall asleep that way. After that, I started sleeping like a baby again.22

Best for: Snoring that's worst, or only happens, on your back.

Study takeaway: in a sleep-lab analysis of 72 habitual snorers, most of those without sleep apnea snored less, and more quietly, on their side.

A slight tilt keeps your airway from folding as easily under gravity, and it works even on the nights you don't stay on your side. In a sleep-lab study of 52 adults with obstructive sleep apnea, raising the head of the bed by 7.5 degrees lowered breathing pauses from a median of 15.7 to 10.7 an hour and lifted the lowest overnight oxygen level from 83.5% to 87%, without disturbing the structure of their sleep. In the 7 who slept a third night flat, the pauses went back to where they started.7 That study measured breathing pauses rather than snoring, and it pairs naturally with side sleeping.

How to do it: Raise the head end of the bed frame on sturdy risers, or slide a wedge under the mattress, so your whole upper body tilts rather than just your head.

Best for: People who can't stay on their side all night.

Study takeaway: in a sleep-lab study of 52 adults with sleep apnea, a 7.5-degree head-of-bed tilt lowered breathing pauses from a median of 15.7 to 10.7 an hour.

Often you're snoring because your nasal passages are blocked, and that's where a neti pot or a simple salt-water rinse can really help.6 My prescriptions for sinus trouble include clearing the sinus passages with a neti pot and using a humidifier to reduce congestion.16 In a Cochrane review of 14 randomized trials with 747 children and adults with allergic rhinitis, saline rinses eased symptoms more than no rinse, both at up to four weeks and from four weeks to three months. The improvement was large and few side effects were reported, though the evidence was low quality.23 No trial has tested a rinse on its own for snoring, so use it as the first step that opens your nose for the rest of your plan.

How to do it: Fill a neti pot or squeeze bottle with a saline solution made from distilled or sterile water, or tap water boiled for 3 to 5 minutes and cooled until lukewarm.24 Lean over the sink, tilt your head, and let the rinse run in one nostril and out the other, then switch sides, a few minutes before bed.

Best for: Mouth-closed snoring, a cold or allergies.

Study takeaway: in a Cochrane review of 14 trials with 747 people, saline rinses eased allergic rhinitis symptoms more than no rinse for up to three months.

Eucalyptus oil and peppermint oil lead the essential oils I recommend for snoring.6 In my herb guide, eucalyptus is the oil for congestion, cough, sinus pressure and stuffy airways, and its main compound, 1,8-cineole, thins mucus and calms airway inflammation.9 That compound has its own trial: in 152 adults with acute sinusitis, 200 mg of cineole in capsules three times a day for 7 days dropped their symptom scores from 15.6 to 3.0, against 9.2 on placebo.25 In a 1983 lab study, after five minutes of eucalyptus or menthol vapor, most people felt a cool, clearer flow of air even though the measured resistance in their noses stayed the same, which is part of why a steam bowl feels so good on a blocked night.26

In a placebo-controlled trial of 72 heavy snorers, a volatile-oil gargle used for 14 nights made no significant difference to their snoring,27 while in a group of snoring volunteers, partners reported significantly less snoring when snorers used an essential-oil throat spray or gargle, in a trial where neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what.28

How to use them: For steam, add 2 to 3 drops of eucalyptus oil to a bowl of hot water, drape a towel over your head and breathe it in, or put 3 to 5 drops in a diffuser by the bed.9 For a chest rub, I like coconut oil with eucalyptus, thyme or peppermint oil and a warming oil like ginger, rubbed on your neck and upper chest to help open the airways. A little lavender oil or chamomile oil in the blend helps you fall asleep and stay asleep.6 Keep the rub to about 2 to 3%, or 2 to 3 drops of essential oil per teaspoon of coconut oil.9

Best for: A stuffy nose, a cold or a blocked feeling at bedtime.

Study takeaway: in a placebo-controlled trial of 152 adults with acute sinusitis, cineole, eucalyptus's main compound, cut symptom scores from 15.6 to 3.0 in a week, against 9.2 on placebo.

A nasal strip is a springy adhesive band that sits across the bridge of your nose and gently lifts the sides open, so air flows in more easily. In 35 heavy snorers without sleep apnea who wore strips for 14 nights, in a before-and-after study with no comparison group, bed partners rated the snoring lower, and the snorers reported less mouth dryness and daytime sleepiness.18 In a sleep-lab study of 30 people with habitual snoring, the strips lowered peak snoring intensity, mostly in the lighter stages of sleep, and 22 of the 30 snored less loudly on their second night with a strip.29

Reviews that pooled people with sleep-disordered breathing, 14 studies in one and 17 studies with 496 people in the other, found no significant change in breathing pauses or the snoring index.3031 The newer review suggested strips as an add-on for people with mild symptoms or a congested nose, which is when they're most likely to help.31

How to use them: Press a strip onto clean, dry skin across the bridge of your nose just before bed. In the sleep-lab study, 17 of the 30 needed a little time to get used to it, and after that they breathed easily and slept well.29

Best for: Mouth-closed snoring and a nose that feels blocked at night.

Study takeaway: in 35 heavy snorers, two weeks of nasal strips lowered partner-rated snoring, mouth dryness and daytime sleepiness.

Your nose is built for breathing while you sleep, and keeping your mouth closed lets it do that job. For adults, I recommend gently taping your lips closed at night with a medical tape, not duct tape, so you breathe more gently through your nose, and keeping at it night after night.32

In 20 adults who breathed through their mouths at night and had mild sleep apnea, a week of mouth tape lowered the median snoring index from 303.8 to 121.1 events an hour and breathing pauses from 8.3 to 4.7, and 13 of the 20 cut their snoring by half or more. The study had no comparison group and enrolled only people who could tolerate the tape.19 A 2025 review of 10 studies with 213 people found improvements in sleep apnea measures in 2 of them and no difference in the others, and many of those studies left out anyone with a blocked nose.33

How to do it: If your nose is clear, place a small strip of gentle, skin-safe medical tape across your closed lips, and try it for a short stretch while you're awake first. Myofunctional therapy exercises that strengthen your tongue help with mouth breathing too (remedy 8).32

Best for: Mouth-open snoring when your nose is clear.

Study takeaway: in 20 mouth-breathers with mild sleep apnea, a week of mouth tape cut the median snoring index from 303.8 to 121.1 events an hour, with no comparison group.

Dry air dries out the lining of your nose and throat, and the heated indoor air of late fall and winter makes it worse. A humidifier by the bed helps soothe your throat and nasal passages,6 and in my sinus prescriptions it's there to reduce congestion.16 In a placebo-controlled trial, 37 healthy men each tried a heated, humidifying mask and an unheated one for 10 minutes, and the warm, moist air eased the feeling of a dry nose and throat and lowered the measured resistance in the nose.34

Cleaner air matters too, because an allergen in the bedroom can keep a nose swollen night after night. When my young daughter started snoring and her tonsils stayed swollen, an allergy test showed she was allergic to only one thing, dust mites. We steam-vacuumed the house and filtered the air in her bedroom, and along with a few other steps, her symptoms started melting away, snoring included.35

How to use it: Run a humidifier near the bed in the dry months and clean it as the maker directs, and put essential oils in a diffuser rather than the humidifier. Our guide to indoor air quality covers dust, filters and fresh air.

Best for: Dry winter air, waking with a dry mouth, and allergies.

Study takeaway: in a placebo-controlled trial of 37 healthy men, warm, humidified air eased the feeling of a dry nose and throat and lowered nasal resistance.

Throat and tongue exercises are on my list for snoring,6 and they work the way any training does: the muscles of your tongue, soft palate and throat get firmer and hold the airway open while you sleep. In a 3-month randomized trial of 39 adults who snored, some of them with mild to moderate sleep apnea, 19 did daily mouth and throat exercises while the comparison group used nasal strips and breathing exercises. In the exercise group, the snore index, the number of snores louder than 36 decibels each hour, fell from a median of 99.5 to 48.2, while the comparison group didn't change significantly.17 In the pooled before-and-after review, the exercises cut snoring intensity by 51% in the 80 people who rated it, and time spent snoring fell from 26.3% to 18.1% of the night in the 60 who were measured for it.4

In 31 adults with moderate sleep apnea, 3 months of about 30 minutes a day of tongue, soft-palate and throat-wall exercises slimmed the neck slightly (39.6 to 38.5 centimeters), quieted snoring and lowered breathing pauses from 22.4 to 13.7 an hour, while a placebo routine of the same length brought no significant change.8 Newer trials agree, starting with an online trial of 66 adults with simple snoring, in which 4 weeks of exercises plus education beat education alone on snoring index, loudness and quantity, with better sleep and mood too.36 In 92 adults who finished a 6-week German trial, the exercises lowered a snoring score by 2.3 points compared with finger exercises, though the home sleep-test measures of snoring didn't differ significantly.37

Two more ways to train the same muscles have their own trials. In 25 adults with moderate sleep apnea who complained of snoring, 4 months of didgeridoo lessons, with about 25 minutes of practice on most days, improved daytime sleepiness and breathing pauses compared with a waiting list, and partners reported less disturbed sleep.38 In a pilot study of 20 chronic snorers, singing exercises for 20 minutes a day for 3 months reduced snoring on average, especially in those who did them accurately and regularly.39

How to do them: The trial routines worked three areas: the tongue, the soft palate and the side walls of the throat.8 Typical moves include pressing your whole tongue up against the roof of your mouth and holding it, sliding the tip of your tongue back along the palate, pushing the back of your tongue down while the tip touches your lower front teeth, and saying a long "ah" while you feel the back of your throat lift. Spread the routine across the day, and give it a few weeks before you judge it.8

Best for: Mouth-open snoring, slack throat muscles, and anyone ready to practice daily.

Study takeaway: in a 3-month randomized trial of 39 adults who snored, daily mouth and throat exercises cut the snore index from a median of 99.5 to 48.2 an hour.

Losing extra weight can absolutely help your breathing patterns at night,6 because there's less tissue pressing on your airway. In 690 Wisconsin adults followed for 4 years with two overnight sleep studies, losing 10% of body weight predicted 26% fewer breathing pauses an hour, and gaining 10% predicted 32% more, along with 6 times the odds of developing moderate-to-severe sleep-disordered breathing.5

For snoring itself, 19 heavy-snoring men went through a 6-month weight-loss program on top of side sleeping and a nasal spray. The 9 who lost at least 3 kilograms (about 7 pounds) went from 320 to 176 snores an hour, and 3 men who lost about 7.6 kilograms (about 17 pounds) nearly stopped snoring.40

How to do it: Start with your plate, and get three things at every meal, good-quality protein, healthy fat and fiber, to support your metabolism.22 My Healthy Weight & Metabolic Reset lays out the full plan: steady blood sugar, cut the foods TCM calls Damp-producing, build muscle and manage stress.15 Keep moving every day, too: you don't need any radical exercise, just getting out and moving,22 and it pays off for snoring, because fitness level is number one on my list of the biggest causes.6 Our guide on how to stop overeating has practical help for the evening hours.

Best for: Snoring that started or got louder as your weight went up.

Study takeaway: in 690 adults followed for 4 years, losing 10% of body weight predicted 26% fewer breathing pauses an hour.

Drinking much alcohol absolutely increases your risk of snoring,6 because it relaxes the muscles that hold your throat open. In a sleep-lab study, 10 men who snored and 10 who didn't each slept three nights, in random order, at blood alcohol levels of 0, 0.05% and 0.08%. In the snorers, how often they snored rose 1.6-fold at 0.05% and 4.2-fold at 0.08%, and the loudness rose 3-fold and 14-fold, while the men who didn't snore didn't start.3 Across 13 studies of 279 people, drinking added about 4 breathing pauses an hour and lowered the lowest overnight oxygen level by 2.72 points.41

In my Deep Sleep Protocol, I call a nightcap the false friend, because it helps you fall asleep faster, then fragments the second half of the night.10 During the holidays, the nightcap after a party is the one to skip. If you do drink, I'd limit it to one glass, no more than two days a week,22 and keep it occasional and early, with dinner rather than close to bedtime.10

If you smoke, quitting helps your airway too, as the Tucson survey found.12 Our guide to how to quit smoking walks you through it.

Best for: Anyone whose snoring gets louder after a drink.

Study takeaway: in a sleep-lab study of 10 snorers, snoring rose 1.6-fold at a 0.05% blood alcohol level and 4.2-fold at 0.08%.

I recommend skipping dairy and sugary desserts at night, because they can build up phlegm and mucus in your sinuses, throat and lungs and raise your risk of snoring.6 In a trial of 108 adults who complained of persistent mucus at the back of the nose and throat, everyone went dairy-free for 6 days, and for the last 4 days, half also took a dairy supplement and half a dairy-free match, without knowing which. Mucus scores fell in both groups at first, then rose again in the dairy group and kept falling in the dairy-free group.42 In 51 healthy adults given a cold virus, how much milk they drank wasn't tied to more nasal secretions or congestion,43 so the benefit is clearest in people who already struggle with mucus, which is exactly who this step is for.

Timing matters too. In an observational study of 296 adults with sleep apnea, a later dinner went with more breathing pauses and poorer sleep,44 and a review of 6 studies with 2,950 people linked reflux with sleep apnea (1.53 times the odds).45 That's why I tell people with sleep apnea to treat reflux and eat smaller meals,22 and why my sleep protocol sets dinner three hours before bed.10

How to do it: Make dinner your lighter meal, finish it about three hours before bed, and save dairy and dessert for earlier in the day. When you do want dairy, goat milk or sheep's milk kefir and coconut milk are the swaps to reach for, and our acid reflux diet guide covers the rest of the plate.

Best for: Snoring with a thick, mucusy throat, or heartburn at night.

Study takeaway: in a blinded trial of 108 adults with persistent mucus, mucus scores rose again when dairy came back and kept falling on a dairy-free diet.

Before bed, I like an herbal tea that opens up the airways, with thyme, licorice root, chamomile, peppermint or ginger, and sometimes just a pinch of cayenne.6 Chamomile, the herb listed first in my traditional sleep apnea prescriptions, improves sleep quality and quantity,16 and thyme has a modern trial behind its use for the airways: in 361 adults with acute bronchitis, a syrup of thyme and ivy leaves cut daytime coughing fits by 68.7% by days 7 to 9 of an 11-day course, against 47.6% on placebo.46 The Eclectic physicians of the 1800s also used goldenseal root for lingering congestion of the mucous membranes in the nose and throat, the low-grade kind that hangs on after a cold.47

How to use it: Drink a cup about an hour before bed. The recipe below puts the herbs together.

Best for: A congested, phlegmy throat at bedtime.

Study takeaway: in a placebo-controlled trial of 361 adults with acute bronchitis, a thyme and ivy syrup cut daytime coughing fits by 68.7%, against 47.6% on placebo.

Vitamin C is fantastic for your bronchioles and your whole respiratory system, and about 1,000 milligrams a day can be helpful.6 No trial has tested vitamin C for snoring itself, but antioxidants matter in sleep apnea: in a review of 6 studies with 160 people with sleep apnea, antioxidants, vitamin C among them, improved blood-vessel function and daytime sleepiness, raised the lowest overnight oxygen level and lowered oxidative stress.48

How to get it: Food is the easiest place to start. A cup of chopped red bell pepper has about 191 mg of vitamin C and a cup of papaya about 88 mg,4950 and our list of vitamin C foods has plenty more.

Best for: Supporting your airways through cold and allergy season.

Study takeaway: in a review of 6 studies with 160 people with sleep apnea, antioxidants including vitamin C improved daytime sleepiness and the lowest overnight oxygen level.

A mouthpiece fitted by a dentist holds your lower jaw slightly forward while you sleep, which brings your tongue forward with it and keeps the airway behind it open. Seeing an orthodontist who really works with jaw alignment and getting an oral appliance can absolutely help your sleep.6 The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine recommend oral appliances for adults with primary snoring, rather than no treatment.20

In a randomized pilot trial of 50 couples, 42 of whom finished, partners rated 21 of the 23 people using a mouthpiece (91%) as much improved after 4 weeks, against 11 of the 19 (58%) on a combination of a nasal strip, a saline rinse with a steroid spray, mouth tape and side sleeping. The mouthpiece did better in that trial, and both approaches reduced snoring.51

How to get one: Ask a dentist trained in dental sleep medicine for a custom-fitted device, and expect a few adjustments before it fits comfortably.

Best for: Snoring that hangs on after the other steps.

Study takeaway: in a randomized pilot trial in which 42 couples finished, partners rated 91% of people using a mouthpiece as much improved, against 58% on a combination of nasal strips, a saline rinse with a steroid spray, mouth tape and side sleeping.