Stop Snoring Chin Strap

Another snoring cure, if you've been looking, is the "stop snoring chin strap". It can be found in several incarnations, including some that aren't even intended for snoring, and it might be one of the better functional cures on the market.

The best, if you are obese or significantly overweight is, of course, to LOSE THE LARD!

But if you are too lazy, or if you are one of approximately 2% of the population who actually have a "glandular" problem and can't actually lose the excess weight, then a stop snoring chin strap might be right for you.

Also, if you have severe sleep apnea accompanying your snoring, you need to do something now even while you might be (properly) slowly reducing your weight.

What Is A Snoring Chin Strap?

What they are is a fabric chin cup and some adjustable straps to go over the top of your head.

How Do They Work?

The work by gently supporting your jaw in the closed position, similar to what some anti-snoring dental appliances do. But a stop snoring chin strap works from the outside. It's purpose is to keep your jaw mostly closed, and in a forward position.

Why Does That Work?

When you fall into sleep, especially the phase of deep non-REM sleep, your entire body loses muscle tone. That goes beyond relaxation to effectively total paralysis. That's why if you are suddenly awakened, you might be unable to move for a moment, or if you dream, you normally don't thrash around and act out the dreams (at least, that's one reason that sleep scientists think our muscles are shut off during portions of the sleep cycle.

That disconnection of muscles includes your tongue and the muscles surrounding your upper airway - the back of your throat. When they're soft and floppy they contribute to snoring. The stop snoring chin strap, by keeping your jaw forward, keeps your tongue from dropping back, and keeps the soft tissues out of the danger area at the back of your throat, and thus helps prevent snoring.

For most people who snore enough to be bothersome, a stop snoring chin strap can make a difference, and can delay the real problems for years.

A popular one on the web is the "My Snoring Solution" at https://snoringsolutions.com/?AID=ACC&SUB-ID= It retails for about $70 USD and is reasonably well made. For what you get, the price-point is a little high, but many people think it's worth the cost for something you'll have for years and need only one or two.

We'd say that that particular model is priced to convince most people that it's not worth buying some fabric and constructing their own... though a competent hand with a sewing machine could churn them out by the dozens for a fraction of the price. (We are not cynical, just practical.)

However, and speaking of practical, here's a less expensive similar solution that looks very similar and has some additional capability. It's made by a company called PMT, but you are more likely to get it at a retail site like Canfield Products. What you want is their item #93 the IcePack/TMJ Jaw Bra for only about $18 USD (last time we looked) - http://www.canfieldinc.com/number-93.html

We've tried this one, and it does seem to work as a stop snoring chin strap. We actually acquired it to help with swelling after jaw surgery. It's mostly made of spandex/lycra and it has a pocket on each cheek to hold an ice-pack. Without the ice-pack, it's a pretty functional stop snoring chin strap, and one fourth the price of the "My Snoring Solution". However, being all-spandex - except the velcro closures, it is flimsier and will wear out sooner than the more heavily constructed product. It's a trade-off.

Stop Snoring Chin Strap PROS

• It's a cheap and easy solution that has a pretty good record of effectiveness.

• Works immediately (if it's going to) - first night, or a few days for results

• Might be the preferred option if a snoring mouth guard is not for you

• It can bridge the gap while you deal with the underlying problem (perhaps by slow weight loss or by surgery that's scheduled next year).

• Gives you time to investigate other causes and solutions, while delaying your divorce. :-) (yes we said that on another page, too, and it was just as funny there)

Stop Snoring Chin Strap CONS

• Eventually, the problems that led to your snoring in the first place, overcome the preventive ability of the chin strap.

• Some people find that they aren't as effective as they'd hoped.

• You have something wrapped around your head all night, and it feels funny.

• You have something wrapped around your head all night, and it looks funny (not sexy, not even a little).

• You'll have severe "bed head" (rumpled hair) every morning.

Try one of the versions we mentioned, or shop around, or make one, and see if it works for you. If it does, everyone else in your house will thank you - and stop plotting to kill you.

But does it work?

Your reporter, here, can't yet vouch for the "My Snoring Solution" (not until he's ready to monetize this site and actually has some incentive to buy one...), but he has tried the "Jaw Bra" ('cuz he had one left over from jaw surgery). So far, reviews are mixed. According to the wife, it seemed to help somewhat, but it hasn't been a complete fix. Some adjustment of the angle-of-the-dangle (chin-cup/sling placement, strap length and placement, etc.) might improve the performance - those are adjustable by means of the Velcro closures on the straps.

If a stop snoring chin strap doesn't work for you, then consider a Snoring Mouthguard
Apparently they work for some people. And we do have some other suggestions; see our other snoring related pages.

Overall Thoughts About the Stop Snoring Chin Strap

Worth trying.

If somebody is trying to sell you one for more than $100, we'd wonder why you'd want to buy it. They're just a couple of pieces of fabric stitched together, after all. For under a hundred bucks, definitely worth trying.

We suspect that the stop snoring mouth guard might be a better bet, but only if it's right for you. We'd try that one first, unless it was contraindicated. If the mouth guard doesn't work well for you, OR if it is contraindicated for you (usually because you have dental or orthodontic work or equipment that would interfere or be interfered), then we think it's worth buying a stop snoring chin strap.

If it works for you, and you (or a family member) are at all handy with sewing, you can deconstruct the "professional" version and make copies. Those'd be for personal use, of course. Selling copies might result in patent infringement or bad karma. :-)

If it works for you, a stop snoring chin strap is much less intrusive and less expensive (in so many ways) than CPAP. It's possibly more comfortable than an internally-worn mouth guard. It's cheaper, within a short time, than single-use nasal strips that hold your nostrils open at night.

It's certainly a better longer-term option than throat sprays.

It's better than ingesting chemicals to fix a mechanical problem, because there is no such thing as an ingested drug that targets just the tissues in the throat and doesn't have (probably unwanted) effects all over your body. You'll see these words repeated on all the other pages for mechanical stop-snoring aids, because we really, really believe that pharmaceuticals are a bad idea for snoring relief... even for apnea relief.

Try this one, or the mouth guard before getting involved with pharmaceuticals, CPAP, or surgery. It's not that we're recommending against CPAP, if you have obstructive sleep apnea, but if a ten-dollar piece of fabric and stitching (for which you pay 60-plus dollars) can solve the problem, then why go to all the trouble and expense of CPAP? However, if you do have a sleep apnea problem, you and your doctor should keep tabs to:

a) ensure that the fabric ' stop snoring chin strap ' makes the apnea problem go away

b) ensure that it doesn't come back after some time, even though you continue using the stop snoring chin strap.

If this page wasn't where you wanted to be, then from this 'stop snoring chin strap' page, go back to the home page.