The first thing to understand here is that I'm not talking about the occasional snoring that we all have from time to time, especially after a good night out! No, I'm talking here about snoring every night in bed. And not only that, snoring that is loud enough that your wife, husband or partner just cannot sleep.

I know that we all make a joke about snoring in bed, but believe me, it's no joke. Many couples sleep in separate beds because of it, and this certainly doesn't help any relationship. It can get so bad that many couples split up over snoring in bed at night! And it has huge physical and mental health implications as well.

You don't want this to happen to you, so you need to take action right away if you, or your loved one, is suffering from night snoring to such an extent that it's affecting your relationship.

First let's look at what causes night snoring...

And here's the first thing to realise, and that is that snoring can only occur when you are asleep. You don't snore when you're awake. Now I know this may seem obvious, but I bring it up because it really illustrates the actual cause of snoring.

Snoring is the sound that you emit when you breathe in and out during sleep. Because you're asleep, possibly on you back, all the muscles and surrounding tissue in your airways relax. Not only that, because they are so relaxed, and you are in a prone position, they fall more easily into your airways.

This restricts the space available to the air that you inhale and exhale through the airways. This causes the air to flow faster, and as it flows over your relaxed tissue restricting your passageway, the tissue causes turbulent air flow. This turbulent air acts then sets up vibrations in the tissue. And these vibrations cause the horrendous snoring sounds.

Now let's look at how to stop snoring at night...

Of course, you have no control over what you do in your sleep, so that anything you do to try to prevent night snoring, has to be done during your waking hours. And you can do several things...

The first, and most important, is to consult your doctor who will examine you and discuss your treatment options. The thing here is to find out all you can from him or her about the upsides and downsides of the various snoring treatment options, so that together, you can make the best decision.

Secondly, as you doctor will advise, you may have to make several lifestyle changes or adjustments. These are things like avoiding alcohol, cutting out cigarettes, avoiding sedatives or tranquilizers, losing weight, no big meals close to bedtime, change your sleeping position, and set a strict sleeping schedule, etc.

The next thing is to look at the various stop snoring devices there are. These are aids such as snore pillows, snoring mouthpieces, nasal strips, and CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), etc.

There are also natural remedies for snoring that utilize things along the lines of acupuncture, aromatherapy, homeopathic remedies, herbal remedies, etc.

Surgery is only ever used as a last resort. Various procedures are used depending on the underlying cause of the snoring problem. The key here, is to ensure you fully understand the benefits and the risks before embarking on this course of action.

So there you have it: 5 tips on how to stop snoring at night and save your marriage or relationship. If you follow these I'm sure you'll be successful.