Does SnoreAid work?

March 15, 2019 6:08 PM

SnoreAid is a passive device that goes into your nostrils. I've tried the Breathe Right strips which did not work. Has anyone tried SnoreAid, and if so how effective is it? Is the explanation "While working in unison, the above-stated elements of our device will increase your air intake without letting such excess air escape. As a result, more air is taken in, than lost; thus, creating a positive air pressure build-up" just BS because breathing doesn’t work that way?
posted by Sophont to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

As a result, more air is taken in, than lost

IANAD, but as a CPAP user, I can categorically say that is not how continuous positive air pressure works, since it's not creating positive airway pressure. As a layperson, I call BS on this.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:24 PM on March 15, 2019 [7 favorites]

I really think it depends a lot on what physical reason is causing you to snore. Mine would probably be best served by a mouth guard (small mouth, regular size tongue) but I’m having okay results with an Airmax nasal dilator, which was a cheap enough experiment that I was willing to try it, and is made by a fairly reputable company. I saw devices like your link when I was researching options and can’t imagine how they wouldn’t end up on the floor by my bed within hours.
posted by padraigin at 7:08 PM on March 15, 2019

If the case is a smaller airway, that's one thing. What oral appliances do is widen it by pushing the jaw forward. This thing claims to be a "micro CPAP," which it can't be, because it's manifestly not introducing positive pressure into the airway.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:41 PM on March 15, 2019 [3 favorites]

An array of carbon air filters both purify and accelerate your air intake. Simultaneously, micro-screens in the exhalation vents act as a pressure gradient that limit the amount of air lost in each exhale.

As I suspected before reading this, it lets you breathe in freely, but makes you exert more pressure than you normally would have to in order to breathe out. This back pressure on breathing out is supposed to keep the back of your throat from collapsing into your airway and causing snoring.

I'd think that would cause most people just to start breathing out through their mouth, though -- and I'd think you'd also feel stifled if you had to overcome extra resistance to breathe out.

I think this is very unlikely to work for most people.
posted by jamjam at 12:27 AM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's [allegedly] increasing positive airway pressure on exhalation by limiting the rate of air escape. Breathing is a biphasic process. It's self-evidently not CPAP as it is not introducing continuous positve airway pressure but there is such a thing as BiPAP which changes the pressure gradient in the airflow depending on the phase of breathing. This device is neither of those things BUT I discuss it merely to state that such a device COULD be altering the positive pressure of the airway without being CPAP. I don't know if it works, what you want to get out of it, and what potential issues you could be having with your airway that lead you to start looking at devices like this, for which a personalised medical opinion may be beneficial.
posted by chiquitita at 4:39 AM on March 16, 2019

Best answer: I call BS on this device and the company that markets it. They claim that this is a medical device. Medical devices in the United States are regulated by the FDA. I highly doubt that the FDA has approved this device. I also highly doubt that this device does what it claims to do, or even works at all.

They claim that it is a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device. It manifestly is not. It does not and can not provide continuous positive pressure to your airway.

They make self-contradictory claims about how it works. From one paragraph:

As the individual exhales, unencumbered airflow exits through the micro-screens.

From another paragraph:

Simultaneously, micro-screens in the exhalation vents act as a pressure gradient that limit the amount of air lost in each exhale.

Come on, guys. How can the exhalation airflow both be "unencumbered" AND cross a "pressure gradient"? Those are opposites. They cannot both be happening at the same time.

They use a lot of flowery language that sounds fancy but means nothing. They also spend a lot of time making irrelevant claims about the product:

Inhalation Vents - As the individual inhales, air enters through the inhalation vents and is purified by carbon air filters. Such airflow is accentuated by an acceleration effect that results from the ergonomic design of our device.

The airflow is "accentuated" by "an acceleration effect" that results "from the ergonomic design of our device"? What on earth does that mean? I think it is intended to make the reader think something along the lines of "oh, that sounds complicated. They must have put a lot of work into this." But in reality, it means nothing.

Also, what does running air through a filter have to do with snoring? But there is a lot of moral/psychological appeal to the concept of "purity," so, hey, why not throw that into the marketing mix as well?

Finally, most people snore (or suffer flow limitations from an obstructed airway) during inhalation, not exhalation. I do believe that this device might be able to increase the pressure in one's airway during exhalation by impeding the flow of exhaled air. But that would do nothing during inhalation, which is where the problem generally is.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 9:32 AM on March 16, 2019 [7 favorites]

For what it's worth, the unlawful sale of medical devices on the Internet can be reported to the FDA via their website.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2019

Best answer: I bought one. It is not made very well, and it patently does not work as suggested. Save your money.
posted by RedEmma at 11:31 AM on March 16, 2019 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I was an idiot and ordered one of these for like $30. It is a ten cent piece of plastic and does nothing.
posted by Smearcase at 4:36 PM on March 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is a lookalike of a crowdfunded "micro-CPAP" from a few years ago. The original itself has had plenty of criticism, and there may not even be anything inside the knockoffs.
posted by Gordafarin at 3:22 AM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]