I am having a little bit of a dilemma with my roommate. She and I are really good friends and we participate in some campus activities together, but nighttime is a real issue for us. First, she does not even come back in the room because of music practicing until well after 1 am (she’s a music major who has class most of the day) and doesn’t go to bed until around 2 (I was aware of this issue earlier when we talked beforehand, but I have come to find out that I am a lighter sleeper than I thought). Once she finally goes to bed, she snores like she has sleep apnea. Seriously, it is the loudest snoring I have ever heard in my whole life. She snores for a while, then stops for a while, then starts again. I am a sophomore pharmacy major in a 6 year program that has classes at 8-9 am 4 days a week and I have to get enough sleep so I can at least pass my classes. I have already tried earplugs and while they work fairly well, they hurt my ears after a while and I don’t want to get an infection or something because of me wearing them all the time. I also really don’t want to leave this suite because I am getting along with all the other girls, but I HAVE to get sleep otherwise my GPA, social life, clubs, etc. will suffer. Plus I don’t want to make her feel bad because she is my friend. Is there anything else I can do?
You won’t get an ear infection from the ear plugs.
You could try a different sized ear plug or ones made for children. Not much else you can do to block out snoring.
try a white noise sound machine (or you could probably get an app on your phone to play white noise) to mask the sound. Or a loud fan.
@cherry421
Having a husband who snores rather loudly, I gave tried several types of ear plugs. The softest, least irritating ones I have found are some inexpensive, flesh toned foam ones I found at a chain drug store. The colored foam ones I have tried seem more rigid and can be irritating. I also find the ear plugs to be more comfortable if I shorten them slightly by snipping the flat ends off with scissors.
I have found that hubby snores a lot less loudly if he wears a nose strip. He balked at first, but I recorded his snoring and played it for him, and he realized what I was contending with.
Since you are on good terms with your roommate, perhaps you could record her snoring and play it for her discretely, so as to lessen any embarrassment. Loud snoring and apnea can lead to bigger health problems over time, so you would be also be helping her by trying to resolve the snoring problem.
Give her a CPAP machine as an early Christmas present.
If she’s snoring a lot and seems more tired than she ought to be, given the amount of sleep she gets, she might genuinely have sleep apnea. If you think you can bring it up without her getting annoyed or insulted, you could be doing her a giant favor. Her first step would be getting a sleep study done by a specialist. I would assume your college health service could help her figure out where to get that done.
I have sleep apnea and I am SO MUCH happier since I got it diagnosed and got a CPAP. I feel so much better. My husband, who doesn’t have to contend with my snoring all night, is much happier, too.
You should record her and suggest that she see a specialist. A lot of people do not realize that they have sleep apnea until someone records them and they take action to get tested. They then get the cpap machine which really makes life better for them and others areound them.
I agree about the flesh-toned ear plugs. Also, try putting a pillow over your head. A feather one, ideally. I started doing that in college to drown out the sound of birds (because, yes, I went to be as the sun came up, lol) and it helped a lot.
I also agree that your roommate does need to bear a little responsibility here. I think there are some simple nose devices that can help a lot. She should be made aware of her snoring. You can’t continue to live like that.
I would talk to her and say that you are worried that she may have sleep apnea because of her snoring. Tell her you are going to use a white noise machine and earplugs but could she get evaluated medically and please sleep on her side.