Sleep deprivation is acutely stressful and it can be deadly. It can disorientate; it can muddle your brain and cause you to become emotionally unstable; it can even kill you.

Yet millions of long suffering parents worldwide have a child who tortures them every night with a snoring racket that can rival the noise of a chainsaw in full swing.

But more importantly it’s not just you, the parents, who suffer sleepless nights when your child snores at this decibel level. For your child, their snoring can be an indication that they may be suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (O.S.A.), a major health complication that can lead to a future lifetime of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and even early death.

Now O.S.A. is a real worry, so if you feel that this sounds all too familiar, for the sake of your child’s long term health, get it checked out. Admittedly, Sleep Apnea can disappear as your child matures, but it usually comes back to haunt them later in life.

Then you need do something to stop the racket. And the very first thing you need to do is make a careful examination of your child’s dietary and lifestyle habits. Now this actually applies to everyone who snores – child, teenager and adult, the common snorer or even someone with an upper respiratory tract abnormality.

Quite simply, ‘we are what we eat’. So to stop your child snoring, you need to ensure that they avoid all foods and drinks which can clog or irritate their sinuses, such as milk before bed, and all foods, drinks and medications (unless absolutely necessary) which cause a relaxation of the respiratory structures at the back of their throat when they are asleep, such as sedatives and cough syrups.

There are just so many foods which if avoided at night can help prevent your child’s nightly snoring racket – far too many to detail here - and so many simple lifestyle choices which you can introduce that have the power to stop your child’s snoring virtually overnight. Even minor lifestyle changes, such as raising the end of the bed up about four inches, can make all the difference.

Your child doesn’t have to look forward to a lifetime of snoring and potential ill health. You can do something about it and it’s far easier to do than you may think!

Dr Rick Donald is the author of Essential Stop Snoring Secrets. To find out more information about his book, visit