I haven’t bothered with fancy electronic home security systems because we’ve always figured anyone breaking into our house at night would hear me snoring, immediately assume we were keeping captive bears and depart post-haste. For my wife it has been like pitching a tent in the infield of a demolition derby and trying to get a night’s sleep. She has developed a system of ear plugs and a white noise machine on her night stand, but even that is of limited effect.

Now an answer appears to have arrived. About a year ago I heard some people on the radio talking about a specially designed rubber mouthpiece that cut the snoring and let the user dispense with his CPAP machine. I checked it out online and the little device required a dental fitting and was going for more than $1,000. My wife admitted it was almost tempting to spend that kind of money, but in her wisdom she said that if the thing really worked that the price would undoubtedly come down. And so it has.

Earlier this month I saw a TV commercial for something that looked and sounded a lot like the product I’d heard about before, and now it was going for just $60! It’s called PureSleep and it’s a simple device that looks a lot like the mouthpieces I used to use in my football days except that it’s sturdier and is double-sided to fit over both my upper and lower teeth. Fitting uses the same process as those old mouthpieces as well, requiring only a pan of boiling water. The way it works is that you position the mouthpiece during the fitting process with your lower jaw extended as far forward as you comfortably can. Doing this opens the air way in your throat and reduces or eliminates the vibration that results in snoring.

Given the low price and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee that even offered to refund my shipping charges, I ordered one of the units on-line. As I was doing that I received an offer to buy a second unit for $40 (they’re designed to last about a year) with the same guarantee so I ordered a reserve unit and a box of fizzy cleaners to sanitize the unit each morning.

PureSleep says the product starts working immediatlely and I was eager to give it a try the other day when it finally arrived. I heated the mouthpiece, positioned my lower jaw slightly forward and bit down on the softened piece for about a minute, then ran it under cold water. That night I put it in my mouth when I went to bed. No question, it sure felt unusual. A few hours later I woke up with a cramp in my left jaw so I took it out for the rest of the night. The next night I did some limbering exercises before bed and re-inserted the PureSleep. I slept through the night without incident though my mouth was uncomfortable in the morning (I also had a temporary condition where my lower teeth lined up directly under my uppers for a little bit before receding to their normal position). The last two nights I have grown so used to the device that my mouth has relaxed (I think I was subconsciously feeling as if I had to stay clamped down on it for it to work) and my sleep has been undisturbed. Better yet, so has my wife’s!

The Reverend Mother reports that the noise volume has been greatly reduced, in fact what she hears is more like a soft breathing. I think that’s from the sound of my breath going through the slots in the middle of the mouthpiece, though and not necessarily from snoring (I can hear myself breathing as I’m drifting off to sleep). Now her problem is that since she’s not using ear plugs she hears all the noises in the house or from when I come to bed that used to be blocked out and those wake her up!

The device won’t help much if you have full-blown sleep apnea, but if you’re having a snoring problem (or, more accurately, your spouse is having a problem with your snoring) you should check this baby out. It’s affordable and no-risk and can bring “peace” to your household!

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