Snoring

[falcon269]

Snoring is prominently featured in virtually every blog about the Camino, usually with a mixture of humor and irritation. I heard several times that some albergues have rooms or space set aside for snorers, but I never found one. I met a peregrina who spent many nights sleeping outside to get away from snoring (she did not like to wear earplugs). One hospitalero passed out disposable earplugs when a heavy snorer fell asleep early in the evening from tapas and wine. The laughter lasted for several minutes as pilgrims made jokes about the obliviously sleeping snorer. He never knew why everyone was smiling at him the next morning!

Does anyone have thoughts on dealing with snoring?

 

[MermaidLilli]

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change". One of my favorite quotes.
It works.
Lillian

 

[Annette]

Mermaidlilli,

I will add this quote to my website -
I too love this quote. It is absolutely true... and the camino is the right place to practise this... - Not only is it good on the Camino but in daily life as well... things become so much easier.

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change"

 

[John Hussey]

Snoring is prominently featured in virtually every blog about the Camino, usually with a mixture of humor and irritation. I heard several times that some albergues have rooms or space set aside for snorers, but I never found one. I met a peregrina who spent many nights sleeping outside to get away from snoring (she did not like to wear earplugs). One hospitalero passed out disposable earplugs when a heavy snorer fell asleep early in the evening from tapas and wine. The laughter lasted for several minutes as pilgrims made jokes about the obliviously sleeping snorer. He never knew why everyone was smiling at him the next morning!

Does anyone have thoughts on dealing with snoring?

I'd like to know, too because I believe I am part of the problem. At least I have been told i snore, so I must asume that I do. But I am not sure what I can do about it, as much as I would like to. I vaguely do recall one, at least , albergue had a room set aside just for snorers but I cannot recall where it was...but it was on the Camino Frances....atapuerca???

 

[msuze]

In the spirit of the lovely quote provided by Lillian, I found that accepting snoring as an essential part of the Camino experience allowed me to be changed by it. Like John, I was worried in the beginning that I kept folks up with my occasional snoring. As soon as I learned to accept others' snoring and trust that others could do the same, I became less judging of myself and others. In a strange way, I was amused to learn that so many people snore in so many different ways! The rhythmic chorus of breath and snoring each night were potent reminders that we are all equally corporeal... snoring as a lesson in mindful loving. I really grew to love it all.

That said, I found my snoring greatly diminished when I drank lots of water, avoided wine and dairy products before bedtime; and slept close to an open window (if possible).

Back at home now, I wake in the middle of the quiet night and fondly remember those communal ensembles. Really

-melinda

 

[Rebekah Scott]

my first time experience with hospitalero-ing was at Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal del Camino, where our Scottish co-warden described the noise in the dormitory as "midnight on the Kalahari!"
We had a four-bunk room set aside for snorers or sick people, but unfortunately the sick people took precedence that time. ..and many snorers don´t identify themselves as such. Who wants to be a leper?

My husband Patrick is a great snorer, and has given up using albergues and walking caminos, he says, because his nighttime racket is so disturbing to others. (I wear earplugs to bed almost every night, even though Shirley McLaine says they block my "chakra flow." I´d rather sleep, thanks anyway Shirl.)

Short of stoning the snorers, Earplugs are the only practical answer I´ve found. If you don´t like using earplugs, and you still can´t sleep, try drinking another couple of glasses of tinto with dinner. You will sleep, but you may find out the next day you joined in the midnight chorus!

If you really really can´t stand it, and you´re beginning to feel hatred toward the snorers, maybe you ought to check into a hotel or hostel for a night or two until your attitude adjusts. Or consider going home. If you can´t take the racket (or the solutions offered), get out of the albergue.

 

[sillydoll]

:lol: Midnight in the Kalahari!!
That reminded me of a comment Joyce Rupp makes in her book - Walk in a Relaxed Manner. (I've lent the book to a wannabe peregrina so I hope Joyce will forgive me if I don't recall her comments exactly). She said that her apartment in the US borders on a wood or forest. At the end of the day, she likes nothing better than to watch the sun set and listen to the sounds of the night - frogs croaking, crickets chirping, birds coming home to roost, and even the odd coyote calling. Why then did she find human night sounds so disturbing? She decided to accept the pilgrims' snoring, snuffling and talking in their sleep as normal - sounds of the night. From then on she she slept much better.

 

[MermaidLilli]

Exactly!!
I also like to tell people that snorers were around in cave-man days as a way to scare off night-time predators. Bears would not come into a cave with all that racket! So it's a survival technique. See? We are protecting you!
LIllian

 

[KiwiNomad06]

(I wear earplugs to bed almost every night, even though Shirley McLaine says they block my "chakra flow." I´d rather sleep, thanks anyway Shirl.)
Short of stoning the snorers, Earplugs are the only practical answer I´ve found.

I bought earplugs in Viana. The biggest problem was choosing which kind as the pharmacy had so many varieties. (Obviously I wasn't the first person to buy them there!) They made a huge difference. I felt quite sanctimonious on a few mornings when others complained about the noise on some bad nights and I had to ask 'What noise?' Though even with earplugs, there was the night in Brea, not far from Santiago, when the woman's snoring was sooooo bad (someone described it as being like a pig that kept getting its throat cut) that I couldn't block it out even with earplugs. But it became a topic of convo along the way the next day, and then you discovered others who knew the same woman from other nights along the trail.....
Margaret

 

[Alan Pearce]

Our small group had been on the road for nearly 4 weeks when we arrived in Leon and decided to give ourselves a treat by not going to the usual albergue, but booked in to a hostal instead. One of the attractions of this plan was that we would get a much better sleep, undisturbed by the multitude of snorers that you find in the albergues. The plan worked really well until 12.30am, when some lunatic started playing the bagpipes just below the balcony of our second storey window. Don't get me wrong, I love the bagpipes, but in the right time and place! In the end we got the giggles and drifted off back to sleep, with the piper still going in the background.
Perhaps we need a forum where people can write in with their funny tales of the camino.
Alan

 

[MermaidLilli]

Now, if someone can fall asleep to the sound of bagpipes.....snoring is nothing compared to that!
One night I had a hard time falling asleep in Burgos because we had to be in bed at 10 pm but we could hear children playing downstairs. Now that's a twist!
Lillian

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Definition of a musician - someone who can play the bagpipes but chooses not to

 

[Rebekah Scott]

A bagpiper standing below your balcony... OMG. How did you ever resist throwing a great vat of water out the window??

(I know a pilg who used a squirt gun on a repeat snorer. It seemed like a cute idea, but the snorer figured it out and just about punched the joker in the face!)

 

[falcon269]

In France, fellow pilgrims would whistle to wake the snorer. Of course, that woke everyone! Perhaps the hope is that everyone will be able to fall asleep before the snorer starts snoring again.

 

[viajero]

I have had to laugh while reading this thread and it has made me recall the snoring situation when I walked in March. I am a light sleeper anyway and do not sleep so well when I am away from home. I wore earplugs but pretty much felt that I would often be awake whether people were snoring or not. Often I would lay awake at night in the albergues, tired but grateful for a place to stretch out my body. There were few of us in the albergues at that time of year and more often than not, we were with people that we had spent quite a bit of time with. The dear French gentleman that we walked with, and who we adored, was a snorer. One night, while he was snoring, the young Dutch woman started clapping her hands. After one clap the snoring would subside a bit. She later told us that she had read that if you clap, or make some other noise, it would waken the snorer (only slightly)and he would resume sleeping without snoring. It seemed to work a bit. I snapped my fingers a few nights myself. We tended not to do this in a large albergue, or with "strangers". Some nights later, at about 3:00 a.m. the young German woman in the bunk next to me and I were awake even though it was quiet. She looked at me and said, "I think the French man might be dead! He isn't snoring." The next morning we told him this and we all had a good laugh about it. I loved that among the new pilgrims, people were fairly gentle with snorers and tended to let it go. But, when a friend from home joined me for the last week and she proved to be a snorer, I reached over to her bunk, shook her strongly and said, "STOP SNORING". I guess the snoring is part of the experience and the earplugs helped a lot.

 

[sillydoll]

We booked into Hostal Suso in Santiago at the end of our walk last year.
I could not sleep. It was too quiet. There was no snuffling, snorting, coughing, snoring. I had gotten used to those sounds and slept through them but sleeping in a private room was dreadful. I could hear water dripping into the toilet cistern in the en suite bathroom, and every voice that floated up from downstairs. I lay awake like a Dik-Kop - an African bird with wide staring eyes. For days after we returned home, I couldn't sleep when my husband snored and he couldn't understand how I'd managed to sleep through 60 - 100 snores in one room but couldn't bear his lone croaking!

 

[Artemis]

Snorer here. My sister and I both snore. When we reached an albergue after a long hot day of hiking we would try to beg (in our poor Spanish) to be able to drag our mattresses into the kitchen or hallway so we wouldn't bother all the other pilgrims. That meant we had to stay up until the last person left the kitchen and wake up when the first person came in. We only found one place that had a room for snorers and that was in Obanos. I know there must be more places. If there was a list of albergues with rooms for snorers we would happily plan our stops there next time we do the camino. We are thinking we might have to take a tent if we can't find snorers rooms.

 

[ElRicardoL]

I have to confess, I am a snorer.
I was really concerned before setting off on our Camino last September. I did not want my snoring to cause anyone a sleepless night. What could I do?
There is a product called "BreatheRite" (I think that's how you spell the word?). It consists of an adhesive strip that you afix crosswise to your nose. The object, is to open up the airways and therefore reduce snoring. According to my wife - who has spent many nights listening to my snoring, this product is quite effective and reduced my normal nocturnal roar to a soft purr (even after a few glasses of Rioja).
Readily available in our home country of Canada, I'm sure it is also available in many other countries - perhaps under a different name.
Time for my afternoon nap - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Richard

 

[Rebekah Scott]

yes. Breathe-Rite Strips are available in large farmacias in Spain. They work pretty well on snorers who can be convinced to use them!

 

[isabelle304]

I thought I´d revive this thread as it has special resonance for me (excuse the pun!).

I´ve just finished my Camino and it was during the very first night - in St Jean de Pied de Port - that I found out that I am quite a loud snorer - I was mortified to be told by my room mates in the morning that they had just had a terrible night because of me. I hoped this might have been a one-off but alas, I also got reproachful looks the next morning when getting up in Orisson. In Villamayor de Monjardin, I woke up around 1am to go to the loo, and the girl next to me begged me to change position/sleep on my side.

My snoring became quite a worry for me. I tried EVERYTHING. Sleeping on my side. Sleeping on my front. Sleeping without a pillow. Sleeping with 2 or 3 pillows. Sleeping sitting up (yes, really!). I tried two different types of anti-snore spray. I tried the nose strips. I begged hospitaleros to let me have a bed away from everyone else (most of the time, that was impossible, and the hospitaleros just laughed at me and said snoring was part of the camino). In Negreira, I even sneaked out of bed once everyone was asleep and went and slept downstairs on the very uncomfortable two-seater sofa, where I slept badly with my feet wedged up the wall and my head next to a very noisy Coke dispenser.

Yet I found no solution to my snoring. The embarassment actually caused me a fair amount of stress and worry and I would seriously think twice about doing the Camino again, just because of that! On several nights towards the end I stayed in pensions, just so I could get a room to myself and relax! I know plenty of snorers on the Camino just laugh it off and don´t care if they keep others awake, but I do

Isabelle

 

[Artemis]

Oh Isabelle, I feel for you. That was exactly how it was for my sister and me. We hated keeping other people awake at night and hated the looks we got in the morning. Every evening it was a worry about whether we could find a place away from the other pilgrims. We slept on floors when we could in the kitchens or hallways. We stayed at pensions as much as we could afford but hadn't budgeted for them. I snuck downstairs in Portomarin and slept on that sofa so I had to laugh when I read about you doing the same thing. I wish there were more snorers rooms in the albergues. We usually got the same response from the hospitaliers, "This is not a vacation, this is a pilgrimage, people should expect snorers!" But of course they didn't have to sleep in a room with us. We have tried the strips and the sprays also and they didn't work for us either. Before we left we thought blisters, sore muscles or getting lost would be our problems but snoring was the major problem that we had.

 

[notion900]

This is an absolute classic of a thread! Thanks to all who shared their guilty secret. Yes I too snore, I once woke up on a bus having dreamed about pigs grunting in a sty, only to realised the noise was real: my dream was prompted by hearing myself snoring!

On the camino I became immune to snoring but one man did keep me awake, he had that condition where you stop breathing for several seconds at a time!

My own excuse is that sleeping cramped up in a sleeping bag makes it worse.... sounds plausible anyway! :wink:

 

[Anniesantiago]

:::Annie passes out ANGEL BADGES to Lilli, Rebecca, Sil, and all those who have such a happy disposition and are able to sleep with snorers! ::laughing::

I'm one of those poor people whose parents must have tiptoed around when I was a child because the slightest noise keeps me awake. It really is a disability, and although I've tried adjusting it, it's just a fact of my life it seems.

I'm one who would rather sleep outside if there are many people snoring. For me, what worked instead of earplugs was to take my IPOD with soothing quiet "sleep" music that I would listen to until I fell asleep. Earplugs worked sometimes.

Joe's solution was to drink a bottle of the cheap but delicious wine you find along the Camino. He slept like a baby every night and I was so jealous!

Anyway, it's a bane, not being able to sleep through snoring. And yes, it gives you a bad attitude.

There was a place with a snorer room at Trinidad de Arre - lovely place.
But that night, there were no snorers YAY!

Now, my REAL secret is that SOMETIMES I wake MYSELF up.... SNORING! :twisted:

::maniacal laughter:::::

 

[marktqm]

I believe there is also a snorers' room in the Ave Fenix albergue in Villafranca del Bierzo, although I didn't sleep in that room.

I tried using earplugs at one time but I'm not comfortable not hearing anything at all; what if there's a fire? Let's admit it: some overcrowded albergues are fire hazards. (Anybody ever awakaned by smelling the smoke first before hearing the noise/feeling the heat?)

 

[Arn]

My military mindset adjusts to noise as it catalogs good sounds and bad sounds...once I know what the sound is I'll either sleep right thru...or wake up. As Sil said, sometimes quiet will keep you awake.

I remember once the Army moved a battery of heavy artillery next to our position. The first night it was a horrible racket, but then, once cataloged as friendly...no problem. Three weeks later, the battery redeployed and it was so quiet we couldn't sleep.

The barn at Roncesvalles houses well over 100 peregrinos. The night we stayed there, there was a fellow that obviously had a major snoring/breathing problem...we were nearly all awake the entire night. Happens!

I find that the snorers, once cataloged as friendly...are easily ignored. But, folks that insist on carrying on loud conversations after lights out can leave me in a pickle. In the same vein, the albergue at Logrono was mostly empty until a school group of about 60 showed up late about 8pm. These kids would not go to sleep...they were singing, talking on the phone, etc. Finally at 11pm, I located the adult in charge (who was sleeping outside the main dorm) and explained to him the problem. His reply was something about kids being kids. I acknowledged that and indicated that this specific adult was going to stand next to his bunk and read passages from St Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises until they got quiet. Sleep was upon us within 10 minutes.

Buen quiet time Camino
Arn

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Arn,
I must admit that my heart sank when on my second night in Monte de Gozo, early in July, several large groups of energetic young people arrived, and I envisaged having no sleep! However, with the little bit of Spanish I had acquired, it did seem to me that I heard the leaders talking to their groups about being quiet for the pilgrims who had walked a long way...... And sure enough, come 10pm, all was quiet, and these young people showed complete respect for the need of other pilgrims to get some sleep.

Next morning in the Square outside the Cathedral, we saw one of these groups again, dancing and singing in a circle, having a wonderful time together. Then during the pilgrim Mass, I saw them again, seated up around the altar, with some of their number 'doing' various things in the liturgy.
Margaret

 

[30daystosantiago]

This post reminds me of a time in one of the refugios on the Camino Frances (don't remember which one) - but it was one in which bunk beds were tightly packed together (I know this fact does not help distinguish!!)...anyway, in a bunk a few over from mine was a great example of what I came to call a "master snorer" - the really loud and offensive type...well, the woman in the bunk next to this master devised a routine of tapping on this guys bunk with her walking stick every time he started...after a few rounds of "taps" the snoring stopped and the rest of us were able to fall asleep. After a while on the Camino, I actually got used to the snoring...

 

[Arn]

30daystosantiago said:after a few rounds of "taps" the snoring stopped

Sometimes one SOLID rap will do even better!

Buen sweet dreams Camino
Arn

 

[Anniesantiago]

Trinidad de Arre had a room for snorers... and a room for married couples too!
Very nice!

 

[Arn]

Let me guess...the room for snorers was so you couldn't hear them snore...therefore, the room for married couples was so you couldn't hear them argue...right?

Just a thought!

Buen never go to bed mad Camino
Arn

 

[Rebekah Scott]

...then there´s the separate room for married couples who snore.

"Never go to bed angry. Stay up and fight!" -- Phyllis Diller

Reb.

 

[Annaliese&Maarten]

Ha ha! This thread is hilarious!!!

I did the camino in spring, 2006. I went along oblivious of most snoring except I must admit 1 or 2 interrupted nights. The sounds made me giggle a bit! The last refuge before Santiago was the worst!

Wasn't until 2 months later I slept on a greek ship in the communal lounge that I realized I snored! I woke up with things all over me that people had obviously thrown at me to stop the snoring... Tissue rolls, shoes and alas... A chair!

Luckily for me pilgrims are much more patient with snorers or who knows what could have become of me!

 

[Caminando]

I'm glad this thread reveals how bad it is for the snorer. Reb has used the word "leper", which is a word I've used to describe myself in this situation.

Since I recently lost a lot of weight, I usually snore less. But I am acutely conscious of how it annoys others. I don't like snoring either! Wherever possible, I set myself apart when sleeping. In future I will carry a Goretex bivouac sac for this reason, and move outside if possible, though it's handy for other reasons too, as I hear that many refugios are stuffed, at least on the Frances.

I am hurt, distraught and wounded to find that SOME PEOPLE (you know who you are :shock: )are so bereft of a musical ear as to be anti-bagpipe :roll: . As you all know, this is the traditional instrument of Galicia and other countries. There is nothing quite so magnificent as a massed pipe band from Scotland, or the beauty of the Irish ulleain pipes, or the light skip of the French cabrette.

As Sydney Smith (1771-1845) said to Monckton Miles "I am going to pray for you at St. Paul's, but with no very lively hope of success."

:arrow:

 

[Anniesantiago]

Aww, don't worry about it. We like to complain but most of us realize you don't snore just to annoy us! :lol:

I do love that private room in Trinidad, though... best night's sleep I got along the way!

Actually, I've been falling asleep with headphones on, listening to late night talk radio, trying to train myself to sleep through noise. Hopefully the snoring won't be so bad for me this year.

I also found out that sometimes I snore too! YIKES!

 

[Rocknroll]

I was so amused by this thread...
Just made my day!
I think I'm gonna buy some plug ears, though...

 

[redhat]

Luckily for me, I am hard of hearing. Once I take out my hearing aids, I don't hear the snoring...

 

[Al the optimist]

Me too redhat. Who would have thought being hard of hearing was a blessing!
allan

 

[jessica.vthhiker]

I am planning to walk the Camino Francis in late September and have thought about snoring a lot. I have been married to the "King of Snoring" for 27 years. I have tried everything to be able to sleep with my husband. He is not worried about me walking the Camino alone, the distance, the blisters...he is worried about me being able to sleep. I have slept in hotel lobbies, lounge chairs on cruise ships, my car, outside, ANYWHERE to get away from his snoring when we are on vacation. I have gone to an ear doctor and have received custom ear plugs. I can still hear everything. I have tried headphones playing music on top of the earplugs. It is pretty uncomfortable, but it might be my only chance to sleep. I am determined not to let the worry of snorers cloud my joy of planning and walking the camino, but I do think about it. I dont like to take any medicine but sleeping pills may be in my backpack as a "backup".

 

[Canucks]

I am planning to walk the Camino Francis in late September and have thought about snoring a lot. I have been married to the "King of Snoring" for 27 years. I have tried everything to be able to sleep with my husband. He is not worried about me walking the Camino alone, the distance, the blisters...he is worried about me being able to sleep. I have slept in hotel lobbies, lounge chairs on cruise ships, my car, outside, ANYWHERE to get away from his snoring when we are on vacation. I have gone to an ear doctor and have received custom ear plugs. I can still hear everything. I have tried headphones playing music on top of the earplugs. It is pretty uncomfortable, but it might be my only chance to sleep. I am determined not to let the worry of snorers cloud my joy of planning and walking the camino, but I do think about it. I dont like to take any medicine but sleeping pills may be in my backpack as a "backup".

Simple solution....stay in private rooms.