INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Different types of snoring are caused by different things, and you will need to understand the root cause in order to find a solution. To start: ask your partner or your roommate whether you snore with your mouth open or with your mouth closed.  If you snore with your mouth wide open, your throat passage may be partially blocked. When you sleep, the muscles in your throat relax--and sometimes they relax so much that air cannot flow. You gasp for air, and this causes you to snore. A blocked throat passage can be a symptom of various health issues, from sleep apnea to a sinus infection.  Closed-mouth snoring indicates that your tongue may be getting in the way of your windpipe, particularly if you are sleeping on your back. If you sleep on your back, buy yourself a few extra pillows and prop yourself up in bed, rather than lying flat on your back. This will help keep your throat unblocked.  Consider raising the head of your bed. Some mattresses and bed frames are adjustable, allowing you to raise the headrest at the click of a button. If you own an adjustable bed, use it! If you do not own an adjustable bed, you may consider raising the headboard yourself. Place a 2x4 plank or a brick underneath each of the two legs at the head of the bed. Make sure that the incline is not too steep that you slide out of bed, and make sure that the bed is stable before you try to sleep in it. When you sleep on your back, your tongue may rest against your throat, blocking your windpipe  and causing you to snore. Experiment with side- and stomach-sleeping positions, and find what works for you. If you are comfortable, you will be less likely to roll back onto your back in your sleep. When you try to roll onto your back in your sleep, the tennis ball will wake you. Gradually, you may be able to train yourself not to sleep on your back. Alcohol is a muscle relaxant, and it can relax the muscles that keep your windpipe open, thus blocking your air intake. Your body overcompensates for the blockage by taking in too much air, which causes snoring. Moreover, alcohol leads to less restful, more disturbed sleep. Marijuana, like alcohol, can relax your throat muscles and induce snoring. It also resembles alcohol in that pre-sleep use can prevent sleepers from dipping into restorative REM sleep, leaving them groggy and restless when the morning comes. If you consume cannabis by smoking it, the smoke may also play a factor in your snoring problem. Regular smoking can irritate the skin in your nose and throat, which dries out your airways and makes a blockage more likely. Sedatives and sleeping pills can cause your throat muscles to relax in the same way as alcohol and cannabis, blocking your windpipe and inducing your body to snore. This, too, can relax your muscles to the point of snoring. Extra weight may add excess tissue to your neck. This tissue may constrict your windpipe, leading to the vibrations that we know as snoring. Losing weight can grant you many additional health benefits beyond the realm of snoring! Regular smoking can irritate the skin in your nose and your throat, which may obstruct your breathing. If you are a heavy smoker with a chronic snoring problem, consider quitting or moderating your habit. Smoking can cause obstructions in your windpipe, swelling of the mucous membrane in the nose, swelling of the tissue in the throat, and blockage of the small vessels in the lungs. . We snore when loose throat tissue relaxes and blocks our airway. A regular singing practice may strengthen the throat muscles and firm the tissue of your throat and mouth, making your throat less likely to close up at night.  This may work particularly well for aging snorers whose throat muscles have weakened with time. If you're not into singing, consider trying a few tongue and throat stretches. Stick your tongue out as far as you can, then relax. Repeat 10 times. Stick your tongue out again, and try to touch your chin. Hold. Repeat, but try to touch your nose instead. Repeat 10 times.

SUMMARY: Understand why you snore. Prop your head up. Try to fall sleep on your side or your stomach. Sew a tennis ball to the back of a t-shirt and sleep in that shirt. Avoid drinking alcohol before bed. Avoid consuming cannabis before bed. Avoid using prescription sleep aids. Avoid eating heavy meals before bed. Consider losing weight. Avoid smoking. Sing

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Washing your pet will kill the fleas that may be living on it. Prepare your pet for the bath by applying the flea soap near the pet’s ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and butt. When fleas feel water, they immediately look for safe places on the pet to hide out, such as around the neck, on the head, and near the anus. Do this before you get the pet wet. There may be a host of other fleas in various stages of their life cycle waiting to hop onto your pet, so be sure to use this method with other preventative measures, such as vacuuming, borate mixes, and cedar chips. and let the solution stand for at least 10 minutes. After you've applied the soap to the pet’s vulnerable areas, get the pet wet and lather its whole body up. Once the 10 minutes have passed, wash all of the soap out of the pet’s fur with warm water. Then, once the pet is dry, comb out the dead fleas. Take a shower immediately after washing your pet because some flea shampoos can cause irritation when left on human skin for prolonged periods of time. Flea products, such as Advantage or Frontline, are spot-treatments that are applied to pets monthly. Usually, these spot-treatments are dropped directly onto the skin of your pet, usually between the shoulder blades and at several spots down the spine. The treatment will then work its way through the skin (integumentary system). You can purchase pet-friendly flea products at your local pet store. You can use flea products in conjunction with a fine-toothed flea comb. Use a flea comb to pull off individual fleas from the pet's fur. This will prevent flea adaption to the treatments. You may find that some of the standard flea treatments are ineffective because the local flea population has adapted to a particular treatment (including the chemicals in flea collars). In this case, switch among other treatments and use an insect growth regulator (IGR) such as Nylar. For example, if a flea collar isn’t working, try scrubbing your pet with flea powder.  Your veterinarian will sell oral tablets that you can give your pet. These tablets attack the flea’s nervous system via the bloodstream and tissue of your dog or cat. While they kill all the fleas feeding on your pet, they do not prevent fleas. The use of an IGR will not allow propagation of succeeding generations and will prevent, in large measure, fleas adapting to the treatments. Flea tablets are given orally and take effect within several hours. Flea tablets kill off all of the fleas on an animal within about 60 minutes. However, the tablets are not preventative and will not make your pet immune to becoming infested with fleas a second time. Once the tablet has killed off the fleas, wash the animal to rid it of the dying fleas if you see the animal scratching. Some cats may become hyperactive, vocalize more, or show panting when given flea tablets. If this happens, try cutting the recommended dose, but you may have to discontinue use of tablets with sensitive cats. Since fleas feed on the blood of animals, you can treat fleas by manipulating what your pet eats. For example, mix vinegar into dogs' water. Mix a tablespoon of apple-cider vinegar into the dog's water bowl, or bathe the animal using water and vinegar. Don't try this with cats, as their pH is much more sensitive than dogs'.

SUMMARY:
Wash your pet every day with flea soap and water. Work in the soap Use a flea product on your cat or dog. Rotate types of treatments if the first is ineffective. Administer a flea tablet orally to rid your pet of a flea infestation quickly. Add deterrents to the pet's meal.