NEW YORK (CNN) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a treatment that uses radio waves to shrink tissue in air passages and eliminate snoring. The treatment, called somnoplasty, was created by Somnus Medical Technologies of Sunnyvale, California, which is expected to announced Tuesday that the technology has been approved. The treatment involves piercing the tongue, throat or soft palate with a needle connected to a radio frequency generator. The inner tissue is then heated to 158 to 176 degrees, in a procedure that takes approximately half an hour. The inner tissues shrink, but the outer tissues, which may contain such apnea of prematurity causes of central sleep apnea things as taste buds, are left intact. Forty million Americans -- more than one in seven people -- suffer from habitual snoring, according to a report by the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research issued in 1994. Another seven million to 18 million Americans suffer from a related problem, sleep apnea, but the somnoplasty was not approved for those problems. Snoring occurs when throat muscles relax during sleep. The sleeper tries to breathe through an opening in the back of the throat that is too small, causing the soft palate to vibrate and create the sound that is the bane of non-snorers everywhere. Doctors wary snore aids causes of central sleep apnea of surgical remedies Before resorting to surgical solutions such as somnoplasty, however, physicians say there are a number of lifestyle changes that should be tried first. They include losing weight, exercising, stopping smoking, sleeping on one's side and refraining from alcohol at night. Even special snoring pillows and the nose strips popular among athletes and available over drug store may help. Also, dentists can make devices that hold the tongue in place and keep the passage clear. For those suffering from sleep apnea, there are dental devices that hold the tongue and jaw forward to keep the passage in the back of the neck snoring pillow causes of central sleep apnea open. For the most
