Around 40% of adult men and 24% of adult women snore regularly. Be it light snuffles or loud snores, everyone has snored sometime in their life but chronic snoring can be a cause of concern.
Besides affecting your sleep quality, snoring has detrimental effects on your mood, energy, and focus the following day, which is why understanding what causes snoring is the key to eventually treating it.
What Causes Snoring?
During normal breathing, air flows through your nose, mouth, and throat, but when the nose pathway is partially blocked due to a multitude of reasons, air flows through the mouth. This causes the surrounding soft tissues in the palate, tonsils, and wall of the throat to vibrate, which creates the rumbling sound that means snoring.
There are many ways in which the airway can be constricted and why people snore, of which some are harmless but others a sign of alarm. These reasons include the following.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
Like snoring, OSA is another common disorder that enhances the loudness and frequency of snoring which is broken by moments of no breathing and then snorting. Also caused by a blockage of the airway, OSA is a breathing problem where your air supply is regularly cut off for brief periods, affecting the blood oxygen level.
If you snore, you should look into the possibility of you having OSA because seeking prompt treatment in the form of lifestyle changes or dental devices for it is a must. Leaving it as it makes you vulnerable to cardiovascular, mental health, and other problems.
Muscle Relaxants
Consuming alcohol or sedative medications like Lorazepam (Ativan) and Diazepam (Valium) before bed is another reason why people snore because these relax the muscles in the jaw and throat that hold the airway in place. The lack of support constricts the airway, making snoring more likely and louder. They even relax the epiglottis which normally blocks the windpipe.
Head & Neck Anatomy
The way your head and neck were structured at birth has a significant impact on your likelihood of snoring. For example, men have narrower airways than women, and some children have large tonsils or adenoids. These characteristics put these demographics at higher risk.
Largely determined by family history, people are sometimes born with a deviated septum (the wall between nostrils), tumorous growths in the nasal region called polyps, a small jaw, a long uvula (tissue hanging in the back of the mouth), a long soft palate (back of the roof of the mouth), or an enlarged tongue.
All these physical attributes narrow the pathway from the throat and are excellent reasons why people snore.
In these cases, lifestyle changes are not enough to stop snoring, and seeking dental interventions or surgeries may be important.
Weight
A high amount of fat in the body is another factor that causes snoring. Overweight people have excessive fatty tissue in the neck and coupling this with poor muscle tone in the throat and tongue muscles results in a thinner airway which is more prone to collapse.
If this is the reason why you snore, it is the easiest one to manage. With proper nutrition and an improved exercise regimen, losing at least six pounds can greatly reduce the snoring frequency.
Current Health
Current health includes multiple factors like allergies, pregnancy, and the amount of sleep you are getting. Pregnant women snore higher because the hormonal changes induce weight gain and cause inflammation in the nose, whereas throat muscles relax too much in people who are not getting enough sleep.
Having a chronically stuffy nose is another reason why people snore. Be it due to a common cold, a sinus infection, a dry environment, or seasonal allergies, nasal congestion obstructs the air pathway and results in vibrations that mean snoring. This is the number one reason why people snore and is also the most easily treatable one with allergy medications.
Sleep Position
Snoring is more frequent when you lay on your back because the weight of your neck presses on your airway due to gravity. This makes it narrower, hindering the airflow and the position of the tongue provides an additional barrier. Sleeping with the head raised a few inches above the body or on your side (lateral position) are better, snore-free positions.
If this is why you snore, learning how to sleep in these positions and investing in positional alarms, modified nightshirts, or lateral sleep pillows are great solutions to the problem.
Age
As you become older, the tone in all your muscles reduces. This includes tongue muscles and those surrounding the airway which when weaker, begin to narrow the throat and the windpipe within. This presents a barrier to airflow and is another factor that causes snoring.
Other Reasons
As they vary from person to person, other common reasons why people snore include:
- Hypothyroidism: Low levels of thyroid hormone in the body cause snoring
- Smoking: Upper airway inflammation constricts the airway
- Genetics
How Can I Find Out Why I Snore?
Snoring is normal unless it is an indicator of obstructive sleep apnea. Most people find out they snore when the person they share a bed with informs them about it but if you sleep alone, you should be on the lookout for signs like:
- Dry and sore throat
- Daytime drowsiness and inability to fatigue
- Daytime fatigue
- Headaches
- Irritability
- Increased tossing and turning at night
If any of these symptoms sound like you, you should consult a primary care physician who will conduct a physical exam and ask you questions about your medical history, sleep habits, diet, and lifestyle. Either way, snoring is not dangerous and there are very simple measures you can take to resolve the issue and get your soundless sleep back.
