If you or your partner snore, don’t feel alone: about 20% of people are snorers. In fact, snoring is listed as a major factor in many divorces!
So why do people snore? Snoring is the vibration of various tissues in your throat caused by a combination of several different factors that narrow your airways in your nose and throat. Age is one factor: the older you get, the more likely you are to snore. Children tend to snore less often than adults, because as you age, your flesh and throat muscles soften up and get a bit loose.
Other factors can contribute to a loosening of those muscles, including drinking, doing drugs, or smoking. Obesity can also play a role, providing additional tissue and strain on the muscles. Nasal blockage caused by allergies and sinus problems can help narrow those airways as well. The way you sleep can also be a factor: sleeping on your back can cause your throat to relax and collapse, blocking the airway. Men tend to have narrower air passages, make them more likely to snore (sorry ladies).
Snoring may be fairly common and the target of jokes, but it can cause real problems. Severe snoring can lead to sleep apnea, where you actually stop breathing while sleeping (due to blocked airways). Medical experts believe that, left untreated. sleep apnea can result in high blood pressure and other cardiovascular illnesses, as well as weight gain, headaches, and even motor vehicle crashes. And the noise made by a snorer can cause sleep deprivation for anyone trying to sleep nearby.
It’s a good idea to ask your doctor about your snoring, to rule out any health concerns. In order to keep the goodwill of others, you should be aware there are products that prevent you from snoring (to varying degrees of success) and products that mask the snoring noise (again, to varying degrees of success). You can visit informative websites like a snore masking product’s site to get more information.
