Snoring

Are you tired of listening to complaints about your loud snoring? Well, it’s high time to get diagnosed and treated appropriately. Do you know how snoring is caused and what discrepancies it can create? Let’s know about that further- Snoring is an annoying sound that occurs when air flows through your throat causing vibration as soon as you breathe. In some cases, snoring can emerge as an underlying condition to many other disorders such as Sleep Apnea etc.
Even if you’re not bothered by snoring too much, it’s not a condition to be left united. However, it can be an indicative symptom of some other disease such as- Obesity, Anatomic issues with your mouth, nose.

Why do we snore?

In simple terms, we snore when our body is not able to move air freely through the nose and throat - while we are asleep. In terms of anatomy, snoring is a result of a partially closed upper airway or the upper respiratory tract – that includes the nose and throat. Excessive relaxation of the neck muscles is the leading reason for snoring. This is because the upper airway partly closes and becomes too narrow, and it causes very little air to pass through to the lungs.
Now, let’s explore the leading causes of snoring:
Body weight: Being overweight is one of the foremost causes of snoring. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is on the higher side, you are more prone to snoring. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise, consuming a healthy diet, and sleeping and waking early will largely help to regulate your body weight, and eventually lead to less or no snoring.
Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs: Smoking and consuming alcohol disturb the muscles of the throat and upper airway, thereby causing breathing problems, and ultimately snoring. Some drugs and medications also cause snoring, as they cause excessive muscle relaxation.
Built: Body structure and physical attributes of individuals are significant causes for snoring. This means men are more likely to snore than women, as they have narrower air passages. Genetic disorders that give way to a narrow throat, cleft palate, and enlarged adenoids, also cause snoring among many people.
Age: Once your body starts to age, the throat becomes narrower. This causes the muscle tone in the throat to lessen, and this leads to snoring. Growing old is inevitable, but snoring can be controlled with lifestyle changes, setting proper bedtime routines, and throat exercises.
Blocked nose or nasal cavity: Changes in climate and pollution are often the prime reason for a blocked nose or congestion, due to cold or allergy. This, in turn, makes breathing a cumbersome job, which creates a vacuum in the throat, thus giving way to snoring.

Impact of snoring

Snoring disrupts your sleep in more ways than one, and disturbs your bed partner, or people sleeping nearby. However, it poses some serious health risks too, as is elucidated below:
Drop in Blood Oxygen Levels – The most immediate result of snoring is a drop in blood oxygen levels. A normal blood oxygen level should be in the range of 94%-98%. Not breathing normally due to snoring for 30 seconds or more, results in the blood oxygen level to drop to 80% or lesser. Any level below 90% is dangerous to the body and require your instant attention.
Day-time Sleepiness – Since snoring leads to improper breathing and fragmented sleep, the most noticeable outcome is day-time sleepiness. Thus, this give way to irritable behavior, automobile accidents, and even depression in some cases.
Headaches- Waking up with a headache is one of the most common effects of snoring. Researchers have found a link between snoring and other sleep disorders with morning headaches. Constant headaches during the entire day can also be caused to habitual snorers. This often leads to irritation and fluctuations in mood.
Heart Diseases- Sleep disorders are connected to possible heart failures and attacks, due to cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure. Studies also state that people with sleep apnea are twice at risk to get heart diseases and heart attacks. Moreover, people also run the risk of developing irregular heart rhythm(Arrhythmia) due to snoring.
Strokes- The more you snore, the greater is the risk for you to get a stroke. This is because the intensity of snoring can narrow arteries in the neck, due to fatty deposits.
Accidents- Sleep apnea due to snoring can cause you to feel sleepy during daytime. This can often result people to fall asleep while driving or other activities that needs good amount of attention. Thus, this paves way for uncalled road accidents.
Mental Health Concerns- As talked earlier, snoring can lead to increased irritability in mood, and sometimes can even cause anxiety and mild depression.

How To Stop Snoring - Different Ways To Stop Snoring

Treatment options for your snoring depend on a number of factors, but the two key ones are these:
Do you snore through your nose or through your throat?
Do you snore and have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)?
At Resmed, we have solutions for throat snorers, as well as for throat snorers with sleep apnea. This includes both mild to moderate OSA as well as more severe cases of OSA.
Throat snorers who don’t have sleep apnea
You fall into this category if you’ve tested for sleep apnea and obtained an apnea-hypopnoea index (AHI) score of less than 5. If you don’t know what your AHI is, we strongly recommend you get screened. Otherwise, you risk adopting a solution to the wrong problem.
At ResMed, we believe one of the most efficient treatment options for throat snoring is a custom made device1,2 that simply fits in your mouth and helps keep your lower jaw forward while you sleep – this in turn helps keep the back of your throat open.
These devices go by many names but we call ours a mandibular repositioning device (MRD) and its named Narval CC™*.
Are you a nose snorer? Then MRDs are probably not for you. You’ll need to investigate options that include sprays, nose strips, chin straps and more. Visit your country’s sleep association for recommendations.
Throat snorers with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea
If your AHI levels fall between 5 and 30, ResMed offers both the Narval MRD as well as full range of positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy options. MRDs are a first intention therapy option and a clinically-proven alternative to PAP therapy for snorers with mild to moderate OSA.3,4,5
Users tend to prefer oral appliances over CPAP, so they tend to wear them for longer periods.6This higher ease of adoption means that they are equally as effective as CPAP.7
Throat snorers with severe OSA


If your AHI levels are over 30, your sleep physician will recommend PAP therapy as a first choice. There are different types of PAP therapy, including APAP, CPAP, and bi-level therapy. ResMed has a full range of masks, devices and accessories to make your PAP therapy as comfortable and non-intrusive as possible.
If you’ve demonstrated that you do not support PAP therapy, your sleep physician can prescribe an MRD.  In fact, in the largest multilevel study of its kind, users with severe OSA who regularly wore Narval CC were just as likely to reduce their AHI levels by 50% as wearers with mild to moderate OSA.1
Other options for treating snoring include surgery and radiofrequency treatment.

Snoring myths

Snoring is a genuine health concern that plays mischief with yours and other’s sleep. However, our socio-economic condition is such that the concept of snoring is clouded with a lot of myths, which leads people to often assume snoring is not a big issue.

Some of the myths around snoring are:

It is normal to snore- People often underplay snoring by terming it normal. The long and short of this myth is - it is not normal. Snoring indicates your struggle to breath normally while sleeping.
Only old/overweight people snore- While obesity and ageing are major reasons for snoring, it doesn’t mean that young and lean people are not prone to snoring.
Snoring doesn’t call for treatment- Snoring can pose serious health concerns in the long-term. Therefore, it surely warrants treatment, as it disrupts normal sleeping patterns and deep sleep, apart from other health concerns.
Shedding kilos will cure snoring- While losing weight can help, but obesity is not the only cause for snoring. Thus, it is always good to seek some professional help. Moreover, often snoring causes excess weight, rather than the other way around.