The Causes Of Snoring

June 28, 2011

Snoring. It sounds so negative doesn’t it? Honestly, I don’t think there will be anything positive, admirable, or beneficial about snoring. Whether you’re suffering from someone else’s snoring or you’re the one snoring, you’d have to admit that your nights would be a tad bit better if snoring was non-existent. It would be easier for you to go to sleep and you certainly wouldn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night due to the loud noise. But what are the causes of snoring?

Snoring - it's unpleasant, annoying, and might even be a symptom of a health problem.

The sound of snoring is made by the difficult movement of air through the nasal passageway. This causes the respiratory structures to vibrate, therefore causing the  unpleasant sound of snoring. To be a little anatomical, I’m talking about the uvula and upper palate — these two structures are responsible for that unpleasant sound. When you lie down on your back, and especially when your passageway muscles relax, some parts of your mouth such as your tongue and upper throat may tend to sag and cause an obstruction to the air passageway. You get the picture, right?

I’ve listed down some of the common causes of snoring, and most of what I’ve read regarding this topic on the internet and other sources will agree with me in this list.

  1. Drinking alcohol. This relaxes those muscles much more and causes snoring.
  2. Being overweight. This adds weight around the neck area, causing the throat to tighten and obstruct air.
  3. Having an allergy which clogs the air passage.
  4. Having enlarged tonsils.
  5. Sleeping on your back, like what was mentioned earlier.

There may be some other reasons out there that affect people relatively, but these are the basic causes of snoring. It’s important for you to know the reason why you snore, because snoring just might be a symptom of a deeper health problem. Moreover, knowing these reasons, you are one step closer to getting rid of snoring.