Snoring and its Causes

Snoring does not have a single cause, in fact there are many simple and complex factors that join into the overall source of the issue. In medical terms, snoring is defined as the noise produced by vibrations in the respiratory tract's airways as a person is sleeping. Why do we only experience snoring in our sleep?

We breathe all the time, but hardly ever snore while awake. This is because only relaxed muscles can cause snoring. Every voluntary muscle relaxes during sleep, but the throat makes vibrating sounds because its tissues are soft. After the tissue has been eased out, the passage of air will grown narrower; this causes loud noise because it allows more room for friction and for vibration. These same factors are also pointed to as the reasons why there are differences in the loudness, pitch and tone of snores.

The volume of a snore is determined by the force of the breath flowing through the air passages when the velocity of the breath is quick, the snore generally is noisier. That explains why infants might snore as well. The respiratory tract can create a mild noise which is not typically considered snoring. This must never be ignored though since it may be the early sign that something is jammed in your child's windpipe.

While it may appear to both genders at any age, men are more often affected by this condition than women and middle-aged men are most likely to be the victims. It is believed men snore more than women because of the way that we are made. Men tend to have thicker and necks that are considered more fleshy than a women's neck. Snoring can be caused by this, in combination with the speed of air. Women, on the other hand, naturally produce progesterone hormones, which are known to inhibit snoring; they are thus less likely to produce irritating sounds. Because this actual hormone helps in relieving a person from this nighttime dilemma, some anti-snoring devices are known to use progesterone as their basic ingredient.

Lifestyle and health factors are also thought to have a major contributing effect and that is why when a person is suffering from a Cold or Flu, may experience this condition but be relatively free from it at other times. Obesity in both men and women, particularly those with large waistlines, is another likely cause that shouldn't be overlooked. There are products that are meant to help people, such as nasal sprays that can cause people to snore. These products or allergies can relax the muscles that block the airways and cause a person to snore. Many occurrences can be explained by smoking and heavy drinking. These are only a few of the possible causes and if you do not fall into these categories the chances are there will be another readily available explanation.