So What Is The Cause of Snoring?

Those somewhat troublesome and noisy sounds that are associated with snoring may be attributed to an obstruction to the free flow of air as it passes through passages located at the back of the mouth and nose. The cause of snoring is simply a vibration which occurs during breathing when the tongue and upper throat meet the soft palate and uvula.

The person who snores may have poor muscle tone in the tongue and throat or the muscles may be just too relaxed when sleeping as a result of taking too much alcohol or drug abuse. This may cause the tongue to fall back into the airway or the muscles of the throat may draw in from the sides causing the vibrations we all find so annoying.

Excessive Bulkiness of Throat Tissue

When children have large tonsils and adenoids it may lead them to snore and overweight persons that have too much neck tissue would also be prone to snoring and another cause of snoring would be bulky cysts or tumors, though this is a rare instance.

Also, when the long soft palate and/or uvula results in narrowing from the nose into the throat and by dangling it acts like a noise flutter valve at the time when a person is relaxed and breathing easy. A possible cause of snoring would be the long uvula that exacerbates the problem.

Any obstruction to the nasal airways such as a stuffy or blocked nose would require the patient to make added effort in pulling air through the nose and would thus result in snoring due to an exaggerated vacuum being formed in the throat that pulls together the floppy tissues of the throat and becomes yet another cause of snoring.

Many times, when a person has hay fever or it is hay fever season or a person has a cold or sinus infection he or she would be more prone to snore. Another cause of snoring would be deformities of the nose or nasal septum like a deformity of the wall separating one nostril from the other that may result in obstruction to the airflow.

In any case, the cause of snoring may also be attributed to any of the following: aging, stuffy noses, common colds, allergies, tonsillitis, sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea, alcohol consumption, sedative use, picwickian syndrome, obesity, deviated septum as well as nasal polyps.