Why Don't Snorers Wake Themselves Up?

Loud snorers can wake themselves up with their own log-sawing sounds, but only for a few seconds. That's why they may not be able to recall the sleep disturbance³ when they wake up the following morning, according to "Sleep: The Mysteries, The Problems, and The Solutions" (Penguin, 2007).

Snoring is caused by breathing in air through a partially⁴ blocked airway⁵, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). When that happens, air vibrates as it flows past the tissues in the back of the throat, which produces the snoring sound.

The AASM estimates that approximately 24 percent of women and 40 percent of men are habitual⁶ snorers. Snoring is more common in those that are overweight because they tend to have more fat tissue in the back of the throat, which increases vibration⁷.

Loud snoring may also be a sign of an underlying⁸ problem such as sleep apnea, which is a chronic⁹ form of snoring that is characterized by the blockage¹⁰ of the air passage at the back of the mouth during sleep. Sleep apnea can cause a person to stop breathing for about 10 to 30 seconds, although some stop breathing for up to two minutes before their brain sets off the "arousal trigger" and wakes the person up, according to the book "Sleep."

Blocked air passages can cause those with sleep apnea to stop breathing and wake up hundreds of times throughout the course of a night, and they are usually unable to recall doing so the next morning. Besides preventing a person from feeling well-rested, the poor sleep quality caused by loud, chronic snoring can lead to cardiovascular problems, an increased chance of having metabolic¹¹ syndrome¹² and accidents associated with sleep deprivation¹³.

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