We're all familiar with the sound of snoring. While snoring is more a nuisance than a health concern, there is the possibility of snoring developing into sleep apnea, a condition where the person stops breathing during sleep. Snoring affects more than 40 per cent of men and 30 per cent of women and tends to worsen with age. Snoring occurs when the airway narrows between the back of the tongue and the soft palate.
Air passes over the soft palate as it vibrates, causing the snoring sound.
The tongue falling back over the airway causes sleep apnea, where breathing stops during sleep. As a person tries harder to breathe, the tighter the airway is blocked. This can happen a few times during sleep or 100 times an hour. As air intake is reduced, oxygen levels in the body can decrease with sleep apnea. This can be a precursor to heart attacks, strokes and other serious conditions.