They may find themselves unpopular among housemates, even in their own families. Many heavy snorers become the butt of unkind jokes. Snoring severe enough to cause sleeplessness can lead to daytime drowsiness. Few people, whether they snore themselves or simply live with a person who snores, recognize that snoring may have serious medical consequences as well. Just over half the studies looking for such a connection have found one.
Some researchers see snoring as a condition similar to high blood pressure.
Recent results, including those from two new, large studies of snoring among women, have helped clarify the problem, Clark says. Researchers, however, still need to sort out the effects of different types of snoring as they work to determine whether snoring is a cause or consequence of serious illnesses. Snoring is an indication that air isn't flowing freely through the area back where the throat joins the nasal passages. There, the tongue and upper throat meet the soft palate and uvula, the fleshy structure that dangles from the back of the palate into the throat. People with narrowed or partially blocked airways must pull in air quickly, creating turbulence that makes the structures vibrate.