Snoring is common for almost everyone.

However, as a woman, you might downplay the snoring problems because you think it’s more like a males’ issue. The reality isn’t what you think.

Study finds that around 40% of adult women and 57% of adult mean experience snoring occasionally.

Shocking? Or maybe your sleep partner has already complained about it?

Today, we’ll explain the causes of snoring among females and give you eight recommendations to help if you have the issue.

What causes snoring in general?

According to Mayo Clinic, factors such as your mouth anatomy, sinuses anatomy, allergies, a cold, your weight, and drinking alcohol can all cause snoring at night.

When you are in deep sleep at night, the muscles in your mouth, tongue, and throat relax, and this is the outcome of aforementioned factors to cause snoring.  Your airway can be blocked by the relaxed tissues in your throat. A sleep tracker can monitor and record your sleep pattern so that you can understand the snoring better.

Here are the factors that can cause snoring in female, and being aware of them can give you an idea if you need to take any actions on it:

•  Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Obstructive sleep apnea, which affects 2% to 9% of the adult population in the US, is a respiratory disorder that causes you experiencing either complete or partial collapse of the upper airway during sleep. It can lead to trouble breathing in sleep and disturb your bed partner. 

For more information, please visit obstructive sleep apnea.

• Age. The likelihood of snoring is increasing with your age. If your age is over 30, chances of snoring is around 15% to 20%, more than if you’re under 30.

• Menopause. Menopause can loosen your muscle in the throat that will cause snoring. It typically happens when your PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome) is over. By then, you can become just as likely as men to start snoring.

• Overweight. If you’re overweight, the tongue becomes too large, it presses against the back of the throat, causing the soft palate to vibrate. If the soft palate is pressed against the back of the tongue, then the vibration of the soft palate is transmitted to the tongue, causing the tongue to vibrate. This results in snoring.

• Pregnancy. Snoring during pregnancy is common because of the changes of your hormone levels, which expands the blood vessels in your nasal cavity and in turn force you breathe through your mouth, and this can cause snoring. It’s also partially because of weight gain during pregnancy.

• Fatigue. Another common cause of snoring is fatigue. When you feel exhausted, our bodies release adrenaline into our bloodstream, causing blood vessels to constrict and making breathing harder. As a result, the muscles around the throat relax, allowing them to vibrate during sleep, making the snoring even louder than usual.

• PCOS. Based on National Center for Biotechnology Information, women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may be at higher risk of having sleep apnea and snoring because of the excessive amount of male hormones they have, which are linked to snoring and sleep apnea.

What is the treatment for snoring in female?

In order to solve your snoring problems, most solutions are universal among men and women, except the case of pregnancy. So your partner snores and using some methods to cure it, you can also give them a try. Here we’ve collected eight ways to help with snoring.

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1. Choose the right pillows. There are anti-snoring pillows on the market to prevent your airways from getting blocked, because dust can get accumulated in pillows, which can make you have allergic reactions and finally lead to snoring.

Also, pick pillows that elevate your upper part of the body and align your spine to keep your air passage open. This can help with reducing snoring issues.

2.Change sleeping posture. Facing up while sleeping can make your tongue and soft palate being pushed to the back side of your throat, causing the air passage smaller. As we mentioned before, this can lead to snoring. Try to sleep on the side to prevent your tongue from blocking the airway.

3.Control weight gain. Being overweight can excess weight around your neck and squeezes the internal airway of the throat, which results in snoring at night. Therefore, simply lose weight can reduce the neck fat tissue and help reduce snoring.  

4.Drink enough water. A hydrated nose can decrease concentration of thick mucus in your mouth and throat that’s related to snoring. So, drinking enough water and keep yourself hydrated can cure snoring in some extend.  

5.Keep good sleep hygiene. Maintain your sleep hygiene can not only benefit your sleep problems but also help with snoring. For instance, do regular exercise to boost your energy to avoid fatigue; reduce caffeine intake; follow a consistent sleep routine; keep your room temperature between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.

6.Track your sleep. With the help of a sleep tracker, you’ll know sleep patterns including AHI, Apnea Hypopnea Index, blood oxygen level to better understand your sleep and the snoring problems.

Recommended by both Sleep Foundation and Healthline, the Go2Sleep (Hot Summer Sale in $99) Tracker from Sleepon gives you a variety of rich data for its price. It can offer you the best value if you want to know more about your sleep health.

7.CPAP Therapy. This could be the last option for you if nothing else works. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy (CPAP) uses mild air pressure to open your airways, which results in reducing the snoring. But some people find it inconvenient, loud and uncomfortable.

8.Inspire Sleep Treatment. As opposed to CPAP, inspire sleep treatment is a maskless alternative. It’s a small implantable device placed under the skin in the chest to monitor your breathing patterns and stimulate a nerve that controls muscles at the back of your throat, which keeps your airway open during sleep, to help you sleep peacefully and breathe normally.

Conclusion

Now we know the reasons for snoring in females so maybe you should take it seriously if you do have snoring problems. Also, from the solutions for snoring, except for pregnancy, curing snoring is more about your lifestyle: maintain your sleep hygiene, drink enough water, control weight gain, etc.

Or let’s form a habit of tracking your sleep during the night to better know about yourself.

Check out Go2Sleep to learn more.

References

What Causes Snoring in Women?

Do Women Snore? 7 Scientifically Proven Ways to Prevent Snoring

Why do women snore?

What Causes Snoring in Women? Know the Common Reasons

The social stigma of snoring among women – why it’s bad for her sleep and health

Snoring – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic

Snoring – Neurologic Disorders – Merck Manuals Professional Edition

Sleep disturbances in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: prevalence, pathophysiology, impact and management strategies – PMC