Q.Why do some people snore during sleep?

Snoring is caused by vibration of the relaxed soft tissues of the throat (soft palate, uvula, tongue) as air is forced through a narrowed airway during sleep.

During sleep, the muscles that normally hold the airway open — including those of the soft palate, the uvula (the small fleshy piece hanging at the back of the throat), the tongue and the walls of the throat — relax more than they do while awake. In some people, this relaxation narrows the airway passage more than usual.

As the person continues to breathe in and out through this narrowed passage, the moving air causes the loose, relaxed soft tissues around the narrowing (mainly the soft palate and uvula) to vibrate rapidly against each other, and this vibration produces the characteristic rattling or rasping sound of snoring. The narrower the airway or the more relaxed the tissue, the louder the snoring tends to be.

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