What is "snoring"?

What is "snoring"?

Jason Hamilton (Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon) gives expert video advice on: Is snoring dangerous?; What over-the-counter treatments are available to minimize or eliminate snoring?; What medical treatments are available to minimize or eliminate my snoring? and more...

Snoring is a loud noise that emanates from the nose or the throat and it's caused by vibrations that pass through the throat, the base of the tongue and through the nose. It's usually caused by either redundant or lax tissue in the throat area that becomes more relaxed when you sleep. Or it could be caused by a mechanical obstruction in the nose or throat itself. Snoring is similar to a sail in the wind that hasn't actually caught the wind yet. When the sail is vibrating and kind of making a loud, shaking noise before it actually is taut; snoring is very similar to that. When the tissues in the throat kind of relax at night when you're sleeping and air is forced through that obstruction, it makes that reverberation that makes the loud, snoring noise. When you're aroused, the muscles tighten and then the sail effectively has caught the wind and the snoring goes away.