Have you ever been told you snore? If so, you’re in good company: About half of people will snore at some point in their lives, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Common as snoring may be, it’s also important to address with a healthcare provider. This nighttime habit isn’t just a nuisance — it can also signal underlying issues which, if left unaddressed, increase your risk of certain medical conditions. 

Luckily, snoring is manageable with the right treatment. But before you begin to control your snoring, you need to find out what’s causing it. Here’s everything you need to know about snoring, according to sleep doctors. 

What causes snoring?

When you breathe in and out, you’re breathing through your upper airway, which extends from the back of your nose to your throat. Snoring occurs when air flows through an obstructed — or narrow and relaxed — airway. “Obstruction causes airway tissues to vibrate when you breathe, which makes the snoring sound,” says Dr. Stephanie Stahl, a sleep medicine physician at IU Health in Indianapolis. 

Anybody can snore, but certain factors can increase your likelihood of dealing with an obstructed airway. Being overweight, for example, may mean you have more girth in your neck, which can create pressure on your airway. Structural problems, like having a long uvula (that fleshy teardrop that hangs at the back of your throat) or a wide tongue, can obstruct the airway and result in snoring, says Dr. Rafael Pelayo, a Stanford University sleep medicine doctor

Snoring can be situational too: Anything that relaxes your muscles, like drinking alcohol or taking opioids, can increase the likelihood of snoring. You might also snore when you have a cold or allergies, because breathing with your mouth open can obstruct your airway. Ditto if your nose is broken. 

Who’s more likely to snore?

As long as their airway is narrow during sleep, anyone can snore. Men are much more likely to snore than women, Pelayo says, due to their muscle anatomy. Usually, men’s necks are thicker than women’s, which can put pressure on the upper airway and cause it to narrow. By menopause, women’s likelihood of snoring increases; one theory is that women tend to gain weight around their necks around the age of menopause. 

When is it time to see a doctor?

Even if you don’t think it’s severe or it’s not causing any other problems — you should see a medical provider if you snore. “There’s no such thing as normal snoring,” says Pelayo. “It always means something is wrong.” 

Snoring can be a sign of a more serious medical problem. Stahl says the majority of people who snore have a condition called sleep apnea, in which people nearly or fully stop breathing during sleep due to an obstructed airway. Along with snoring, sleep apnea disrupts sleep and can cause fatigue and headaches. 

Snoring can also cause medical risks, which is reason enough to get checked out. Long-term sleep deprivation associated with snoring is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, some cancers and even car accidents, Pelayo says. 

What type of doctor should you go to?

Stahl recommends visiting your primary care provider or, if your insurance allows you to see specialists without a referral from your PCP, going right to a sleep specialist. Sleep medicine physicians can be neurologists, pulmonologists, psychiatrists, otolaryngologists or even family medicine doctors who have extra training and certification in diagnosing and treating sleep disorders.

If you snore, your doctor may ask about your symptoms and recommend home treatments to try (like losing weight or avoiding alcohol). If sleep apnea is a concern, they may want to conduct a sleep study, a type of medical test that involves observing your vital signs during sleep. 

Stahl says primary care providers can order at-home sleep studies, which usually involve wearable devices that monitor your breathing and pulse during sleep. In general, these tests aren’t as accurate as overnight sleep studies at a clinic, but Stahl says they can provide an idea of what might be going on. 

If your provider is concerned about sleep apnea or another condition, they’ll refer you to a sleep specialist for further testing. In-lab sleep studies are the gold standard for diagnosing sleep disorders. “We can tell if someone’s awake, what stage of sleep they’re in and what their oxygen and carbon dioxide levels are doing,” Stahl says. All these details make it easier to pinpoint what’s going on and find the right treatment to ease your symptoms and protect your long-term health. 

What’s the best way to address snoring?

How you address snoring depends on the cause, which is why it’s so important to check in with a pro. If you snore but don’t have sleep apnea, your doctor may recommend losing weight, cutting back on alcohol or quitting smoking, which can also inflame your airway.

Addressing structural problems may also help solve your snoring. A sleep doctor might recommend an oral appliance to pull your lower jaw forward to keep your tongue tissue away from your mouth. If your snoring stems from upper airway problems, like a deviated septum or a cold, Pelayo says it might help to use over-the-counter nasal strips to keep your nasal passages open. 

If you have moderate or severe sleep apnea, some doctors recommend surgery to open the airway, but Stahl says the most effective treatment is using a device called a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. “It’s basically a fancy compressor that blows air through the nose through a mask,” she says. The air keeps the tongue and surrounding tissue away from the back of the mouth during sleep, which can help with snoring.