What Causes Snoring in Females?

You may be hearing more horror stories about men snoring, but women snore too, with some of them snoring even louder than the men in their household.

What causes snoring in females? Weight gain, pregnancy and exhaustion are among the most common reasons why women snore. Menopause also increases the likelihood of snoring in women.

As you read further, you’ll have a better understanding of the causes of snoring among women. You’ll also find out why more men snore compared to women, and discover what the potential risks are.

Top Causes of Snoring Among Women

You may know more men who snore, but that doesn’t mean women don’t snore at all. In fact, some women snore just as often and just as loud as men.

Here are some of the most common reasons why women may end up snoring.

Weight gain

Weight gain is one of the most common reasons why women who didn’t snore before may start snoring now.

When somebody gains weight, some of the excess fat settle around the neck and throat area. This means that the airways get narrower as the fat buildup gets worse. The air will then have a hard time passing through, making the entire area vibrate as the air forces its ways through the narrow airway. This vibration is what causes the snoring sound.

Weight gain is common among women who have hormonal problems. Our hormones control our blood sugar, insulin balance, and metabolism, factors that can dictate one’s weight.

Pregnancy

Snoring is also prevalent among pregnant women, and it’s not just because of the additional weight in the body.

When women get pregnant, their blood vessels also start to expand. Their veins become dilated to allow more blood to pass. The uterus also adds pressure to the inferior vena cava as the baby gets bigger, causing all other connecting arteries to start expanding as well.

Among the blood vessels affected are the ones found inside the nasal cavity. This causes the nasal passage to be smaller, making it harder to breathe and prompting pregnant women to snore as the air forces its way through.

Exhaustion

When you are overly tired, your muscles tend to sag and over-relax come sleeping time.

So when you lie down, these sagging muscles (as well as the soft tissues around them) in your throat and tongue collapse against your airways. This makes your airways narrower, so a scenario similar to when you have excess fats around your throat and neck occurs. The air forces its way through, causing the throat to vibrate, creating the snoring sound.

Menopause

When menopause hits you, your chances of snoring are higher because of two things — age and hormones.

Aging will cause you to lose some of your muscle tone, throat and tongue muscles included. This means that the throat area will vibrate even more as you breathe in and out, making your snoring even louder.

Menopause also means that there will be a huge change in the way your hormones work. This is, after all, the same reason why menopause can bring in a huge change in demeanor and mood. And when there’s any form of hormone imbalance, there’s also a bigger chance of weight gain.

The changes brought about by menopause may also affect your sleeping patterns. This means that you may feel overly exhausted most of the time, which is another trigger for snoring.

Sleep apnea

A lot of women who snore also have a condition called sleep apnea. Snoring is sleep apnea’s primary symptom, but not everyone who snores automatically has sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder where your breathing stops and starts repeatedly the entire time you’re sleeping. This condition comes in two forms — obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. In some cases, a single person can have a mix of the two.

Obstructive sleep apnea happens when there is an obstruction in the airways. This could be in the form of excess fats or over-relaxed muscles and tissue, or it could also simply be because of anatomy, where a person’s airways are just built narrower than others.

Central sleep apnea, on the other hand, is caused by an underdeveloped or damaged brain stem. This causes miscommunication between the brain and the parts of the body in charge of breathing.

Why Men Snore More Than Women

Studies find that 4 out of 10 men snore, while 3 out of 10 women are snorers. Here are a few reasons why men snore more than women.

Anatomy

Men, by nature, have narrower air channels compared to women. And the narrower your airways are, the louder your snoring will also be.

Their narrower airway is already a good explanation for their snoring. So just imagine how much more if they have any form of inflammation, or have coughs and cold? The narrow airways plus the additional obstruction will cause them to snore even louder.

Alcohol consumption

Sure, a lot of women drink. But statistics still say that men consume more alcohol compared to women.

What does alcohol have to do with snoring?

Alcohol makes your muscles relax, similar to what happens when you are overly exhausted. This means that your throat and tongue muscles will collapse against your airways when you fall asleep.

This is why drinking alcohol is not recommended 4 hours or less before going to bed.

Smoking

Smoking also causes snoring, and statistics also show that more men smoke compared to women.

When you smoke, the membranes inside your throat and nose get irritated, causing inflammation. And when these become inflamed, they make your airways narrower.

The Risks of Snoring in Women

Now, some of you may think that snoring is okay, especially if you don’t have a roommate who’ll complain about it. Some of you may have a partner, but may argue that he isn’t complaining anyway.

But snoring is more than just an annoying sleeping habit. It has a number of health concerns, some serious enough to shorten your life expectancy.

Here are just some of the risks that come with snoring.

Heart disease

Because snoring can cause you to have irregular breathing, your blood oxygen levels may also drop much lower than what is required. This causes your brain to send an alert to your whole body to wake up, making your heart work double time.

This causes a lot of stress to the heart. The stress it gives to your blood vessels can also worsen the situation. Eventually, you’ll be more likely to have high blood pressure or heart disease, or have a heart attack.

Stroke

Snoring could lead to a stroke, especially if it is caused by sleep apnea.

As earlier discussed, the irregular breathing means that your blood oxygen levels can go dangerously low. This means that not enough oxygen is reaching the brain.

When this happens frequently, the risks of having a stroke becomes higher.

Risky pregnancy

Snorers are at high risk of getting high blood pressure. And for pregnant women, that could be a huge problem.

High blood pressure during pregnancy is called gestational hypertension. The risks here include:

Lack of blood flow into the placenta, which means the baby receives less blood and nutrients
Heavy bleeding before childbirth
Premature delivery
Damage to the other organs
Higher risk of heart disease after birth

In worst-case scenarios, you may also end up losing your baby altogether.

This is why it is important to check with your doctor the moment you realize that you’ve started snoring, or that your snoring has become worse.