Do women snore, too? And more than men? The reason is revealed!

Audit expert: Wu Xi

Associate Chief Physician, Department of Endocrinology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Doctor of Medicine

In recent years, people's pace of life has accelerated and work pressure has increased, resulting in a decline in sleep quality. In addition to the common problems of poor sleep and insomnia, there is another problem that has also attracted much attention, that is, "snoring."

Source: Weibo screenshot/CCTV Technology

When it comes to snoring, many people may think of the image of a "man snoring loudly in his sleep", but in fact, both men and women may snore, and women are actually more likely to snore!

Why are middle-aged women more likely to snore?

Middle-aged women are more likely to snore, which is mainly related to the weakening of the protective effect of estrogen in women during menopause.

Estrogen and progesterone in women's bodies can help the body maintain smooth and stable breathing and avoid airway blockage. However, after menopause, the hormones in women's bodies will drop significantly, and the protective effect on breathing will also decrease significantly.

Source: pixabay

Scholars from the University of Bergen in Norway conducted a study that analyzed the sleep data of 774 women aged 40-67 from seven countries. Nearly half of them snored to varying degrees, 14% had irregular breathing, and 13% were prone to gasping during sleep.

The researchers gave the subjects targeted hormone therapy and found that if the women's estrone (a type of estrogen) was doubled, they were 19% less likely to snore and 20% less likely to have irregular breathing; if their progesterone was doubled, they were 9% less likely to snore and 12% less likely to wake up with a choking feeling.

Therefore, from a physiological point of view, when women reach a certain age, they are prone to snoring due to the influence of body hormones, and hormone therapy can suppress the probability of snoring.

So, looking at all age groups, are women more likely to snore than men?

Do men or women snore more?

According to the "2022 China National Healthy Sleep White Paper", a study on sleep problems involving 9,082 samples of people of different age groups found that snoring accounted for 29.5% of men, exceeding that of women.

Source: "2022 China National Healthy Sleep White Paper"

Men are more likely to snore, mainly due to the following factors:

First of all, it is the structure of the throat . The larynx of men is relatively low and the space in the throat is larger. When sleeping, the tongue of men tends to fall back and shrink to the larynx, which will block the airway and cause snoring.

Source: pixabay

The second factor is sex hormones. As mentioned earlier, female estrogen stabilizes breathing, but male sex hormone testosterone has the opposite effect. It affects the respiratory tract, making breathing unstable and causing snoring.

In addition, whether men or women, if they are obese, they are prone to snoring. Studies have shown that obese people have more neck fat, which squeezes the respiratory tract, hinders airflow, and causes snoring.

The higher the BMI, the greater the probability of snoring

Image source: "Relationship between male snoring and hypertension", Ma Jinxiang et al.

Snoring is actually a disease. How to relieve snoring?

Snoring during sleep is a very common thing. Good snoring is characterized by quiet snoring, a certain rhythm and short duration. However, if the snoring is very loud, the snoring suddenly stops for a while and then starts again after a while, this may be sleep apnea syndrome.

There are several types of sleep apnea, including obstructive (caused by upper airway obstruction, which causes the uvula to vibrate), central (caused by a central nervous system malfunction), and mixed (central nervous system malfunction followed by obstruction). Of these, obstructive sleep apnea is the most common.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Sleep apnea syndrome is very harmful to human health. Respiratory apnea during sleep can cause intermittent hypoxia in the body, resulting in hypoxemia and hypercapnia. In severe cases, it can also cause a series of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, such as hypertension, cerebral thrombosis, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, cor pulmonale, etc.

Long-term snoring greatly affects the quality of sleep. If you feel uncomfortable holding your breath or are woken up by snoring when sleeping, it is recommended that you go to the hospital for respiratory sleep testing (i.e. all-night polysomnography).

At present, the treatment of sleep apnea syndrome uses non-invasive assisted ventilation in the early stage. If the patient has obvious tonsil hypertrophy, surgery is required. Because there is no effective drug for treating snoring, patients should also develop good living habits in their daily lives, such as controlling diet to avoid obesity, quitting smoking and drinking, and avoiding excessive fatigue, to cooperate with the treatment.

For menopausal women, if severe sleep apnea is caused by a decrease in estrogen, they can consider consulting a doctor for estrogen replacement therapy. In daily life, they can eat more soybeans, which contain isoflavones, which can simulate estrogen and have a protective effect on the respiratory tract.

Source: pixabay

In general, loud snoring is not a good thing , and it has a significant impact on the quality of life. If you or someone around you snores, it is recommended that you go to the ENT department of the hospital for examination and treatment as soon as possible.

Life is not easy, snoring is deadly. A good sleep will give you more energy to greet the new day.