\n<\/p>\n
I<\/span>t sounds like the sort of sexist stereotype dainty ladies were once told at finishing school, so it\u2019s perhaps surprising that women really do \u2013 on the whole \u2013 snore less than men. Ryan Chin Taw Cheong, an ear, nose and throat consultant and sleep surgeon at University College London hospitals, says men are almost twice as likely as women to snore. \u201cBut that gap narrows at two particular points in\u00a0women\u2019s lives,\u201d he says. \u201cOne is after menopause, typically between 45\u00a0and\u00a055. The second is pregnancy, especially in the third trimester.\u201d<\/p>\n Snoring happens when airflow is partly blocked through the upper airway, causing vibration in the back of the nose, the soft palate, the throat, tongue or epiglottis (the \u201clid\u201d over your windpipe). This happens because the muscles of the airway relax while we\u2019re sleeping and are dragged down by gravity when we lie in bed. Other factors can make us more likely to snore. Alcohol relaxes the muscles further. Extra body weight puts pressure on the throat. Allergies, nasal polyps, a deviated septum or simply a\u00a0heavy cold can all block the airway.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Inside Saturday<\/span><\/p>\n The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend.<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n A change in snoring patterns should not be ignored \u2013 it could be a symptom of a medical issue<\/p>\n Female hormones, such as oestrogen and progesterone, appear to keep the airway muscles more toned, says Cheong. \u201cThat\u2019s why women tend to catch up with men when levels change during menopause and pregnancy.\u201d Added weight during pregnancy compounds the problem.<\/p>\n Interestingly, he says, when women do snore, they\u2019re less likely to report it, \u201cbecause it\u2019s more stigmatised\u201d.<\/p>\n Cheong says a change in snoring patterns should not be ignored, as it could be a symptom of a medical issue. \u201cIt can be an indicator of sleep apnoea \u2013 a serious condition where breathing repeatedly stops during the night.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of your gender, Cheong says that if your snoring is loud enough that it regularly disrupts your partner\u2019s sleep, it\u2019s worth going to the doctor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It sounds like the sort of sexist stereotype dainty ladies were once told at finishing school, so it\u2019s perhaps surprising that women really do \u2013 on the whole \u2013 snore less than men. Ryan Chin Taw Cheong, an ear, nose and throat consultant and sleep surgeon at University College London hospitals, says men are almost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1329,4025,14929,1933,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-24614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-men","9":"tag-sleep","10":"tag-snore","11":"tag-true","12":"tag-women"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}