Smoking Causes Snoring

With all the many habits that a person can have one of the most damaging is cigarette smoking.

Dangerous Effects Of Smoking

Smoking results in lung cancer, the fact it yellows your fingers and teeth, the smell it leaves in your hair and on your clothes, it is also a major contributing factor in snoring.

So, why do people continue to smoke with all these health and lifestyle disadvantages? Maybe it’s no different than eating chocolate or dinking coffee, it just has many more potential side effects.

You are at a high possibility of snoring, if you are a smoker. Smoking affects the airways and sinuses causing swelling in the membranes of the nose and the tissues of the throat. Smoking also damages the small vessels of the lungs by blocking them. The nicotine itself also can cause sleep disruptions that can increase the nightly snoring.

Researchers in Europe studied smokers and snoring within a large group of people from twenty five to fifty four years old. They used a study group of fifteen thousand people from five different countries to see what, if any, association there is between people who have the habit of snoring and people who smoke.

How Is Noise Produced

The results were quite revealing though not in the least surprising. To understand what they were trying to prove one must first understand better the causes of snoring. The air flows along the passageway between the nose and the mouth.

Then it vibrates off of the uvula and the rear part of the soft palate. That’s how the noise of a snore is made. Those who snore at least three times a week in a deafening manner are called habitual snorers.

Of the study group twenty four percent of the smokers and twenty percent of past smokers snored compared to fourteen percent of non-smokers who did not. Interestingly the more a person smoked the louder they snored.

Second Hand Smokers

Second hand smoke also posed a problem. Twenty percent of people who lived with a smoker also snored. The study also noted that even though more men smoked cigarettes, it is the female smokers who are at higher probability to snoring.

How Does Actually Smoking Causes Snoring

Smoking irritates the airway. But, other experts believe that the body’s nightly nicotine withdrawal causes disturbances in the person’s sleep patterns, and blockages in the upper airway.

Alcohol And Smoking

Additionally, people who smoke tend to be more likely to drink alcohol. Alcohol is one of the main causes of snoring and so the two in combination are definitely going to cause you to snore.

Knowing that smoking is so bad for your health and now realizing that it also increases the chances you’ll snore, and potentially have other sleep disturbances, isn’t it worth reconsidering smoking?

You will have quiet uninterrupted night of peaceful sleep after quitting smoking. Which can make your days better, improve your relationship and maybe even add years to your life, all while stopping your snoring.