What causes snoring in men is mostly a short list that large studies repeat: male sex itself, body weight (and weight gained over time), a thick neck, a blocked nose, smoking and alcohol before bed. In 967 adults followed for 14 years, men had 3.5 times the odds of becoming habitual snorers. In women, a questionnaire sent to 6,817 Swedish women found 7.6% snored habitually, rising to 14% between ages 50 and 59, and postmenopausal women had 2.6 times the odds of having 5 or more breathing events per hour than premenopausal women. Snoring that starts suddenly usually follows weight gain, a new smoking habit, asthma, congestion, alcohol, menopause or pregnancy, but loud snoring with gasps or pauses should be checked by a doctor. Your own recordings show which nights are worse, which narrows the cause.
The question sounds simple and the answer is not mysterious: most snoring comes from soft tissue in the throat vibrating while the airway is narrower than it was in the daytime. What differs between people is what narrowed it. The reasons for snoring fall into two kinds: things that narrow the airway for good, like neck size and weight, and things that narrow it only on some nights, like a cold, alcohol or lying on your back. In men the usual suspects are well documented. In women the list overlaps, then changes at menopause and in pregnancy, and the symptoms are often read differently.
This article sorts the findings by who is asking. If your snoring started recently, the section on sudden onset is the one to read.
What causes snoring in men: the short list the big studies agree on
The most useful evidence is from people who were followed over time, because it shows what comes before the snoring and not just what sits next to it. In the Busselton Health Study in Western Australia, 967 adults aged 25 to 74 who reported no snoring in 1981 were checked again in 1994 and 1995. By then 13% had become habitual snorers. Male sex multiplied the odds of that by 3.5, and a higher starting body mass index added to it (odds ratio 1.4 per 3.4 kg/m²). Beyond those two, what mattered was change: weight gained over the 14 years (1.55 per 2.3 kg/m²), new asthma (2.8) and starting to smoke (2.2).
Knuiman M, James A, Divitini M, Bartholomew H. Longitudinal study of risk factors for habitual snoring in a general adult population: the Busselton Health Study. Chest 2006. PMID 17166996
A smaller, older study asked what predicts snoring in men themselves. Researchers visited 900 of the 1,001 men aged 35 to 65 on one general practice's list at home and measured them. Seventeen percent said they snored often. The only independent predictors were neck circumference, cigarette consumption and nasal stuffiness. Together they accounted for at least a sixfold difference in the likelihood of being an often-snorer, though each on its own explained only a small slice of the variation (7.2% for neck size, 3.4% for cigarettes, 2% for a stuffy nose).
Stradling JR, Crosby JH. Predictors and prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea and snoring in 1001 middle aged men. Thorax 1991. PMID 2014507
Two behaviors on that list are a matter of the evening, not of anatomy. In the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, current smokers had 2.29 times the odds of snoring compared with people who had never smoked, and former smokers were no different from never-smokers after adjustment. Alcohol shows up as well. A meta-analysis of 13 studies with 279 patients that used full sleep studies found that alcohol was linked to more severe snoring, altered sleep stages and, on average, 3.98 more breathing events per hour (95% CI 3.27 to 4.68), in people already prone to snoring or apnea.
Wetter DW, Young TB, Bidwell TR, Badr MS, Palta M. Smoking as a risk factor for sleep-disordered breathing. Arch Intern Med 1994. PMID 7944843
Burgos-Sanchez C, Jones NN, Avillion M, Gibson SJ, Patel JA, Neighbors J, Zaghi S, Camacho M. Impact of Alcohol Consumption on Snoring and Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2020. PMID 32513091
Why men more than women: it may be the neck as much as the sex
Part of the male excess is plain anatomy that sits in the numbers above. Researchers imaged the airways of 15 men and 15 women without any sleep-disordered breathing, awake and asleep. The soft palate region of the airway was more collapsible in men, but when the researchers corrected for neck circumference the difference disappeared. Their conclusion: the gap in collapsibility is better explained by neck size than by sex.
Rowley JA, Sanders CS, Zahn BR, Badr MS. Gender differences in upper airway compliance during NREM sleep: role of neck circumference. J Appl Physiol 2002. PMID 12015370
A second study that looked at 78 men and 52 women referred for a sleep study found something that cuts the other way for women: in men, the size of the airway measured while awake tracked the severity of sleep apnea, and in women it did not. The author took it to mean women have more favorable airway mechanics, even though the women in that study were slightly heavier on average (BMI 36.0 against 33.3).
Mohsenin V. Gender differences in the expression of sleep-disordered breathing: role of upper airway dimensions. Chest 2001. PMID 11713117
Neither study explains everything, and both are small. Together they say something modest: the male disadvantage is real, but it is not a fixed sentence. Neck size and weight are in the equation, and those can change.
Women have the same airway and a different calendar
Most advice on snoring is written for men with the pronoun changed. The data on women are thinner, but they exist. In a postal questionnaire sent to 6,817 randomly selected women aged 20 and older in Uppsala, Sweden, 7.6% reported snoring habitually. It peaked at 14% in women aged 50 to 59. Habitual snoring went with body mass index, neck circumference and smoking 10 or more cigarettes a day. Alcohol dependence was associated with snoring in lean women, and physical inactivity in women with a higher body mass index.
Svensson M, Lindberg E, Naessen T, Janson C. Risk factors associated with snoring in women with special emphasis on body mass index: a population-based study. Chest 2006. PMID 16608941
That peak at 50 to 59 fits what is known about menopause. In the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, 589 women were studied overnight and sorted by menopausal status. Compared with premenopausal women, and after adjusting for age, body habitus and smoking, postmenopausal women had 2.6 times the odds of 5 or more breathing events per hour and 3.5 times the odds of 15 or more. Perimenopause alone was not clearly different (1.2, with a confidence interval running from 0.7 to 2.2).
Young T, Finn L, Austin D, Peterson A. Menopausal status and sleep-disordered breathing in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2003. PMID 12615621
The bars come from a large two-phase survey: 12,219 women and 4,364 men were interviewed, and 1,000 women and 741 men were then studied overnight. Clinically defined sleep apnea affected 3.9% of men and 1.2% of women, a ratio of 3.3 to 1, but postmenopausal women who were not using hormone therapy came closer to the men, at 2.7%.
Bixler EO, Vgontzas AN, Lin HM, Ten Have T, Rein J, Vela-Bueno A, Kales A. Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in women: effects of gender. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2001. PMID 11254512
Pregnancy is the other time the calendar matters, and it has its own page (Snoring while pregnant) on what is normal there. One result is worth repeating here. In 3,705 women having a first baby, who each had an in-home sleep test in early and in mid pregnancy, frequent snoring (three or more nights a week), chronic high blood pressure, age, body mass index and neck circumference were the strongest predictors of sleep-disordered breathing. The share with the problem rose from 3.6% early on to 8.3% by mid pregnancy.
Louis JM, Koch MA, Reddy UM, Silver RM, Parker CB, Facco FL, Redline S, Nhan-Chang CL, Chung JH, Pien GW, Basner RC, Grobman WA, Wing DA, Simhan HN, Haas DM, Mercer BM, Parry S, Mobley D, Carper B, Saade GR, Schubert FP, Zee PC. Predictors of sleep-disordered breathing in pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2018. PMID 29523262
What gets missed in women's snoring
Part of what separates women's snoring from men's is how it gets reported. A chart review at a university sleep center matched 130 women with sleep apnea to 130 men with the same age, weight, apnea severity and sleepiness score. Snoring was similarly common in both. But the women more often named insomnia as their main complaint (odds ratio 4.20), and they were more likely to have a history of depression (4.60) and an underactive thyroid (5.60). They also described witnessed pauses in breathing as their main complaint somewhat less often, though that difference was not statistically clear.
Shepertycky MR, Banno K, Kryger MH. Differences between men and women in the clinical presentation of patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep 2005. PMID 16173651
A community study in Hong Kong adds a related point. Among middle-aged women who had a full sleep study, those with sleep-disordered breathing reported the same degree of snoring as men with the condition, even though their apnea-hypopnea index was lower. Read together, the two studies say that a woman's snoring can look milder on paper than it is, or can be filed under another heading.
Ip MS, Lam B, Tang LC, Lauder IJ, Ip TY, Lam WK. A community study of sleep-disordered breathing in middle-aged Chinese women in Hong Kong: prevalence and gender differences. Chest 2004. PMID 14718431
That is one reason a recording is useful for women specifically: it replaces a partner's offhand remark ("you were a bit noisy") with a loudness reading and a clip you can play to a doctor. More signs to watch for: Signs of sleep apnea in women.
Snoring that starts suddenly
The longitudinal data above give a checklist. Snoring that appears out of nowhere usually traces back to one of these:
- Weight gain. Even modest. In a Wisconsin cohort of 690 people studied twice four years apart, a 10% weight gain predicted a 32% increase in the apnea-hypopnea index, and a 10% loss predicted a 26% decrease. It is the same direction as the Busselton snoring data.
- A new smoking habit, or a relapse. Starting smoking doubled the odds of becoming a habitual snorer in Busselton.
- Asthma or a congested nose. New asthma raised the odds 2.8-fold in the same study, and nasal stuffiness showed up as a predictor in the men's study.
- Alcohol in the evening, especially if it has crept up lately.
- Menopause or pregnancy, for the reasons above.
So when snoring shows up without warning, ask what changed in the last few months before looking at anything fancier. More on weight: Weight loss for snoring. More on congestion: Can a deviated septum cause snoring?
Peppard PE, Young T, Palta M, Dempsey J, Skatrud J. Longitudinal study of moderate weight change and sleep-disordered breathing. JAMA 2000. PMID 11122588
Snoring that appeared fast and comes with gasping, pauses someone has seen, or heavy sleepiness in the daytime should be checked by a doctor. That combination can be sleep apnea, and no list of everyday causes rules it out.
Is it normal to snore, and what does it mean?
Snoring is common, and plenty of people snore without a breathing problem. The limit is that snoring is not a reliable all-clear. The original Wisconsin cohort found that habitual snorers, men and women both, tended to have a higher prevalence of 15 or more breathing events per hour, and that the prevalence of undiagnosed sleep-disordered breathing was 24% in men and 9% in women, much higher in women than anyone had expected.
Young T, Palta M, Dempsey J, Skatrud J, Weber S, Badr S. The occurrence of sleep-disordered breathing among middle-aged adults. N Engl J Med 1993. PMID 8464434
By itself, snoring means the airway is narrowing and vibrating. What it means for you depends on the company it keeps. Snoring alone, on some nights, with a stuffy nose or a glass of wine in the story, is a different thing from snoring every night that is cut by silences and ends in a snort. Whether snoring is bad for you comes down to that line (more on it: Is snoring bad for you?).
Stopping snoring starts with the cause, in women and in men
The logic is the same for women and for men. Which fix helps depends on which factor drives the snoring, and the studies above point at four that can often be influenced: weight, smoking, evening alcohol and nasal congestion. Menopause and pregnancy are different, because the right move there is to talk to a doctor, not to try gadgets.
The order that makes sense is: track, change one thing, track again. How to stop snoring ranks the options by evidence, and Does an anti snoring mouthpiece work? covers the device most often recommended by dentists.
How your own recordings narrow down your cause
Recording the night turns the checklist into a test. If the loudest nights are the ones after wine, that points at alcohol. If the snoring is worse during a cold, congestion is involved. Position is one more thing to test, but the microphone cannot tell which way you lay, so write down how you slept and compare. None of that is a diagnosis; it is a pattern you can show a doctor, and a way to check whether the one change you made did anything.
SleepTrace listens through the phone's microphone, marks the snoring episodes with a loudness reading and keeps clips you can play back (the free plan plays back 3 clips a month, Premium has no limit). It cannot tell you why you snore, and it is not a medical device. A week of nights with a note on what you did each evening is enough to see most of the patterns above.
One thing the papers do not settle: how much of the rise in women's snoring around ages 50 to 59 is menopause, and how much is age and weight changing together. The Wisconsin analysis adjusts for both, which is the best available, but an adjustment is not a clean separation.
Frequently asked questions
The studies keep returning to the same few things: being male, body weight, a thick neck, a stuffy nose, smoking and alcohol. In a 1991 survey of 1,001 men aged 35 to 65, neck circumference, cigarette consumption and nasal stuffiness were the only independent predictors of snoring often, and 17% of the men said they did. In a 14-year follow-up of 967 adults, male sex multiplied the odds of becoming a habitual snorer by 3.5.
The same airway mechanics apply, with different weight on the factors. In a Swedish survey of 6,817 women, habitual snoring was linked to body mass index, neck circumference and smoking. Menopause adds a risk: in a cohort of 589 women, postmenopause carried 2.6 times the odds of 5 or more breathing events per hour. Pregnancy is another window, and frequent snoring in pregnancy was one of the strongest predictors of sleep-disordered breathing in 3,705 first-time mothers.
Look for a change first: weight gained, smoking started, a stuffy nose, new asthma, alcohol in the evening, menopause, or pregnancy. In the Busselton cohort, gaining weight, developing asthma and starting to smoke all raised the odds of becoming a habitual snorer. If the new snoring comes with gasping, pauses someone has seen, or heavy daytime sleepiness, ask a doctor rather than waiting.
Snoring is common, and many people snore without any breathing problem. It is not a reliable all-clear, though. The Wisconsin cohort found that habitual snorers, both men and women, tended to have a higher prevalence of 15 or more breathing events per hour. What separates harmless from worth checking is what comes with it: pauses, gasps, morning headaches and daytime sleepiness.
Start from the cause rather than from a gadget. Weight, smoking, alcohol before bed and nasal congestion are the factors that show up in the studies, and menopause or pregnancy can change the picture. Recording a few nights shows whether your snoring clusters on certain nights. If it is loud, new, or comes with daytime sleepiness, a doctor should look at it, because women with sleep apnea are often diagnosed late.
SleepTrace is a wellness app, not a medical device. This article is general information, not medical advice. If your symptoms are frequent, severe or worrying, please talk to a doctor.
A new snoring habit usually has a traceable reason, and a record helps find it. SleepTrace records sound only, saves clips of snoring, marks possible breathing pauses with a time and estimates your sleep phases. It cannot tell you the cause and does not diagnose, but it gives a doctor something real to listen to.
Hear your own night. SleepTrace turns a night of audio into your sleep phases, the sounds you made, and how it all trends. Works without a wearable, better with one. Your phone on the nightstand is enough to start. Get it for iPhone or Android →