Why aren’t we snoring all the time? Are we actively regulating are breathing so we don’t when we’re awake? How and why?
In: Biology
If you were 5 years old I’d say… Most of your body is completely still while you’re asleep. You’re actually unable to move. That means that when you have a really exciting dream, slaying dragons or whatever you dream about, your body doesn’t get up and act it out. So, you don’t move when you sleep. But all the important parts of your body are hard at work doing important things. You continue to inhale and exhale. Well… the sleepy parts of your body can start flopping around in annoying ways, and that’ll make funny sounds.
When you’re awake, you’re AWAKE. If you even sensed the possibility that something funny is going to happen, you’d change the way you inhale, or you’d change your body’s position. Maybe you’ll even use muscles you didn’t even know you could use. But… sleep doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything.
Sleep is when your brain tells your body that its work is more important, and your brain starts cleaning out all the junk that’s created when you think. Your brain looks at everything you thought about that day, and starts to flag things. Your brain gets rid of information like, “how far apart were my feet during recess.” But if you thought about something long and hard, your brain marks that as important and starts building around it, so that you won’t forget.
Sometimes, your body makes funny sounds while your brain does this, because you keep inhaling and exhaling, but the rest of your body isn’t moving.
Basically; Muscles relax when you’re relaxed.
It’s another reason why people snore even more when they’re drunk. It’s a depressant and relaxes muscles even further when asleep.
There is a little flappy thing in your throat that is the main cause of it. While awake and alert, it’s used to help with vocal inflection, eating and drinking.
While asleep, it’s main purpose is to annoy romantic partners.
It should also be noted that men tend to have thicker necks with more fat on them which adds pressure to the area and causes men to snore much more often than women.
Automatic breathing is done purely with your diaphragm. But there are a whole host of chest, neck, and head muscles that can assist. And you probably don’t even notice them. While asleep, all your muscles relax, and only your diaphragm moves. So those chest muscles creating extra inflation aren’t moving, the muscles holding your throat open are relaxed, and your tongue is left to partially slide into your airway. Sleep position can relieve some of it, but due to lots of reasons, some people are more prone to snoring and apnea in general
You sleep laying down. Weight shifts around under gravity differently from standing and lying down. It can cause obstructions that wouldn’t exist if you were standing.
Now I wonder if people snore while sleeping on the space station.
Muscles stiff when awake.
Muscles loose when asleep.
Loose muscles make snoring noises in your throat.
Snoring is usually caused by some sort of obstruction in the upper part of your airway. During sleep, your muscles start to become relaxed and they may collapse a little to block your airway which results in snoring.
Relaxation is the key here. You would be surprised by how much work your body does, particularly when standing, to keep you alert and active.
People do snore when awake.
I have caught myself doing this. Only happens when people are tired though.
Snoring is due to the fact that your mouth muscles are not tightened and that you usually have your head tilted back (or at least horizontally with your nose pointing to the celling). Basically, your palate loosen and your to~~u~~ngue roll back a bit thus kind of blocking the airway, but not totally which is why it makes so much noise.
Now, when you are awake, your mouth muscles are more tightened so you are not blocking your own airway.
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In particular top-level comments (meaning those directly in response to the original post) MUST be attempts to explain the question.
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Thanks!
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