THAT'S THE WHY:Are you a snorer? If you rattle the rafters during sleep, you won't know about it at the time, but anyone trying to sleep nearby surely will.
But why does it happen? It’s down to the vibrations of structures in our upper airways, typically when we inhale, according to sleep specialist Lynn AD Andrea.
“Any membranous part of the airway lacking cartilaginous support, including the tongue, soft palate, uvula, tonsillar pillars and pharyngeal walls, can vibrate,” she wrote in Scientific American in 2004.
“When you sleep, muscle tone throughout your body decreases, or becomes hypotonic. This relaxation of the upper airway muscles during sleep may decrease the size of the airway space and cause airflow limitation and turbulence. It is the combination of turbulent airflow through the hypotonic airway structures that results in the harsh vibratory noise known as snoring.”
That noise can not only drive fellow sleepers to distraction; in some cases snoring may be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnoea, which can disrupt your own sleep and raise the risk of health problems.
Plenty of anti-snoring devices are sold to sleep-deprived partners, but another route could be to encourage the snorer to take up playing the didgeridoo.
In a study published in the British Medical Journalin 2006, patients with obstructive sleep apnoea learned the didgeridoo for four months and played daily, while others remained on the waiting list for lessons. The partners of the didgeridoo players reported less sleep disturbance.
