Snoring can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'troubling' to 'serious'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.
Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose snoring, we could:
Do you snore? If unsure, try to ask someone who has been with you while you sleep.
Possible responses:→ No / don't know
→ Quite a lot
→ Very much - people complain
Snoring can be a sign of atrial fibrillation – an irregular, often rapid heart beat that causes poor blood flow.
Sleep apnea manifests itself in most people as loud snoring interrupted by periods of obstructed breathing or breath holding. If you snore, it may be a symptom of a more serious disorder called obstructed sleep apnea (OSA). People with OSA almost always snore heavily, because the same narrowing of the airway that causes snoring can also cause OSA. Snoring may actually attribute to OSA as well, because the vibration of the throat tissues which occurs in snoring can cause the tissue to swell.