What Increases Your Risk

Factors that may increase your risk of snoring include:

• Being male. Men are more likely to snore than women.
• Age. Snoring is most common in middle-aged people. One study reports that among men, the chance that they will begin snoring increases until 50 to 60 years of age and then decreases.
• Heredity. Snoring may run in families.
• Weight gain and obesity.
• Smoking. Exposing children to tobacco smoke may also increase their risk of snoring.²
• Use of alcohol or sedative medicines.
• Chronic nasal congestion during sleep. This is often caused by colds or allergies.
• Jaw abnormalities, such as a small chin and overbite (class II malocclusion—the upper jaw and teeth overlap the bottom jaw and teeth). This may be an especially important factor in women.