Sleep glossary
Snoring
What causes snoring at the level of tissue and airflow, what reliably makes it louder, and the point where it stops being a harmless noise.
In short
Snoring is the sound of soft tissue vibrating in a narrowed airway as you breathe during sleep. It is common and often harmless, but loud snoring with pauses in breathing is a reason to talk to a doctor.
Snoring is also called snore or noisy breathing in sleep.
What causes snoring is a piece of simple mechanics. Muscle tone drops as you fall asleep, the soft palate and the tissue around the back of the throat go slack, and the airway narrows. Air has to move faster through the narrow part, the slack tissue starts to flutter, and flutter at those frequencies is a sound. It is the same physics as a partly open window whistling in a draught.
Which means anything that narrows the airway further, or loosens the tissue further, turns the volume up. Sleeping on your back lets the tongue and palate fall backwards, which is why the same person can snore for half a night and go quiet after rolling over. Alcohol in the evening relaxes the muscles more than usual. Nasal congestion from a cold or allergies pushes you into mouth breathing and raises airflow speed. Extra weight around the neck narrows things structurally, and so does the ordinary loss of muscle tone that comes with age.
Where snoring stops being just noise
On its own it is common and, apart from whoever else is in the room, usually harmless. The pattern worth attention is different: loud snoring together with pauses in breathing, gasping or choking, and daytime sleepiness that a full night in bed does not fix. That combination is a reason to see a doctor, who may arrange a sleep study, because sleep apnea is diagnosed by measurement and by nothing else.
Tock records the sound side of the night. Snores, coughs and sleep talking are classified on the device with Apple SoundAnalysis, and short clips are saved so in the morning you can play back what actually happened at 02:40 instead of arguing about it. That is a recording, not a screening test, and Tock is not a medical device. What it is good for is evidence: whether the snoring happens every night or only after a drink, whether it lines up with a run of nocturnal awakening, whether your partner is exaggerating. Sleep tracking without a wearable covers what a microphone on the nightstand can and cannot hear.
Questions people ask
What causes snoring?
Air moving through a narrowed airway makes the soft tissue at the back of the throat vibrate. Anything that narrows that airway or relaxes the tissue further, such as alcohol or sleeping on your back, makes the sound louder.
Is snoring always a sign of sleep apnea?
No. Plenty of people snore without any breathing disorder. Loud snoring together with pauses in breathing and daytime sleepiness is the pattern worth taking to a doctor.