Nasal Snoring

A simple blocked nose, or sinus congestion can have a massive affect upon snoring. The nose is the primary intake for air coming into the lungs and is design specifically to effectively direct this inflow. It works as a heater, filter and humidifier, refining the air coming into our bodies, and makes our breathing efficient. When our nose is constricted or blocked, or the nasal passageway is narrowed, our mouth takes over the breathing duty, but in a less efficient manner. The mouth fails to refine the air entering the upper airway, and takes it in at a far higher rate causes irritation and increased turbulence.

Types of Nasal Snoring

There are two main causes of nasal snoring; small or collapsing nostrils, and stuffiness.


Small or collapsing nostrils produce a reliance on breathing through your mouth, thus increasing the probability of airway vibration at the back of the mouth and hence snoring. An easy test for collapsing nostrils is to stand in front of a mirror, pressing on one nostril, closing your mouth and breathing in through the open one. If this nostril collapses and breathing is difficult, this may indeed be the cause of your snoring problem.

Stuffiness and sinus infections is a second contributor to mouth breathing, as you attempt to compensate for the loss of airflow through your nose. Both stuffiness and collapsing nostrils can be easily treated with decongestion remedies and the latter with nasal strips.

The nasal passage may also become inflamed due to allergies, much in the same way that smokers might be affected. Reactions to dust, feather pillows and pet hair often cause intense snoring issues and elimination of these factors by effective anti-allergists can remove a snoring problem almost immediately.

Physical Abnormalities

Physical abnormalities such as nasal polyps also correspond to snoring. Polyps are soft, grape-like growths that form inside the nose and sinuses. They are sometimes yellow, grey or pink and are common and benign. The cause of polyps is not usually known, but can be associated with chronic nasal inflammation and swelling around the lining of the nostril. The effect of gravity on this swelling then induces growth which will gradually come to block the passageway affected. The congestion of the nose will force you to breath through your mouth, which increases the chances of turbulence at the back of the mouth.

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