Whilst some people rarely snore and others snore quietly, there are many people who snore every night, and sometimes as loudly as a pneumatic road drill.
The snorting and rattling noises come from vibration of the soft palate and tissue in the mouth, nose or throat.
Loud and repeated snoring is more than a joke, especially when it damages relationships and causes excessive sleepiness and poor concentration during the day.
Snoring solutions range from lifestlye measures, exercise, nasal sprays and devices, wearing a jaw repositioning device to surgery. Treatment can improve snoring in a number of cases, but a complete cure is not always possible.
CPAP treatment will stop snoring if it is a major nuisance.
In some people who snore it can progress so that the airway closes off as you breathe in. This is a bit like if you suck on a straw with a thick milkshake where the straw closes off as you suck on it. This can happen in the throat and in time the oxygen level falls and the brain is alerted that wakes you up from deep sleep that is refreshing to shallow sleep that is not.
Once awoken the airway muscles open and breathing restarts so the brain is allowed to return to sleep. This can happen hundreds of times a night and not surprisingly this leads to poor sleep and daytimen tiredness or sleepiness.
Usually sleep apnoea that is causing daytime sleepiness is treated with continuous positive airway pressure treatment. This works like a reverse hoover attached to a mask that delivers a low pressure to keep the airway open and as a useful side benefit it stops snoring.