It’s a moment that was becoming nearly a nightly occurrence. Usually around 3am, I’d be nudged awake by my girlfriend with the same exasperated remark: ‘Ethan, you’re snoring.’
I’ve snored for as long as I can remember. Often my snorts can be so loud that I wake myself up. But, until recently, it wasn’t something I ever really considered a serious issue. If anything, I thought it was quite funny – imagining myself to be like one of those old–fashioned cartoon characters who sleeps with a feather rising and falling in the gust of their snores.
However, my snoring recently became impossible to ignore. My partner is a light sleeper and, even with earplugs in – which she wears every night – my snoring still manages to wake her.
So when, last week, she misplaced her noise–cancelling ear buds, she was forced to reckon with the full force of my loud snoring that, I’m told, goes on throughout the night.
And while she was incredibly forgiving, given how badly I’d disrupted her sleep, it finally made me question: is it normal that I snore – and can anything be done about it?
I’m not alone. More than four in ten adults in the UK regularly snore – which means there are likely millions of disgruntled partners out there too.
It’s normally an issue that affects older adults. However, around one in five people under the age of 40 snore.
And while the leading cause of snoring in younger people is obesity, about a third are slim. As a 29–year–old with a healthy BMI, I’m squarely in the latter camp.
Ethan has snored for as long as he can remember and often his ‘snorts’ wake him up
So what could be causing my issues? Experts say there are a number of hidden causes behind the surprising number of young, healthy snorers. Moreover, many of these can be easily remedied.
And, perhaps most intriguingly, some experts believe a beauty product created by the reality star and influencer Kim Kardashian could be the answer for thousands living with persistent and severe snoring.
The problem occurs when the upper airway becomes partially narrowed. As air moves through this tight gap, it causes soft tissue to vibrate, leading to snoring.
There are several reasons why the airway can become constricted. In older age, the muscles in the throat weaken, causing them to sag, blocking the airway. This is why, according to studies, more than half of all over–60s snore.
Obesity is also a major contributing factor to snoring. This is because excess fat around the neck pushes down on the airway. Research shows that around four in ten people with obesity snore.
In severe cases, a blocked airway can lead to a condition called obstructive sleep apnoea. This is where the walls of the throat relax so much that patients momentarily stop breathing. Over time, this can raise the risk of deadly heart attack and stroke.
For this reason, sleep apnoea patients often receive an intensive NHS treatment called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) – a machine that delivers air through a mask at night.
But there are few, if any, NHS treatment options for healthy, young people who snore – even though studies show that the problem can lead to disrupted sleep, which in turn can raise blood pressure, blood sugar and increase the chances of mental health problems.
Ethan tried a face wrap which holds the jaw closed but didn’t want to wear something so uncomfortable every night
‘If you are in your 20s or 30s and are snoring then something isn’t right,’ says Professor Joerg Steier, a respiratory and sleep medicine expert at King’s College London. ‘A lot of people ignore this issue, but it would almost certainly improve your quality of sleep – not to mention your partner’s – to work out what’s causing the snoring.’
Prof Steier says that, for many young people, alcohol is the trigger. A 2024 Chinese study found that, for each alcoholic beverage someone consumes, their chances of snoring that night double.
‘I don’t normally snore, but when I have a pint of lager on the weekend, that night I’ll be snoring,’ says Prof Steier.
‘This happens because alcohol affects the part of the brain that controls the muscles, meaning they relax in the night. So if you want to avoid snoring, either don’t drink or limit your intake.’
Certain medicines, including opioid painkillers, have a similar effect, according to Prof Steier.
Interestingly, he argues that hay fever may be to blame for a large proportion of snoring cases in young people – and those living in cities may be worse affected. ‘Pollen or dust allergies can irritate and swell the airways,’ says Prof Steier. ‘And there’s evidence that the combination of pollen and pollution particles can make this worse.
‘Anecdotally, I know people who previously didn’t snore who moved to London and began to.
‘So it might be worth snorers taking an antihistamine tablet before bed to see if that helps.’
Kim Kardashian originally created the Skims face wrap for eliminating double chins
However, none of these triggers would explain my terrible snoring. I snore regardless of whether I’ve been drinking or not, I don’t take any drugs that might cause the issue, and I take an antihistamine in the summer for hay fever but snore throughout the year.
But Prof Steier believes he may know the cause of my snoring: I sleep on my back.
All my life I’ve slept on my back and, until I came to writing this, I believed it was normal. But, according to a 2020 Korean study, just one in ten people sleep like this. The majority lie on their front or side.
It’s unclear why some people are prone to sleeping on their back, but studies show that the position significantly increases the chances of snoring. A 2013 Dutch paper concluded that 65 per cent of those who sleep on their back regularly snore.
‘When you sleep on your back, gravity pushes down on your throat, making the airway smaller,’ says Prof Steier.
‘If people open their mouth in their sleep, this will tighten it further, as the chin falls back and closes the throat.’
The problem can be remedied by sleeping on one’s front or side – but this is easier said than done.
Whenever my girlfriend wakes me in the night to tell me I’m snoring, I roll over on to my front and this seems to quieten the noises. However, inevitably, I will eventually turn over again, returning to my natural sleeping position, and the snoring begins again.
Tess Daly using mouth tape. Although it can reduce snoring, there is a suffocation risk
Prof Steier advises that there are two possible solutions for back–sleepers who snore. The first is to ensure the mouth remains closed during sleep. This limits the extent to which the airway is tightened, not to mention also reducing the volume of the snoring.
In recent years, mouth–taping, which involves holding the mouth closed using light adhesive tape, has gained popularity online as well as with celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Tess Daly.
Proponents of the practice say it reduces snoring as well as having a number of other health benefits, including improving tooth and gum health.
Experts say that, while it is true that mouth–taping can combat snoring, it is also dangerous. ‘There is good research that shows mouth–taping lowers snoring levels,’ says Prof Steier. ‘However, there is a very real suffocation risk.
‘If the nasal passages became blocked, for example, due to vomiting in the night, then there would be no way for the wearer to breathe. That’s why I would never recommend it.’
But Prof Steier has a surprising alternative: a £52 face wrap designed by Kim Kardashian to help eliminate double chins.
The product, called the Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap, is produced by the reality star’s beauty line Skims. It is wrapped around the head and holds the jaw closed.
Designed to be worn at night to ‘hold up your face’, according to Ms Kardashian, the Face Wrap has already sold out in the UK. And while Prof Steier cannot speak for its effectiveness at improving jawlines, he does believe it could help combat snoring.
‘I was watching Kim Kardashian on The Graham Norton Show, and she was talking about this Face Wrap,’ he says. ‘I’d never seen it before and I’ve certainly never tried it, but it does appear to be a great alternative to mouth tape.
‘This is because it holds the mouth closed but doesn’t obstruct it, meaning you can still breathe out of it if necessary.
‘It’s possible that Kim Kardashian might have inadvertently created a solution to snoring.’
Intrigued, I decided to test out a similar product to see if it would help my snoring, and I found that it was surprisingly effective (see left).
But I’m not sure I like the idea of wearing an uncomfortable and deeply unattractive contraption to bed every night. And I’m certain neither would my girlfriend – for all the agony my snoring gives her.
However, Prof Steier says it is also possible for patients to condition themselves out of sleeping on their backs.
‘The most old–fashioned technique for this is sewing a tennis ball into the back of your pyjamas,’ he says. ‘It’s odd, but it does appear to work.’
There are also a number of companies that offer a more modern version of this – belts that are designed to vibrate if patients roll on to their back.
One such product, created by the firm SomniShop, can be bought online for around £150. ‘The NHS doesn’t recommend these but there is some evidence they can help,’ says Prof Steier.
‘The idea is that, over time, your body comes to associate turning over in the night with the annoying buzzing, so stops. But this could take some time and won’t work for everyone.’
It would appear then, that if I’m not going to wear Kim Kardashian’s Face Wrap, then it’s unlikely I’m going to cure my snoring overnight – that is, unless I sew a tennis ball into the back of my pyjamas…