Snoring after drinking: why alcohol makes you louder

What’s going on

When you’re asleep, the muscles around your throat relax. If the airway is already a bit narrow, the soft palate, uvula and tongue vibrate as air goes past. That’s snoring.

Alcohol relaxes those muscles further. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) says snoring can happen as throat muscles relax from alcohol or other drugs that slow breathing. The AAO-HNS adds that alcohol makes snoring more frequent and may even bring on sleep apnea.

What the studies show

In a 2010 sleep lab study, 10 men who snored and 10 who didn’t each spent three nights in the lab. On different nights they went to bed sober or with a moderate or higher blood alcohol level.

For the snorers, the effect grew with the dose. At the moderate level they snored about 1.6 times as often, and a measure of loudness tripled. At the higher level they snored about 4 times as often, and loudness rose about 14-fold.

Two details stand out. The men who didn’t snore sober didn’t start snoring after drinking. And the snorers’ increase was biggest when they lay on their backs.

A 2020 review pooled 13 sleep lab studies with 279 people. After alcohol, people had about 4 more breathing pauses or shallow breaths an hour, and their lowest oxygen level dropped. The authors linked alcohol to worse snoring and breathing in people prone to snoring or sleep apnea.

Why it matters beyond the noise

Alcohol can turn snoring into something more. In a small 1982 study, two people with long-standing snoring developed obstructive sleep apnea in the first hour of sleep after drinking. The authors suggested alcohol relaxes the throat muscles.

On a larger scale, a 2018 review of observational studies linked heavier drinking with about a 25% higher risk of sleep apnea. Studies like that can’t prove alcohol is the cause.

What helps

1. Skip alcohol close to bedtime

Less alcohol Some near bedtime is one of the first steps the AASM recommends for anyone who snores. The AAO-HNS advises avoiding alcohol close to bedtime and limiting how much you drink.

There’s no agreed cutoff time. The lab study above suggests less is better: the more the snorers drank, the more they snored. If you drink, have it earlier in the evening and have less.

2. Sleep on your side after a drink

Alcohol hit hardest when the snorers were on their backs. Sleeping on your side Some often helps if your snoring is worse on your back. See why do I snore on my back? for ways to stay there.

3. Try a two-week test

A simple experiment tells you how much alcohol matters for you.

1. For one week, drink as you normally do. Record each night with a snoring app or your phone’s voice recorder.
2. For the next week, skip alcohol in the evening, or have none at all.
3. Compare the recordings, or ask your partner which week was quieter.

4. Watch for a pattern

Ask your partner, or record a few nights on your phone. If you’re loud after drinking and quiet on sober nights, alcohol is a big part of your snoring. That’s good news, because it’s the part you control.

If you snore just as much on sober nights, alcohol is only one factor. The snoring pattern finder can point to others.

Sleeping pills and other sedating medicines

Medicines that make you sleepy can relax your throat the same way. The AAO-HNS says muscle relaxants and sedatives can worsen snoring. MedlinePlus advises avoiding alcohol and medicines that make you sleepy at bedtime.

That doesn’t mean stopping a prescription. Don’t stop or change a prescribed medicine on your own. Ask your doctor or pharmacist whether the timing or dose could change. Another option may suit you better.

Don’t take a sleeping pill or a nightcap to sleep through your partner’s complaints. Both can make snoring worse.

Will one drink make me snore?

It depends on how prone to snoring you already are. In the 2010 lab study, snoring rose even at the moderate alcohol level, and it rose further at the higher one.

The same study found that men who didn’t snore sober stayed quiet after drinking. So alcohol alone, at least at those levels, is unlikely to turn a non-snorer into a snorer. If you already snore, though, each extra drink tends to make it worse.

What a dentist or doctor can do

If cutting back on alcohol quiets you down, you may not need anything more. If snoring continues on sober nights, how to stop snoring lists the next steps, from nasal aids to jaw-advancing mouthpieces.

Talk to a physician if you snore with pauses, gasping or choking, or wake up tired after a full night. A physician can order a sleep test. Start with the 2-minute “Should I get tested?” checklist.

If you’re worried about how much you drink, your doctor can help with that too. It’s a routine conversation for them.