Snoring: is it Actually a Problem?

Snoring isn’t just a nighttime annoyance; it’s a sleep disruptor with serious consequences, impacting everything from your daily energy to your relationships, and here’s how to fix it.

Snoring – it’s something you joke about, because it doesn’t really matter. Right? Wrong. Left unaddressed, with snoring reducing the passage of air into the body overnight, you’ll wake up exhausted, like you haven’t slept at all. You’ll struggle to concentrate, feel mentally foggy, be irritable, moody, anxious and flat. If you’re in a relationship, you may need to have a sleep divorce, which limits intimacy and connection. Snoring – not ok. Here’s why, and what you can do.

Snoring = unrefreshing sleep
First and foremost, snoring impairs sleep. Instead of being able to dive deep into deep, slow wave sleep, with snoring – both for snorers and their partners alike, you’re more likely to sleep lightly. Cue waking up frequently through the night, waking tired, and feeling like you barely slept at all.
This is a huge problem – deep sleep is the foundation of physical recovery, mental health and cognitive wellbeing, enabling us to produce human growth hormone, the key catalyst of cellular repair, muscle recovery and collagen. In fact, 70% is produced in deep slow wave sleep.
And, if you’re snoring, or subject to listening to snoring, this will limit your ability to enter this sleep phase, cue the consequences above.

Snoring = waking through the night
Second, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that even individuals who snored regularly reported higher levels of daytime sleepiness and reduced sleep efficiency.
This is because snoring often causes micro-awakenings—brief interruptions in sleep that the person may not even remember but that significantly impact sleep quality.
If you or your partner regularly wake up feeling unrefreshed despite spending ample time in bed, snoring may be the underlying cause.

Snoring = daytime fatigue
Waking through the night and sleeping lightly don’t exactly set you up for success.
Research from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that individuals who experience sleep disruptions—whether due to snoring or other disturbances—show significantly reduced reaction times, impaired memory, and lower overall cognitive performance. This can translate into:
• Reduced productivity and efficiency
• Increased likelihood of errors
• poor decision-making
• Higher levels of stress
• Greater irritability
Regardless if you’re at work or simply trying to enjoy your weekend, you need energy – to have this compromised, night after night, is not ok.
Snoring = sleep divorce
With a National Sleep Foundation survey finding nearly 25% of couples sleep apart due to one partner’s snoring, it shows – snoring is not a personal problem, but a collective one.
While this arrangement may lead to better sleep in the short term, it can also result in reduced intimacy, frustration, and feelings of isolation within relationships.
Cue picking fights with your partner for no reason, getting angry when you usually wouldn’t, and feeling distant… not what you want, long or short term.

Snoring…What are the solutions?

No doubt you’ve heard before – reduce alcohol use and keep a healthy weight. These are great first steps, but they don’t address the underlying cause, which can often be a structural abnormality.
As such, one of the easiest, most effective, surgery free ways to experience instant snoring relief is to use an anti-snoring mouthguard – we recommend the bestselling, clinically backed Happy Sleep anti-snoring device at Chemist Warehouse.
Developed by a leading sleep medicine expert and advocated by chiropractors, doctors and sleep medicine practitioners across the nation, Happy Sleep is lightweight, easy-to-use and effective.
Technically termed a Mandibular Advancement Device, Happy Sleep is unique in the way that it gently and minimally repositions your jaw, and allows you to snore less and sleep properly. It has a flexible jaw strap that holds the jaw together, and the breathing airway is designed to enhance nasal breathing, another reason it helps reduce snoring.

As an exclusive offer for our Women’s Fitness readers, shop online with the discount code WF2025 for 20% off head to www.happysleep.au or head into your local Chemist Warehouse. And, note they have a 30 day money back guarantee… so you have nothing to lose! Shop now, snore less, sleep better… tonight!

Written by Australia’s Leading Sleep Expert, and Editor in Chief, Olivia Arezzolo. The go-to guru for The Today Show, Sunrise, The Morning Show, Fox News, Sky News, and News.com.au; former ambassador for IKEA, Sealy Posturepedic, Audible, Samsung, Toyota, The Body Shop, Medibank and more, her recent Wellness Weekends with The Westin in Vietnam and Japan saw her recommended throughout Asia, Australia and USA. Connect with Olivia on instagram, @oliviaarezzolo, email olivia@thesleepretreat.com.au, and www.oliviaarezzolo.com.au

For the full article grab the April/May 2025 issue of Women’s Fitness Australia from newsagents and convenience locations. Subscribe here.