Nose or throat snoring? How to tell which one you have
Short answer: snoring is tissue vibrating in a narrowed airway, and the narrowing happens in one of two places. If air moves freely through both nostrils, your narrowing is almost certainly in your throat. If one or both nostrils are blocked, your nose is at least part of the problem.
This matters because a remedy can only help if it physically reaches the place where your airway narrows. Nasal strips cannot open a throat. A jaw device cannot unblock a nostril.
Most people buy a snoring remedy before they know which kind of snorer they are. That is why so many first attempts do nothing, and why people conclude that nothing works when what actually happened is that they aimed at the wrong part of the airway.
Two self-checks sort this out in about a minute.
Check one: the nostril test
Sit upright. Press one nostril closed with a finger and breathe in through the other. Then swap sides.
- Air moves easily through both sides. Your nose is not the bottleneck. Nasal remedies will not do much for you.
- One side is noticeably harder. You may have a deviated septum or one-sided congestion. Worth investigating.
- Both sides feel restricted. Congestion, allergies, or swelling is narrowing your nasal airway, and that is likely contributing to the noise.
Do this test when you are congested and again when you are clear. Snoring that appears with a cold and disappears afterwards is a strong sign of a nasal component.
Check two: the position test
This one your bed partner has to answer, because you are asleep for it. Do you go quiet on your side and get loud on your back?
Lying on your back lets gravity pull your tongue and soft palate toward the back of your throat. The airway narrows, the air speeds up through the gap, and the surrounding tissue flutters. That is throat snoring, and it is the most common pattern in adults.
If you snore in every position, the narrowing is likely present regardless of gravity, which still points at the throat rather than the nose.
Answer both and see which type you have
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1. Does air move freely through both nostrils?
2. Do you go quiet when you sleep on your side?
A restricted nostril narrows the airway before the air even reaches your throat. Start by working out whether it is temporary or permanent: allergies, a cold, and dry air come and go, while a deviated septum or enlarged turbinates do not.
Remedies that reach this: nasal strips, internal nasal dilators, saline rinses, treating the underlying allergy. If the blockage is constant rather than seasonal, an ENT can tell you whether it is structural.
Going quiet on your side means gravity is the trigger. Your nose is clear, so the narrowing is happening at the back of your throat only when you lie flat.
Remedies that reach this: sleeping on your side, a wedge or contoured pillow, or a device that holds the lower jaw slightly forward so the airway stays open regardless of position. Positional fixes are cheaper to test, but most people roll onto their back again during the night.
A clear nose and noise in every position points to narrowing at the soft palate and the base of the tongue. This is the most common pattern in adults and the reason nasal remedies disappoint so many people.
Remedies that reach this: jaw-advancement devices, weight loss where excess weight is a factor, avoiding alcohol and sedatives before bed, and treating any reflux that is irritating the throat.
How far each remedy can reach
Every snoring remedy acts at one point along the airway. Lining them up by where they act explains most of the disappointment people have with this category.
This chart illustrates where each remedy acts mechanically. It is not a measure of how quiet any of them will make you, and results differ from person to person.
What causes each type
Nasal snoring
Anything that narrows the nasal passage: seasonal allergies, a cold, chronic rhinitis, dry indoor air, enlarged turbinates, nasal polyps, or a deviated septum. The tell is that it usually varies. It gets worse in allergy season, in a dry bedroom, or when you have a cold, and better when those clear.
Throat snoring
The soft palate, uvula, tonsils, and the base of the tongue can all crowd the airway. Contributors include sleeping on your back, alcohol or sedatives relaxing the throat muscles, extra weight around the neck, ageing muscle tone, enlarged tonsils, and acid reflux irritating the tissue. Throat snoring tends to be more constant and lower-pitched.
Plenty of people have both. If you clear your nose and are still loud, you had a throat component underneath the whole time.
What to try, by type
| If your snoring is | Start with | Skip |
|---|---|---|
| Nasal, seasonal | Allergy treatment, saline rinse, humidifier, nasal strips | Jaw devices, until the nose is clear |
| Nasal, constant | An ENT opinion on whether it is structural | Buying more products before you know |
| Throat, back only | Side sleeping, wedge or contoured pillow | Nasal strips and dilators |
| Throat, every position | Jaw-advancement device, alcohol timing, reflux management | Nasal remedies, chin straps on their own |
| Both | Clear the nose first, then reassess what is left | Treating both at once, you learn nothing |
When snoring is not just snoring
Snoring can be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, where the airway closes repeatedly during the night. Signs worth taking to a doctor include witnessed pauses in breathing, gasping or choking awake, morning headaches, and heavy daytime sleepiness despite a full night in bed.
None of the self-checks on this page can rule that out, and no over-the-counter product treats it. If any of that sounds familiar, get assessed before you buy anything.
Related reading
- Why people snore, the wider set of causes behind both types
- Causes and remedies for snoring, remedy by remedy
- What causes snoring in women, where the pattern differs
- Sleep positions and snoring, for the positional type
- Find my snoring solution, a longer guided version of the check above
If your answer was throat snoring
A jaw-advancement device is the category that acts at the back of the throat. We make one: VitalSleep is an adjustable, moldable mouthpiece, FDA-cleared for snoring and made in the USA.
Common questions
Can you have both nasal and throat snoring?
Yes, and it is common. The usual approach is to clear the nasal side first, since it is cheaper and faster to test, then see how much noise is left. Whatever remains is coming from the throat.
Does mouth breathing mean throat snoring?
Not on its own, but it is a clue. People often breathe through the mouth because the nose is blocked, so mouth breathing can point back to a nasal cause. Holding the mouth shut without opening the airway behind it does not reliably help and can make breathing harder if the nose is congested.
Why do nasal strips do nothing for me?
Most likely because your narrowing is not in your nostrils. A strip pulls the outside of the nose open, so it can only help when the nose is the bottleneck. If a strip changes nothing, that is useful information rather than a failed product.
Does losing weight reduce snoring?
Weight around the neck can crowd the upper airway, so weight loss reduces snoring for some people. It is not a universal fix, since plenty of people at a healthy weight snore because of anatomy, sleeping position, or nasal obstruction.
Why is my snoring worse after drinking?
Alcohol relaxes the muscles that hold the upper airway open, so the throat narrows more than it otherwise would. Sedatives and some sleep aids have a similar effect. Snoring that appears mainly after a drink is usually throat snoring.
Is snoring always a sign of sleep apnea?
No. Plenty of people snore without having apnea. But apnea usually involves snoring, so persistent loud snoring combined with breathing pauses, gasping, or daytime exhaustion is worth a medical assessment.
About this page. Published by The Snore Reliever Company, LLC, the maker of the VitalSleep anti-snoring mouthpiece. We sell a product in one of the categories described here and have a commercial interest in it. We have tried to describe every category by how it works rather than by whether we sell it, and the self-check above routes some readers away from our category.
This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. Snoring can be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, which requires assessment and treatment by a qualified clinician. VitalSleep is FDA-cleared for snoring. Individual results vary.
