Snoring itself — is the vibration of the soft tissues of the throat due to partial narrowing of the airways. It can be either harmless or a manifestation of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS).
Sleep phases. Phase 3 and 4 (the so-called deep slow sleep, delta sleep) — are critically important stages for the recovery of the body, immune function, hormonal regulation, and memory.
During deep sleep, breathing and heart rate become the most regular, and muscle tone is minimal.
What snoring and apnea do. With severe snoring and breathing pauses (apnea), the brain is periodically forced to awaken to more superficial stages of sleep to restore breathing. This is called micro-awakenings.
As a result, the structure of sleep is fragmented: a person seems to sleep all night, but their brain never truly "falls" into full-length episodes of phases 3–4.
Polysomnography shows that people with severe apnea have significantly reduced or absent slow sleep.
Why this is important. The absence of deep sleep leads to chronic fatigue, decreased cognitive functions, hormonal imbalance (cortisol, testosterone, growth hormone), and increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Even if snoring is "simple" (without apnea), its constant vibrations and episodes of partial awakening can also shorten the phases of deep sleep, but not completely exclude them.
