Adult snoring is a completely different problem to childhood snoring and involves a different approach to both assessment and treatment.

The issues that may affect adult snoring include:

• Poor muscle tone in the muscles at the back of the throat

• Alcohol or sedative medications

• Increased weight

• Nasal obstruction

• Large tonsils and palate

If you have a snoring problem that is affecting your sleep as an adult, then a sleep study is an important investigation to ascertain the severity of your problem. If there is underlying obstructive sleep apnoea then this will affect the treatment protocol that will be recommended for you. Often patients will have a problem that an ENT surgeon can assist with, such as nasal obstruction, tonsillar or throat problems, but this needs to be reviewed in light of the overall picture.

Sleep apnoea is a serious problem that can have deleterious effects on your heart and lungs, not to mention the chronic fatigue that can impair your ability to concentrate on normal daily tasks.