Roughly 90 million Americans snore, and 37 million snore regularly, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
That chainsaw noise is a result of vibrations in your airways while you sleep. As your muscles relax during the night, airflow can become restricted, causing more vibrations of the tongue, tonsils and other parts of the mouth and throat, according to Scientific American.
Snoring is often a symptom of disordered sleep, writes Dr. Michael J. Breus, certified sleep specialist and HuffPost blogger. It can lead to lack of sleep if it consistently wakes you up in the middle of the night. But snoring may also be a sign of sleep apnea, a serious condition in which a person stops breathing during sleep as frequently as once a minute. Sleep apnea has been linked with a host of health effects, like obesity, depression and, just this week, an increased risk of dying of cancer.
Men are more likely to snore, as are people who are overweight, but no one is immune, not even the rich and famous. Click through the slideshow below to see 11 stars who snore.
Celebrities Who Snore
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