First and foremost, we all snore sometimes. Sorry, ladies, but it's true. Snoring affects people of all ages, everywhere in the world. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 40 million heavy-duty snorers. The figure tallies at about 15 million in the United Kingdom, and more than 15 million in Germany. All these people share one universal characteristic: they are among the billion or so people who snore due to blocked nasal airways.

There is research to provide some clear facts about snoring. An estimate five percent of women in their early thirties, and about twenty percent of men the same age, snore regularly. Once these people reach their sixties, the numbers will increase to forty percent of women and sixty percent of men.

It's believed that the percentage of men who snore is higher, simply because men tend to have larger necks. A neck size of at least seventeen inches almost guarantees a snoring condition. Men also tend to be overweight more often than women, increasing the likeliness of snoring. Most men, about eighty percent, don't consider the snoring to be a problem; they simply complain that their wives are light sleepers.

A woman who snores is typically shorter and heavier than her female non-snoring counterparts. Women usually only snore through the nose, while men do so through their mouths and noses. Women are less likely to snore because they have smaller necks, larger air passages and a smaller uvula. When the problem does surface, however, a woman will be more likely to find a treatment.

Even young children can snore, usually because of an existing problem with the tonsils or adenoids. Studies have shown that up to six percent of young children snore.

Some healthcare professionals are concerned that snoring, along with its causes and outcomes, is not taken seriously enough in the medical arena. During routine physicals, doctors rarely inquire about the patients' sleeping habits. Studies suggest that while seventy percent of sufferers mention their sleep problems to their doctors, only ten percent try to follow up by applying treatment methods. Similarly, dentists, who design and fit the mouth appliances worn to prevent snoring, almost never inquire about sleeping difficulties with their patients.

Medical professionals and the general public need more education on snoring and related sleep disorders. For example, sleep apnea is a medical condition that can cause potentially dangerous health problems. This affliction is not only hazardous to person suffering from it, but also those around them.

Researchers have suggested that people with sleep disorders cause more motor vehicle accidents than drunk drivers do. Further statistics show that seventy four percent of people with sleep apnea have been involved in at least one car accident.

More than eighty percent of people who snore are not even aware of the problem until it is pointed out to them. They sleep blissfully, while their housemates try to rest amid the ongoing racket. Speak with a doctor if someone in your home snores, or tells you that you've been snoring. Those snores may indicate a more serious underlying sleep disorder.