Short answer: You snore when the airway in your throat narrows during sleep and the soft tissues start to vibrate. On your back, the tongue and soft palate drop backwards, which is why many people snore loudest on their back. Spending less time on your back and avoiding alcohol before bed are two things you can do yourself.
How snoring happens
When you sleep, the muscles in your throat relax. The airway narrows, and the air flowing past makes the soft palate and uvula vibrate. That vibration is what you hear as snoring. The narrower the passage, the louder the sound.
Why you snore loudest on your back
On your back, gravity pulls your tongue and soft palate backwards into your throat. In many people who snore or have sleep apnoea, the severity clearly depends on position, with the back as the least favourable one.1 In research in which participants spent less time on their back, snoring noise decreased, both measured and as experienced.3
Alcohol and snoring
Alcohol relaxes the muscles in your throat even further. In classic sleep research, men who normally snored lightly snored more heavily after alcohol, and some had pauses in breathing.12 Avoiding alcohol in the hours before bed is a simple first step.
What you can do yourself
- Spend less time on your back. On your side or stomach the airway stays open more often.
- Do not drink alcohol before bed.
- Keep your nose clear. With a cold or allergy you are more likely to breathe through your mouth.
- Look at the bigger picture. If you notice you have started snoring more, discuss it with your GP, who can look at possible causes with you.
Sleeping on your stomach to snore less?
Less time on your back is the core of positional therapy, an approach studied in a Cochrane review.2 The hard part is keeping it up. On an ordinary mattress you have to turn your head far to the side on your stomach, and anyone who gets a stiff neck from that rolls back onto their back at night.
That is why SleepLab One has a face opening. You lie on your stomach with your head facing straight down and room around your nose and mouth, which makes the position more pleasant to keep up. We cannot promise that you will snore less. What the mattress does is make a position comfortable in which, in research, the airway narrows less than on your back.
When is snoring more than noise?
Do you stop breathing at night, does your partner worry about it, do you wake up gasping for air or are you very sleepy during the day even though you sleep enough hours? Then see your GP. These can be signs of sleep apnoea.
Read also: stomach sleeping and snoring and sleep apnoea and sleep position.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I snore mainly on my back?
On your back, gravity pulls your tongue and soft palate backwards. That narrows the airway and makes the soft tissues vibrate more easily.
Does sleeping on your side or stomach help against snoring?
In research, less time on the back led to less snoring noise. It does not work for everyone, and the effect depends on how well you keep the position up.
When should I see my GP about snoring?
If you have pauses in breathing, wake up gasping for air or are very sleepy during the day. These can be signs of sleep apnoea.
Updated on 22 October 2026.
SleepLab One is not a medical device and does not replace a diagnosis or treatment. If your symptoms persist, talk to your GP or physiotherapist. The studies the numbers refer to are listed in the references; they are about sleep position and mattresses in general, not about this mattress.