Is your snoring a symptom of stress of is it just snoring? There are many symptoms of stress that present in the body in different ways.

There are the emotional symptoms of stress that include irritability, nervousness, hostility and a lack of a sense of humor. The mental symptoms include forgetfulness, lack of concentration, confusion, lack of interest and calculating errors. The physical symptoms include headaches, sweaty palms, pounding heart, indigestion, shortness or holding of breath, nausea, fatigue, tight muscles, sleeplessness, over sleeping and snoring. Any one symptom of stress individually could be caused by many different factors but together they are an indicator of stress.

If your snoring has started after a stressful event in your life then the snoring can be a physical symptom of stress, especially if it appears with some of the other symptoms as mention above.

But there doesn’t have to be a sudden event. Work and family pressures can increase over time, building your stress levels, eventually manifesting in changing breathing patterns and even snoring.

As men age, it appears they become more sensitive to the stimulating effects of stress created hormones. "The increased prevalence of insomnia in middle-age may, in fact, be the result of deteriorating sleep mechanisms associated with increased sensitivity to arousal-producing stress hormones, such as CRH and cortisol."

Stressful situations are important in bodily development, preparing our bodies for the fight or flight situations should they ever arise. Modern society often demands we hold our emotions in check; it just isn’t socially appropriate to hit the boss or run out of a stressful meeting. And with levels of stress-released hormones staying in the body at higher than normal levels for much longer than nature intended, stress can literally kill you.

Snoring can occur throughout all the different stages to sleep. Although the reasons for sleep are not fully understood, it is thought that the non-REM stages of sleep are associated with recuperation of the body and the REM stages of sleep with recuperation of the mind. REM sleep is the distinct stage of sleep distinguished by the type of brain waves produced, the rapid eye movement and dreaming.

It is thought that during this stage of sleep the brain is organizing and making sense of all the day’s stimuli. It is organizing all the events of the day and storing information in long term memory, preparing a clean slate for the following day.

Features of REM sleep include increased brain activity, increased blood pressure, increased and variable blood flow and increased and variable respiration.

If you are constantly under stress then during REM sleep you may have the rapid or deep breathing that is a associated with a stressful situation as your brain tries to make sense of the information. Deep hard breathing is a symptom of stress and also leads to snoring.

Besides the short-term benefit of a good nights sleep that are achieved by avoiding stressful situations and learning to cope with stress in a more positive fashion, research suggests a longer healthier life.

Deanne Repich a long time internationally known anxiety educator and author has released a free 7 part email series on how to conquer anxiety and panic attack symptoms .

People have reduced their snoring, and many other symptoms of stress, when turning to relaxing breathing techniques. The meditative breathing exercises have the dual affect of helping the body cope more effectively with stress and focusing the body’s breathing. Both can be beneficial to reducing snoring.

Which meditation technique did Stanford University find the best at reducing the symptom of stress?

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