Women Snore. And They Shouldn’t Be Embarrassed.

We joke about his snoring sounding like a chainsaw, a bear, or a freight train. He smiles impishly, or with masculine pride because it's acceptable and sometimes humorous for men to snore. But women? Well, that is not "ladylike," so we sheepishly laugh along and treat the shame of our snoring like a dark secret. If you are a woman and you snore, you’re in good company. Men snore about twice as often as women, but that begins to shift when women hit their forties and after menopause it’s fifty-fifty. That means an estimated 30+ million women in the US are snoring every night. It’s time for us to stop feeling self-conscious about it and simply take care of it because snoring can be more than just a sound. It can be a health issue.

When you snore, you constantly disrupt your sleep cycle and decrease the amount of oxygen that reaches your bloodstream. Because oxygen is the fuel that powers our body, it’s no surprise that the consequences are vast. Weight gain, fatigue, and greater risk for heart attack or stroke are among the many impacts of poor-quality sleep. Not to mention the exhausted haze of grinding through the day with crushing fatigue and a sour mood – and the relationship and family stress that may result. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Women are great at supporting each other through all the stages of life. We shepherd each other through relationships and marriage, child-rearing, careers, family stress and health issues. It’s time to add snoring to the list of problems that the sisterhood of women talk about with confidence and ease. And, it’s time that we help each other get the rest our bodies and minds so desperately need, without shame or embarrassment. Trina Webster is the President of ZQuiet, which she co-founded with her husband who snored. After over a decade in the business, Trina is now loud and proud about the onset of her snoring and sleeps peacefully each night knowing she’s treating it.