The Spiritual Meaning of Snoring

Snoring is common enough: Most of us snore a little bit at night, and it can come and go, especially when we’re experiencing allergies or nasal congestion. In some cases, snoring is a symptom of sleep apnea, which should be ruled out by a healthcare practitioner. Clearing the sinuses, elevating your head at night, avoiding sleeping on your back, and doing oral myofascial physiotherapy are all ways to address and hopefully improve snoring.

But what might snoring be telling us about our emotional and spiritual states? If the body is trying to tell us something, what is it saying? Let’s explore the spiritual meaning of snoring.

Restricted Inflow of Energy

Fundamentally, snoring is the relaxation of the throat muscles that causes a restriction of the flow of air coming in, causing a sound. In many spiritual traditions, breath represents life force, inspiration, creativity, and our connection to the world. Fundamentally, without breath, we can’t live. Consider the following questions:

• What is your current relationship like with your life and your body?

• Is there a part of you that is fearful or rejecting some of the experiences and realities of being alive right now?

• Is there an energy in your life that you feel you need to protect yourself from?

Sleep Apnea and Restricted Breath

Content warning: This section discusses suicide.

With sleep apnea, snoring sounds a little different from “normal” snoring: Rather than creating a constant sound, sleep apnea causes periods of silence where the breath has stopped completely. This is often followed by a gasp or a choking sound, which is caused by the brain waking us up suddenly upon recognizing that we are not getting enough air.

Medically, with sleep apnea, you likely need a CPAP machine or other interventions to ensure that you are getting enough sleep and oxygen at night. Spiritually, sleep apnea represents a flirtation with death and a complete blockage of lifeforce energy. Consider the following questions:

• Is there a part of you that is tired of living, tired of trying?

• Is there a part of you that would like to die, whether literally or metaphorically, to end or get out of something?

• Is death a very present energy in your life that you have to deal with (or don’t want to deal with)?

• Do you feel tempted to give up?

Having a part of you that thinks about death and suicide does not necessarily mean that you are in danger of taking your life. In fact, acknowledging and talking about that part with a mental health professional can be a powerful path to healing. And if this part of you is showing up through sleep apnea, it may not be totally conscious. But if thoughts of suicide and death are more serious and present, please get help right away from your local crisis line, a friend, or a therapist.

Do what you need to do to address your spiritual exhaustion and find joy in living once again. If there’s something unbearable happening in your life, think through your choices around the situation and see what could change, whether internally or externally. You may also need to address simple pleasures to return to the enjoyment of being alive and having a body.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, please immediately get help by calling the National Suicide Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or call or text 988.

Speaking What Can’t Be Spoken

Snoring can be shockingly loud—louder than a person might ever be in their waking life. Snoring can be a way of communicating something that can’t be spoken during the day. Consider the following:

• Is there something “stuck in your throat”?

• What are you not saying during the day?

• Do you have feelings, thoughts, or emotions that feel unacceptable to other people or even to yourself?

• Are you harboring secrets, whether your own or someone else’s?

• Is there some other sound, like a groan or scream, that’s not coming out during the day?

Chakra Imbalances: Third Eye and Throat

Snoring happens in the throat, so it has a natural relationship with the throat chakra. This is the energy center that is all about communication and expression. It is in balance when we clearly communicate our needs, feelings, creativity, and boundaries while also being able to compassionately listen. Our throat chakra is often out of balance when we’re not expressing ourselves at all or when we talk too much, often without really saying anything or feeling heard. Consider the following:

• Do you feel that it’s easy to express how you feel?

• When you try to express yourself, do you feel heard and understood?

• Is there a part of you or your creativity that’s suppressed right now?

• Do you often communicate with other people with the focus being on them but never on you?

Snoring can also have a relationship with nasal congestion, which restricts the flow of breath into the body through the nose. This relates to the sinuses and the third eye chakra, located between the eyebrows. It is our spiritual center, the seat of our intuition and spiritual and intellectual knowing. Consider the following:

• How is your relationship with your intuition right now? Do you feel like your intuition is flowing easily or is it blocked?

• Does overthinking get in the way of your intuition?

• Is there too much time for thinking during the day and not enough for feeling, resting, and dreaming?

• Are you not thinking enough? Are you ignoring your own wisdom when making decisions?

Memory and Smelling

If nasal congestion is a part of the equation for you, we can also consider the meaning of a blocked sense of smell. Smell is a very sensual experience that brings us into our bodies in the present moment. It can also immediately bring us back to a memory in a sensual way. Consider the following:

• Do you feel present in your sensual body, the body that can feel physical stimuli?

• Is there something blocking that sensuality (which can include sexuality but doesn’t necessarily have to)?

• Is there a memory that you are avoiding or having trouble processing, especially if it was something that happened in your body?

Spirit Communication

Some people believe that snoring is a way to communicate with spirit. The sounds represent conversations we are having while our souls are traveling between worlds. From this perspective, snoring could represent a shift that’s happening for you on a spiritual or soul level. Consider the following:

• Are you going through changes in terms of your spiritual or personal belief system?

• Are you working out major concepts in your life, like shifting patterns or changing aspects of yourself?

• Have you recently started a new practice like meditation, counseling, or some other work that attends to your spiritual needs more intuitively?

If any of these questions are resonating, you may want to consider how your body or your spirit may want you to face an old memory, reconnect to your intuition, or speak your truth. Moving through this gentle healing may be helpful in your life—and you may snore less, too!

Struggling to even get to sleep? Try this Norse-inspired sleep hack.