He yawns and snores

Dear Anne

I have a very unusual question for you. It's comical actually but at the same time the problem is annoying me. My husband yawns when he is fast asleep! Why is this? I know he is asleep because he is usually snoring in the middle of the yawning. I would be so grateful if you could let me know why he does this. Thankyou.

Yvonne

Dear Yvonne

Your question isn't as unusual as you may think. Yawning is the body's way of rebalancing the amount of oxygen it needs for either wakefulness or sleep. You yawn when you wake up because you need more oxygen to have the energy to move about. If your husband's yawning when he's asleep or just drifting off, it could be that the snoring means he's not getting the amount of oxygen he needs at that point. The body's quite busy while we're asleep, renewing cells and carrying out digestion et cetera, but depending what point of the process he's in he could need a deep breath or two to keep it going. When people snore, it's a combination of catarrh rattling in the tubes and the relaxing of the soft palate (the soft back part of the roof of the mouth, by where the tonsils are), which vibrates to the breathing. A yawn is the body's way of automatically balancing things out.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with what you describe, at least in terms of your husband's health. For your own peace of mind, why not try ear-plugs? And encourage your husband to sleep on his side rather than on his back, as that helps cut down snoring too. Being a bit on the tubby side can make snoring worse so healthy meals and encouraging him to do more exercise could also help.

I hope the two of you have many healthy, companionable snoozes ahead of you. Good luck!