Do air purifiers help with snoring?

Almost everyone will experience snoring in one form or another. 

For some, it’s an occasional side effect of too much alcohol before bed or an odd sleeping position. For others, it’s a constant, chronic problem that disturbs both their own sleep and their partner’s.

If you’re struggling with chronic snoring and think an air purifier could help, this article is for you. Research shows that air quality can majorly impact respiratory health for some, which can worsen snoring. 

However, other causes of snoring may not be impacted by air quality and can even indicate a severe medical condition.

How air purifiers help with snoring

An air purifier will only impact snoring if it’s caused by allergies or other irritation in the throat and airway. 

Air purifiers clean the air in your home by filtering it through several layers to remove pollutants. Then, it releases the clean air back into your house. The particles removed by this process include particles like pet dander, dust, pollen, spores, bacteria and more. Some devices can even remove things like cigarette smoke. 

All of these things can irritate and potentially worsen snoring. This is especially true if you’re one of the 30% of Americans who already have allergies or any other health condition affecting your breathing.

If you know, these pollutants are present in your home (such as if you have a pet), setting up an air purifier could be beneficial to your sleep. This is true even if you don’t snore. A study conducted in 2019 and published in the academic journal Sleep found that higher indoor air quality leads to more sleep quality in most people.

The most common causes of snoring

Snoring refers to the hoarse sound we sometimes create while sleeping. It can vary wildly between people, both in sound and intensity. Almost everyone snores at some point in their life.

It happens as you transition from shallow to deep sleep. At this point, the muscles in the roof of your mouth — in particular, your soft palate — relax and partially block your airway. 

As you breathe, they vibrate — causing the snoring sound we all know and (don’t) love. The more severely your airway is blocked, the louder and more forceful the snoring.

Snoring as a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea

It should be noted that snoring is one of the most common symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a severe sleep condition.

However, this is enough to interrupt your deep sleep and halt the positive effects that you get from it. OSA can severely impact your physical and mental well-being if left untreated. 

If you experience it, your sleep will be constantly interrupted — meaning it will be of inferior quality. Most people with OSA wake up five or more times per hour at night. 

The condition also increases your risk of heart disease, depression and damage to your day-to-day functioning.

However, not everyone who snores has OSA.

It should also be noted that anyone can have OSA, no matter their age, gender, or existing medical diagnosis. This includes children.

If you snore excessively and have other symptoms on this list, you should discuss OSA with your doctor. Leaving the condition untreated can be very harmful. An air purifier alone is not an effective treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

The best air purifiers for your bedroom

We’ve tested many different air purifiers to find the best device for use in your bedroom. We considered everything from ease of use and power consumption to noise produced while you sleep.

	👑 BEST OVERALL	💰 FOR TIGHT BUDGETS	🛋️ FOR LARGE SPACES
	Smart Health S	Taotronics AP003	Blueair Blue Pure 211+
AIR CLEANING SPEED ⚡	29 minutes	29 minutes	18 minutes
CADR 👩‍🔬	185 CFM / 315 m³/h	226 CFM / 384 m³/h	350 CFM / 595 m³/h
FILTER TECHNOLOGY 💨	H12 HEPA and optional activated charcoal filter	H13 HEPA with activated carbon pellets	HEPASilent™ and Activated Charcoal Filter
MAX ROOM SIZE 📏	430 sq. ft.	322 sq. ft	540 sq. ft.
WEIGHT ⚖️	10.1 lbs / 4.58 kg	18 lbs / 8.16 kg	12.5 lbs / 5.67 kg
OUR REVIEW 🔍	Smart Health S review	Taotronics AP300 review	Blueair Blue Pure 211+ review
PRICE 💵	$189.95	Price not available	$319.99

You can see our full explanation of this process and our results here. The Smart Health S was our favorite option for bedtime air purifying. This was primarily because of its small size, appealing design, effectiveness and relatively quiet while on.

To ensure the best air quality while you sleep, place your air purifier in your bedroom and leave it on overnight. No dangers are associated with this and the energy cost is negligible. 

If you’re concerned about the noise a purifier makes while trying to sleep, you might want to seek out a device that includes a “night” or “sleep” mode. This mode will put the purifier in its quietest setting, creating as little noise as possible while still cleaning the air in your room.

For some, the gentle hum of an air purifier is calming. You may even prefer to sleep with it on for this reason — especially if it means your partner stops snoring.

Final thoughts

In short, using an air purifier in your bedroom at night can help with snoring — if that snoring is caused by irritation or inflammation of the airways. This is an extremely common culprit when it comes to loud snoring. So, if you’ve crossed off everything else, an air purifier is worth a try!

We hope this article has been helpful and you can get great sleep soon.

Last update on 2023-12-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API