• Question: Can you snore in space?

    Asked by jessrobinson03 to Kevin, Katie, Jon, Floris, Delma, Adrian on 8 Jan 2016.
    • Photo: Katie Hassell

      Katie Hassell answered on 8 Jan 2016:

      I guess you could, snoring is an effect of how your breathing changes during sleep and the astronauts live in an artificial atmosphere. Although, many snorers only snore if they’re lying on their back, so with no up or down, maybe it wouldn’t!

    • Photo: Floris Van Den Berg

      Floris Van Den Berg answered on 9 Jan 2016:

      You probably can but chances are a bit lower than on Earth. The main reason people snore is the relaxation of muscles in the throat area which causes vibrations of soft tissues around the air-pipe. As Katie mentioned, when people lay on their back, the relaxation of tissue causes the air-pipe to be partially closed which causes the snoring sound.

      In generally people who are a overweight have more soft tissue so snore more. Astronauts are really fit, so the chances of them snoring are lower to start with.

      When you go out of the spacecraft and you could for some reason survive without a spacesuit (which is not possible), and you fell asleep (which is hard when you’re gasping for air) there would be no air to transmit the sound of the snoring, so at least it’s nicer for the person sleeping next to the snorer 😉

      Floris

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