Do Air purifiers Help With Snoring – Filters And Allergens


Chronic snoring affects almost 25% of adults and can even indicate obstructive sleep apnea. Pollution in our air can trigger nasal congestion, allergic rhinitis, and lead to snoring.

Air purifiers can help with snoring triggered by allergic reactions or nasal congestion. The filtration system in air purifiers remove allergens, including dust, mold and pet dander helping to reduce chronic snoring. Air purifiers that combine a pre-filter, True HEPA (or H13 to H14) filter and an activated carbon filter are the most effective.

This article has everything you need to know about snoring and its connection with air pollutants and how air purifiers can help.

What Causes Snoring?

Snoring is the coarse, repeated sound that occurs during sleep when the relaxed throat tissues vibrate against the inhaled air. Although occasional snoring is common and not harmful, chronic snoring is often an indication of underlying disorders, especially obstructive sleep apnea.

Many factors can potentially cause chronic snoring, some of which are as follows:

  • Obesity: The extra tissues at the back of the throat restrict the airflow
  • Mouth Anatomy: Low lying and thick soft palate or abnormally long uvula
  • Alcoholism: Excessive alcohol consumption relaxes muscles
  • Narrow airway: Naturally obstructs airflow
  • Allergens: Allergies inflame the throat lining, making it swell, which eventually blocks the airway.

Many severe symptoms like abrupt episodes of involuntary pauses in breathing, restless sleep, tiredness, morning headaches, and cognitive decline occur from snoring. So, it is imperative to address and reduce chronic snoring as soon as possible.

It is clear that most of the above-listed causes can only be fixed surgically or by lifestyle modifications, and the only factor that air purifiers can help control is the allergens.

There is no definitive data to understand how many people experience snoring due to allergic reactions. However, allergic rhinitis (a cumulation of nasal congestion, runny nose, and sneezing) is the sixth most common chronic disease, and a study suggests that approximately 11% of its patients present with residual snoring.

Controlling allergies through air purification can therefore, reduce or even completely prevent snoring in many people.

Humidifiers can also help improve our sleep and even snore scores – read more about that here.

Sleep Apnea

Air purifiers can trap allergens that aggravate airway obstruction and influence sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a common disorder associated with respiratory distress that causes breathing to stop repeatedly. It affects almost 22 million Americans and is linked to multiple life-threatening conditions.

Indoor air quality significantly affects sleep apnea, as the particulate matter in the air can make an airway obstruction worse, causing trouble breathing. Air purifiers remove airborne pollutants and can help improve sleep quality and sleep apnea to a degree.

How Air Purifiers Can Help With Snoring

Air purifiers are devices that clean the air by filtering contaminants from it. These pollutants include dust, pollen, pet hair, dander, mold, and bacteria, all of which can cause nasal congestion and hence, snoring.

An air purifier works to remove airborne particles and contaminants by:

  • Firstly, the fan located at the front rotates to draw in the surrounding air.
  • Next, the incoming air is passed through a series of filters.
  • The purified air is then dispensed into the room through the vent.

Multiple different filters can be installed in air purifiers, and each of them serves to remove specific kind/s of pollutants.

Pre-filter

The pre-filter is a generic filter with large filter pores. It traps large-sized particles like dust, debris, and hair. They also act as the first step in the process and keep the other filters from getting saturated. 

HEPA Filter

The HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter has microscopic pores and can catch 99.97% of dust, dander, molds, and microbes that measure up to 0.03 microns. It has many sub-types, out of which Medical Grade 13 and Medical Grade 14 HEPA are the most effective.

Carbon Filter

The activated carbon filter removes the harmful gasses and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), some of which (benzene, chlorobenzene, etc.) trigger allergies upon inhalation. This filter has a particular pore structure that absorbs and traps the majority of the gas molecules passing through the system.

UV Light Bulb

UV light bulbs emit UV-C (254 nm wavelength) that disinfects by inactivating a range of bacteria.

Ionizer

An ionizer is a small device installed within the air purifier. It employs bactericidal negative ions to kill bacteria.

It is essential to note that the efficiency of ionizers is still not established, and thus, their effectiveness in protecting against bacterial infections and allergies is controversial. The presence of an ionizer should not be used as a deciding factor when investing in an air purifier.

Air Purifiers That Help With Snoring

Since filtration is the primary mechanism of air purification, theoretically, we can say that all air purifiers help with snoring (caused by allergies). However, since each filter removes a specific pollutant, the filter or series of filters in an air purifier determines how effective it is against snoring.

Understandably, going for air purifiers that have the most or all of the essential filters is better. However, since HEPA filters successfully filter more than 99% of airborne particles, choosing air purifiers that have at least a medical-grade H13 or True HEPA filter is the most important one.

Ideally, an air purifier should have a pre-filter, HEPA filter and carbon filter to guarantee the removal of contaminants commonly responsible for triggering the nasal congestion that drives snoring.

When To Use An Air Purifier

Since allergic triggers are always present, it is better to keep the air purifier running throughout the day, especially if your allergic rhinitis is severe. However, if that’s not practical, an air purifier should be left on for at least 8 hours a day.

Note that apart from running an air purifier, its regular cleaning and adequate maintenance are also imperative to maximize its efficiency. Clogged filters, insufficient airflow, broken fan, overheating, or even improper placement of the unit can keep it from working optimally.

It is generally best to keep an air purifier running when sleeping as it can purify the air and improve the sleep quality. However, it is crucial to ensure that the air purification unit does not generate ozone before leaving it on.

Some air purifiers produce ozone because the gas inactivates contaminants. However, due to the harmful and potentially lethal effects of ozone, one should strictly refrain from using units that generate the gas.

Theresa Orr

Theresa Orr holds a PhD in Earth Science and specializes in determining past climates from rocks using geochemistry. Her passion for clean water, soil and air drives her to provide easy to understand information for everyone to read.

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