system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why don't we snore while awake? What changes in our breathing when we fall asleep?
gpt
Respiratory therapy student checking in. There are a few factors which may compound with eachother causing symptoms ranging from simple snoring, to severe sleep apnea. As mentioned earlier, the snoring sound comes from a closing airway in the back of your mouth/throat.   
  
While we sleep we have different stages of sleep we cycle through every 90 minutes or so. The last of these is called REM sleep. During REM sleep our body is at its most relaxed and muscles that normally support the throat and tongue relax as well and collapse the airway. As air is forced past these now flappy tissues, they make sound we hear as snoring.  
  
Other factors which we look at are usually related to things that would cause the mouth and throat to be small. A small or recessed jaw doesnt allow for as much space to begin with. Obesity fills the neck area with fat pushing in on that space.  
  
To fix this we can use specialized mouth guards which pull the jaw forward, pulling the tongue forward with it, opening that space. CPAP machines use constant air pressure to force the airway open from the inside, enough to allow for adequate breathing.