It can be frustrating when your sleep partner wakes you up because you’re snoring and yet, you never hear yourself snoring. Most people will declare, “I don’t snore!”
The Reason
But there’s a valid reason why you don’t hear your snoring. The brain stem has an area called the sub-coerulea region that is activated while we sleep. It reduces our sensory sensitivities so we don’t act out our dreams. This and other areas of the brain are responsible for stopping or suppressing sensory information. It works similarly to tickling: We cannot tickle ourselves but others can because we are expecting it if we try to tickle ourselves but if someone else does, we feel the tickling sensation.
