I'm Courtney Martin, and this is How To, the show where we solve life's problems with the help of people who have figured it out.

According to estimates from Johns Hopkins, about 45% of adults snore, and a quarter of us snore regularly.

Now, snoring can be a big problem if you share a bed with someone. It might send that person off to sleep on the couch or in another bed.

If it happens regularly, that can put a strain on the relationship.

But snoring can cause other serious issues because it's essentially obstructed breathing.

We're talking sleeplessness, high blood pressure, difficulty concentrating,

headaches, increased risk for cavities. The list goes on. Snoring might also be a sign of

sleep apnea, a serious disorder where you stop breathing for periods of time while sleeping,

and if you think that might be you, then you should see a doctor.

But so many of us are in this gray area.

We don't know a lot about our own snoring because, well, we sleep through it.

Our partners, on the other hand, they live to tell the tale the next morning.

That's the position Andrew Zaleski found himself in.

He's a journalist who writes about science, technology, and business. He's also married to a light sleeper. He did what any good journalist does. He started

digging. He looked into why we snore. He interviewed doctors and tested out a bunch of anti-snoring

devices to see what actually works.

He wrote about this journey for Slate, and we asked him to join us to tell us about it.

If you snore or someone you love snores, I hope what he found out helps everyone get a better night's sleep.

You wrote this story, which is very important to some of us, myself included, who have

had a lifetime of snoring and wondered how to deal with it. How did you come to this topic of

snoring? I knew that I snored, and I figured, given what I do, I should probably try to

write something about this.

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