Reduce Snoring & Sleep Apnea by Practicing Tongue & Throat Exercise

Posted by Niharika Dutta on December 6th, 2019

Are people in your house feeling irritating for your snoring habit? Have you tried to find out various solutions to get rid of this irritating noisy problem? You may have tried various ways to solve this problem, but finding its solution maybe not simple. However, exercise is the only solution to such noisy problem. No need to drop sweat for reducing snoring problems, some smart mouth exercises are enough to solve such problem.

Along with snoring, sleep apnea is also a crucial sleep disorder in which you may start and stop breathing repeatedly during your slumber. Sleep apnea is caused when your throat muscles relax. If you snore loudly, then you may feel tired even after a whole night's sleep. In that condition, tongue and throat exercises can only help you solve such vital issue.

How Mouth Exercises Helps in Reducing Sleep Apnea and Snoring?

Snoring increases in frequency and volume at a certain age. Sleep apnea causes when the muscles of your throat can’t work properly. Usually, people snore when they cannot breathe properly from nose and exhales or inhale from their mouths.

In that case, Oral Myofunctional Therapy can be the best treatment for sleep apnea and snoring. This therapy is involved with mouth exercises that help you strengthen your mouth, jaw and the surrounding muscles. If you practice some throat and tongue exercises regularly, then your jaw and mouth will get strengthened and surrounded by dynamic muscles. You will definitely get a positive result after three months if you practice the exercises.

Exercises for Sleep Apnea

As we have discussed that mouth exercises can only work as a remedy in solving the problem of sleep apnea and snoring. So, some fitness experts of Starmark recommend a few exercises which will solve your problem in a few months. Take a look at the steps of those workouts:

1.       Throat Tiger Yell

Tiger Yell helps in conditioning and strengthening the muscles in the back portion of your throat which gets collapsed at night. If those muscles are strengthened, then it will reduce the problem of sleep apnea.

Steps:

• Open your mouth wide.
• Hold that position for 5-6 minutes.
• Resist the urge of yawning.
• Now relax.
• Repeat these steps 10 times.

2.       Soft Palate Blowing

The palate is the root of your mouth, and exercising the soft palate of your mouth helps in increasing the tone in your throat muscles, thereby it increases the stiffness of the muscles. This type of tongue exercise increases muscle tone and decreases the chance of collapsing. This process improves the airflow and solves your breathing problem during your sleep.

Steps:

• Start breathing from your nose.
• Now close your mouth and push the air out through your lips.
• Observe either you are feeling resistance in the back of the throat or not.
• If you feel that, then the exercise is working.

3.       Tongue Slide

This tongue exercise will strengthen your jaw. Practicing this exercise regularly can help you collapse the front and back muscles of your throat. This process also helps in reducing noisy snoring.

Steps:

• Stick your tongue out, and stretch it towards your nose.
• Try to touch your nose with your tongue.
• If you can touch your nose with your tongue, then you can easily make your jaw stronger.
• Hold each repetition for a few seconds, and then relax.
• Repeat this exercise for 10 times or more for a better result.

4.       Jaw Tension

This exercise is quite easy, and it is not a part of face acrobatics. This workout is like giving massage to your jaw. So, massage helps in circulating blood, and it also reduces the tightness of your muscles.

Steps:

• Begin this exercise by closing your mouth and the tip of your tongue by touching its roof.
• Now, slowly open your mouth.
• Again, touch the tip of your roof.
• Try to keep your mouth in contact with the tip of your tongue by touching its roof.
• Repeat these steps 9-10 times.

5.       Play Didgeridoo

Not all fitness enthusiasts are musicians or interested in playing Didgeridoo, but you can use this large wind instrument as a therapy. Didgeridoo is a musical instrument that was used by the indigenous people of Australia. Playing this instrument can help you strengthen the muscles of the upper airways when you puff this instrument through your cheeks.

Exercises that Helps your Reduce Snoring

Along with Sleep Apnea, Snoring is also reduced with the help of some workouts as follows:

1.       Roof Smoosh

This throat exercise is beneficial for reducing the loud noisy snores. It also helps in improving your breathing problems.

Steps:

• Grip your tongue with the roof of your mouth like a suction.
• Don’t keep space between your tongue and your palate.
• Hold the position as much as you can keep, and now release.
• Repeat this exercise again.

2.       Cheek Push

This physical activity increases tension in the muscles of your cheeks and throat. That process helps in increasing the stiffness, which can reduce your snoring problem.

Steps:

• Press your mouth with your right index finger.
• Push cheek with the help of your finger.
• Now repeat the same with another cheek.
• Repeat these steps 10-15 times by switching the side.

3.       Tongue Carpet

The name of this exercise may sound new, but this is an effective workout to reduce sleep disorder and snoring.

Steps:

• Press your bottom teeth with your tongue.
• Now, force your tongue to the bottom of your mouth, and keep contact with your teeth.
• Repeat the same steps about ten times.

4.       Say the Word, ‘Ahhhh’!

When you go to a doctor’s clinic, sometimes doctors say you to say ahhh! Isn’t it? Similarly, you have to open your mouth wide and exaggerate it by saying ahhhh. Repeat this 10-20 times.

Bonus Tips for Reducing Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Along with physical activities, there are some external tips that will help you in reducing the problem of sleep apnea and snoring. Follow those tips, if you want the benefit:

• Overweight is one of the major reasons for snoring. When your throat collapses that means, there is an extra weight on your neck that causes sleep apnea and snoring. So, try to control your weight for reducing this problem.
• Avoid drinking alcohol because it leads to deep sleep by slowing down your nerves. Deep sleep is one of the major reasons for snoring and sleep apnea.
• Reduce smoking because smoking causes congestion which is the other reason for snoring.
• You can use nasal strip or nose drop to stop the tracks of the nose from where snoring comes out. Nasal strip increases the airflow and reduce the risk of sleep apnea and snoring.

All these remedies and workouts can be the great ways to reduce the habit of snoring and sleep apnea to provide you a healthy and happy life. Moreover, practicing these exercises will also save you from stroke and other cardiac diseases that are generally caused because of sleep apnea.