Another Potential Snoring Solution: Snoring Exercises
A recent study by the National Institutes of Health found that over 30% of the Unites States population under the age of forty snores, while 50% of the population over sixty years of age suffers from snoring. The sleep patterns of people who snore as well as their bedmates and family members can be significantly impacted by snoring, leading to issues with their physical and emotional well-being. In addition, snoring can very directly affect your health. The UCLA School of Dentistry recently found that the struggle for breath due to snoring can result in soaring blood pressure, which can damage the walls of the carotid arteries and increase a person’s risk of suffering a stroke. Snoring can also worsen serious health conditions including hypertension. For these reasons, it is important that people find snoring solutions to help alleviate their snoring problem. One new approach to minimizing this is snoring exercise.
We’re not talking about a job around the block or an aerobics class, however. New studies have shown that certain tongue and throat exercises, when practiced consistently over time, can reduce snoring frequency and volume. This type of snoring exercise is designed to strengthen and tighten the muscles and tissues of the mouth, jaw, and throat. For many patients, the loose, excess, or relaxed nature of the soft palate, uvula, and tongue are the problem behind their snoring. When a person breathes while sleeping, his or her airway passage narrows, causing a partial obstruction by the loose tissues. These tissues vibrate against one another, producing a snore. A snoring exercise will help the mouth, jaw, and throat and may strengthen and tighten the problematic tissues, just as a job around the block tightens the fanny and leg muscles.
Experts recommend the snoring solutions exercise be done twice daily, with five repetitions of each exercise. Here is a sampling of some of the exercises designed to minimize snoring. The first set of exercises work to strengthen the muscles of your mouth. Begin by slowly opening your mouth as wide as you can and then closing it completely. Next, pucker your lips into the kissing position and hold for the count of ten. Third, make your lips into a large smile, holding for a count a ten. Then practice holding your mouth open and puckering your lips into the kissing position. Finally, press your lips tightly together and then relax them. You may have never heard of a snoring exercise, but many say they work.
Another type of snoring exercise is designed to work on strengthening your tongue so as to minimize the amount it is relaxed at night. The tongue is one of the biggest snoring culprits, as it can relax directly into the pathway of your airway. To begin, stick your tongue straight out of your mouth, being sure that it sticks straight out and not to the side. Next, practice touching your nose and then your chin with your tongue. Stick your tongue out straight and move it from one corner of your mouth to the other. Hold the position as it reaches each corner. Then, try to push a spoon or other object away using your tongue. Finally, move your tongue in and out of your mouth as quickly as you can.
The final set of exercises works the inner muscles and tissues of your mouth and throat. Begin by saying “ma-ma-ma-ma” as quickly as possible. Then, open your mouth and make the following sounds as quickly as your can: “la-la-la-la,” “ka-ka-ka-ka,” and “kala, kala, kala, kala.”. Gargling with warm water as loudly as you can is another snoring exercise that can help condition your mouth and throat.
The idea of a snoring solutions exercise may seem silly, but if you are in search of a solution to stop snoring that doesn’t involve surgery, taking medicine, or wearing an appliance, they may work for you. You never know when you might benefit from a snoring exercise.
