Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea occurs due to floppy airway muscles, poor tongue positioning (“tongue posture”), and breathing through the mouth during sleep. Mouth and throat exercises can tone up the airway and tongue muscles while promoting breathing through the nose.

Like how going to the gym regularly can tone up your arms, regular mouth and throat exercises will add strength to your mouth and airway muscles. Muscles that are more taut are less likely to be floppy and flutter.

Technically, these exercises are called “myofunctional therapy” or “oropharyngeal exercises”. The oropharynx is the area at the back of your mouth that includes the back of the tongue, sides of the throat, tonsils, adenoids, and soft palate (the soft muscular part at the back of the roof of the mouth).

Researchers have found that doing repetitive oropharyngeal exercises while you’re awake can help keep the tissue from becoming excessively floppy and vibrating during sleep. Several studies have shown that toning these muscles has been shown to help reduce snoring and milder forms of obstructive sleep apnea.

GIVE THE GIFT OF SLEEP: HEALY WATCH