Throat Flexing, Deeper Sleeping: A Guide About Snoring Exercises

If you are one among the millions of people who have to deal with sleepless nights because of a constant snorer in the same – or, horrifyingly, in another – room and bed as yours, then take pity on the millions of people who do the snoring. On either side of the alternately quiet and rumbling divide is frustration – not incurable, but certainly annoying, frustration.

Snoring can actually kill you in your sleep. Studies have shown that struggling for breath can cause a rise in blood pressure and increase your risk for stroke, hypertension, heart attacks, or heart failure.

The key to solving the problem is to diagnose snoring. But some snorers do not even know that they snore! How can you find out if you do?

Symptoms of snoring include the following:

• Waking up tired, or with a headache

• Feeling sleepy or fatigued throughout the day

• Waking up during the night to jump, jerk, or struggle to breathe

Flabby, weak air passages are the main cause of snoring, and as such snoring exercises can help remedy the problem. Some parts of the throat are not well supported by hard tissue or bone, and can thus stand in the way of proper breathing. It is these vibrating flaps of tissue that create the sounds of snoring, and it is to these flaps that treatment must go if it wishes to solve the problem.

Treatments range from anti-snoring medications, to mouthpieces, to ergonomic pillows, and even to operation, in the most severe cases. These treatments, however, can be expensive, and may cost a pretty penny.

So how do you cure snoring without opening your wallet? Exercise.

Snoring exercises are not your ordinary run of the treadmill kind. They involve only a few minutes of your day, and, if performed diligently for a good amount of time, can reduce, and even cure snoring.

• Open and close your mouth slowly, stretching it to its full extent. Make sure that your lips are pressed closely together when you close your mouth.

• Air kiss. Pucker your lips tightly, then hold for ten seconds. Relax.

• Smile like the Joker. Spread your lips widely into a large, stretched out smile, then hold for ten seconds. Relax.

• Work those lips! Try to kiss with your mouth open, or close your lips tightly and try to slurp.

• Stretch that tongue. Stick your tongue out as far as you can, without it flexing off to one side or rolling. Hold for ten seconds, then move it slowly from one corner of your lips to the other.

• Reach for your nose and chin. Stick your tongue out as far as you can, and try to touch its end to your nose, then your chin. Hold it for ten seconds at each end, then relax.

• Quicken that tongue. Stick your tongue in and out as quickly as you can, then move it from one corner of your mouth to other as speedily as you can make it. Move it all around your lips in a swift, unending circle.

• Vocalize! Perform speech exercises by saying the following distinctly: “ma-ma-ma-ma,” “la-la-la-la,” “ka-ka-ka-ka,” and “kala-kala-kala-kala.” Be sure to enunciate each syllable. Sing out “A-E-I-O-U” and enunciate each letter.

• Gargle with warm water to clear and soothe your throat.

• Repeat the exercises at least five times a day.

Snoring is a problem all of us have to contend with, whether as snorers or listeners, and either way, we have to find a cure for it. Pills and operations will cost a lot to keep snoring at bay – and they may not work for a long time, or even at all.

So do a few snoring exercises, stretch a few facial muscles, and sing a few notes. You might be sleeping to the sweet sound of silence before long.