Dr. Subramanya Rao P

Do you snore too much while you sleep? Does your snoring give others a hard time? Snoring is caused because of the vibration of soft tissues and muscles that make up your upper airways. Working out these muscles help in the management of snoring. These soft tissues and muscles stay floppy when you are snoring. The tightening of these muscles helps in reducing the level of floppiness, which results in reduced snoring. There are several simple mouth exercises that are considered to be effective in dealing with snoring. Several researches and experiments have been carried out in order to prove the effectiveness of these exercises in controlling snoring.

The most important and common mouth exercises that help stop your snoring are as follows:

1. The tongue slide
   • You have to push the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, or the hard palate.
   • After this, you simply should slide your tongue backwards. You should repeat this around 20 times.
2. The roof smash
   • In order to practice this exercise, you need to turn your tongue in the upwards directions, and press the whole tongue against flush with the hard palate.
   • This should be repeated 20 times.
3. Tongue carpet
   • You have to force the underside of your tongue against the floor of your mouth.
   • Along with this, you need to keep the tip of your tongue in contact with the bottom part of your front teeth.

4. Say aah!
   • You need to lift your soft palate, at the back of your mouth’s roof and uvula, similar to how you open your mouth during a throat inspection.
5. The cheek push
   • You need to insert your right index finger into the mouth, while pressing the inside of your finger against your left cheek’s length.
   • You should engage your cheek muscle and try to return the pressure back on your finger.
   • This should be repeated 10 times on each side.
6. Even chewing
   • It is important for you to chew evenly even you eat any form of food.
   • You should alternate both sides of your mouth while chewing and swallowing food.

Similar to any form of exercise, you need to practice these mouth exercises on a regular basis to gain benefits and observe positive results. Unless you practice them strictly and continuously, you may not experience any change in your snoring patterns and intensity. You should try incorporating these exercises into your daily schedule. You may do a set after brushing your teeth, or during evening commutes.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!