Living with sleep apnea is never a fun experience, especially if you’re being treated with a bulky CPAP machine each night. Fortunately, there are some great facial exercises that can help improve sleep apnea and the snoring that comes along with it. These exercises are called Myofunctional Therapy, and they can help decrease weakness in the tongue, throat, and the mouth. These exercises specifically target the muscles that are used to swallow and chew food and beverages, the same muscles that can contribute to sleeping conditions when weakened.
Key Takeaways:
- Myofunctional therapy exercises are a non-invasive way to potentially mitigate or stop one’s snoring entirely.
- Weak muscles are generally at the root of snoring, which is often of an open-mouthed or closed-mouthed nature.
- Weak throat muscles are often the culprit when it comes to open-mouthed snoring, while the closed-mouth variety is usually all about the tongue.
“Medical research shows that an estimated 20 million Americans suffer from OSA and chronic snoring, which is marked by constant wakefulness throughout the night and feelings of exhaustion during the day.”