Exercising Your Sleep Apnea

Friday, November 5th, 2010 at 9:28 PM

By Jim Rollince

There are many alternative treatments for things like soreness, stress and anxiety; factors which play a tremendous role in the quality and quantity of nightly sleep. But what about people with things like Sleep Apnea?

There are many different types of breathing methods, all dependants upon the type of treatment one is pursuing. This could include anything from excessive running to cancer treatment. But the trick behind accurately targeting Sleep Apnea is to exercise the muscles of the throat.

There aren’t many established studies behind such a claim, but there’s certainly research to back it. And this research suggests that people may reduce the severity of Sleep Apnea by building up muscles around the airway – This in turn makes them less likely to collapse during the night.

Traditional treatment includes that of breathing machines (i.e. – CPAP), which keep the users airway open and relieves potentially harmful gaps in breathing during sleep. On the other hand, many of these machines are very expensive and uncomfortable – This is why more and more people are looking into building up their throat muscles as to take preventative action.

In a study published just last year, scientists used a large group of people with Sleep Apnea to determine whether or not these exercises were effective. They then split the large group up into two smaller; one was designated to use these breathing techniques on a regular basis, whereas the other simply performed throat exercises (i.e. sliding the tongue back and forth, pronouncing vowels quickly/continuously) 30 minutes daily. Shockingly, those who performed these throat exercises demonstrated a 39% improvement. Congruently, they portrayed diminution in neck perimeter.

The other group showed almost no improvement, yielding proof that the throat technique was enhancing sleep. Various other studies have been performed since then, demonstrating that instruments can play a great role in strengthening the airways.

Yoga and Acupuncture have been known to be amongst some of the most common alternative treatments for a plethora of ailments, including habitual sleep. Although for people with Sleep Apnea, perhaps exercising the throat once or twice a day wouldn’t be so bad?