Sleep apnea can cause fatigue, confusion and death. This condition can be lessened or prevented with certain exercises. If you feel you are experiencing sleep apnea, seek medical attention immediately. Learning how to treat this condition can help you regain quality sleep.
Sleep Apnea
If you stop breathing briefly or have a shallow breath when you are asleep, you are experiencing sleep apnea. This is a common disorder and is usually an ongoing disruption of your sleep. According to MayoClinic.com, sleep apnea most often occurs from five to 30 times per hour. Normal breathing typically resumes but sometimes with a snorting or choking sound. Apnea disrupts your sleep by drifting you out of the deep phase of sleep into a light phase, which is why it is one of the leading causes of daytime fatigue.
Causes
The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reports that sleep apnea can occur for several reasons. If you have obstructive sleep apnea, the muscles that support your soft palate, uvula, tonsils and your tongue, located in the back of your throat, are relaxing. Your airway becomes smaller as you breathe and stops for a period because of this muscle relaxation, which lowers your oxygen level. Your brain wakes you from sleep so you can open your airway. Central sleep apnea is less likely to occur and results when your brain fails to signal your breathing muscles. This form of apnea causes you to wake with shortness of breath or have a difficult time getting or staying asleep. Snoring and daytime sleepiness can occur with central sleep apnea and the most common cause is heart disease and stroke. You are more likely to remember waking with this form of apnea. Complex sleep apnea is caused by a problem with the breathing rhythm, lapses of breathing effort and airway obstruction.
Face Exercise
Exercising the muscles in your face can be effective therapy for sleep apnea and it can be done in ways. Start with opening your mouth as wide as it will go and then close your mouth until your lips meet. Puckering your lips as if you are kissing someone and making an exaggerated smile for 10 seconds can work your face muscles, according to the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Tongue
Exercising your tongue can improve sleep apnea. Stick your tongue straight out of your mouth, relax and repeat this action several times. Each day you should work on sticking your tongue out farther. Another exercise you can perform is to attempt to touch your chin with the tip of your tongue. Work your tongue by holding a spoon against the tip and try to push on it as your hands hold the spoon still. Sticking your tongue in and out as fast as you can and flicking your tongue from one side to the other are also ways to exercise your tongue.
Soft Palate
Your soft palate can be exercised by pronouncing an oral vowel intermittently and continuously. An example of this is to repeat "ma" four times as quickly as possible. Other sounds that you can repeat include "la," "ka" and "kala." Repeat them four times as quickly and as accurately as you can. Gargling loudly with warm water is another way to exercise your soft palate. Sing "A-E-I-O-U" as loudly as you can as well as other songs that accentuate vowel sounds to assist in strengthening your soft palate.
