Sleep Apnea Exercises: Excellent Adjunct Therapy You Cannot Afford To Ignore

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, chances are that you have been recommended urgent weight loss. Body weight and sleep apnea are intricately related and without weight loss, no treatment for this distressful sleep disorder can be effective. But does weight loss for sleep apnea mean only losing that extra flab around the waist, thighs and abdomen? Not really, as sleep apnea is also caused by accumulation of extra fat on the muscles directly involved with breathing like the jaw, throat, neck and tongue. So, how do you ensure that your weight loss initiatives are also effective at the level of breathing muscles? The only way you can lose weight around the breathing muscles is by doing sleep apnea exercises. These exercises offer excellent adjunct therapy alongside the mainline exercise programs that the apnea patient is going to undertake. Sleep apnea exercises: why? Accumulation of excess fat in the breathing mnuscles results in their becoming flaccid and weak. In turn they collapse during sleep causing blockage during breathing. Sleep apnea exercises are the only way one can strengthen and tone these important muscles. The best part about these exercises is that they do not take much effort and time and can be done simultaneously with jogging, walking or any other outdoor or indoor exercise program that the patient might be doing to lose weight. Sleep apnea exercises focus primarily on the muscles for which they are designed. For example, throat exercises for sleep apnea would help in toning the vocal cord and other related muscles of the throat. However, sleep apnea exercises alone cannot reduce the symptoms of apnea; nor can they work like miracles in providing relief. These exercises have to be done in conjunction with the mainline workout program and have to done diligently every day following all instructions for at least 3 months to see any visible improvement of condition. Why focus on throat exercises for sleep apnea? The main aim of any kind of sleep apnea exercises is to tone and strengthen the otolaryngologic muscles (belonging to throat, nose and mouth) as these muscles can actually block the air passage if they become weak. One has to keep in mind while doing any kind of exercises for sleep apnea is that one should do it according to doctors’ recommendations and focus only on the muscles which the doctor thinks should be strengthened, depending on the cause, severity and symptoms of sleep apnea. For example, throat exercises for sleep apnea work best when the lax muscles of the upper throat are weak and the apnea condition is between mild and moderate. Singing is one of the most important throat exercises for sleep apnea. However this is no ordinary singing. One has to sing some specific tunes and sounds ensure that the impact is on the soft palate, palatopharyngeal arch, nasopharynx and tongue. Since vocal cords are the strongest throat muscles, such specific sleep apnea exercises would surely impact the vocal cord which, if not toned properly, collapses during sleep. By doing such throat exercises for sleep apnea, you can actually reduce apnea episodes and breathe as normally as possible.