I once ended a “relationship” because he snored.

It felt like the world was about to end the whole night, the bed shaking like an earthquake every ten seconds. It was hell, and nothing he or I did could stop it.

So I walked out that morning and we have laughed about it ever since.

But, according to The Telegraph, we shouldn’t be laughing about it. Snoring is a real problem that can not only ruin relationships, but can also destroy careers and, in its most extreme form, it can kill.

Snoring is an epidemic with real public health consequences:

Left untreated it can develop into sleep apnea, which causes blood oxygen levels to plummet and is associated with impotence, loss of concentration, poor memory, diabetes, hypertension and, most worrying of all, heart attacks in the middle of the night.

You see, a not-so-silent killer.

You also might be well aware that it’s not only men who snore. Here are the stats:

Around 40 percent of men over 30 snore, of which two percent have sleep apnea. Almost two thirds of men over 65 snore, with ten percent suffering sleep apnea. Not that it is exclusively a male problem, as a fifth of women snore too, and the figures are likely to be much higher as social stigma drives snorers underground.

The solution? Well, Mike Dilkes has decided that snoring is a habit that we don’t necessarily choose to have, but one we can choose to stop by practising a “tongue and throat workout designed to tone up the structures in the neck that cause snoring”.

Dilkes, a consultant ENT surgeon at London’s Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, explained the perimeters around his notion:

While not a cure for those snorers who have physiological conditions such as nasal injuries or enlarged tonsils, the workout will help most to stop or to at least reduce decibel levels.

Given the average snore is 60 to 100 decibels, comparable to a household vacuum cleaner, any reduction in volume will be music to tired ears.

So what does this little exercise entail? Well:

Tongue curls

These involve curling your tongue backwards in the mouth towards the soft palate then bringing it forward to touch the back of the upper teeth.

Open wide and say ahhhh…

Mouth stretches tighten the soft palate as you stretch your mouth open as wide as you can, while ‘ahhh’-ing for 20 seconds.

Squeal!

Exercising the lower throat, or oropharynx involves poking out your tongue as far as it goes, taking a deep breath and making a high-pitched noise (similar to gargling with air) for 30 seconds.

For no more than five minutes a day, you could reduce your snoring considerably. Imagine how happy your partner will be!

You can read more about the daily workout here and, if it turns out to be just another “miracle cure” that doesn’t work for you, go for that consultation with Sleep Renewal‘s professionals and get it sorted.

[source:telegraph]