1/22/2020 Oropharyngeal exercises significantly cuts snoring | CHEST Physician

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NEWS
Oropharyngeal exercises significantly cuts snoring
Publish date: September 20, 2015
By Amy Karon ; MDedge News

▼ Vitals

Key clinical point: Eight minutes of oropharyngeal exercises performed three times a day
for 3 months significantly reduced snoring.

Major finding: The snore index and total snore index significantly dropped for the exercise
group (P .017 and .03) but not for the control group.

Data source: A randomized single-blinded trial of 39 patients with primary snoring or mild
to moderate obstructive sleep apnea.

Disclosures: The study was funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São
Paulo (FAPESP) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
(CNPq). The researchers declared they had no competing interests.

FROM CHEST

Eight minutes of oropharyngeal exercises performed three times a day significantly reduced
snoring, according to a report in the September issue of CHEST.

At 3 months, the snore index and the total snore index dropped significantly for the exercise group
but not the control group, said Vanessa Ieto. Ph.D., of the Sleep Laboratory of the University of São
Paulo in Brazil and her associates. The regimen improved snoring symptoms among primary
snorers as well as patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, although the apnea-
hypopnea index only improved among patients with moderate OSA, the researchers added. “This
set of oropharyngeal exercises is a promising treatment of large populations suffering from snoring
who are currently largely ignored by the medical community,” they said.

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Snoring is embarrassing and disruptive, and can exacerbate pharyngeal neurogenic lesions and
carotid artery atherosclerosis, but few studies have objectively examined interventions for primary
snorers or patients with mild OSA, the researchers said. In their randomized trial of 39 such
patients, the intervention group performed six oropharyngeal exercises three times daily, while the
control group patients practiced breathing exercises and wore nasal dilator strips at night. Both
groups performed nasal lavage with saline solution three times a day. Average age was 46 years,
and mean body-mass index was 28.2 kg/m2. A blinded researcher evaluated data from
computerized polysomnography and a snoring recorder (Chest 2015;148:683-81
<http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/article.aspx?articleid=2292637> ). Nasopharyngeal
exercises used in the study were as follows:

Push tip of tongue against hard palate and slide tongue backward (20 times).

Suck entire tongue up against palate (20 times).

Force back of tongue against floor of mouth while touching tip of tongue to bottom incisors
(20 times).

Elevation soft palate and uvula while intermittently saying “A” (20 times).

Place finger in mouth while pressing buccinator muscle outward (10 times per side).

Chew and deglutinate on both sides of mouth whenever eating. Avoid perioral contraction.

After 3 months, the intervention group had significantly improved on both the snore index (snores
per hour; P = .041 for change from baseline) and the total snore index (the total sound intensity of
snores per hour; P = .033), the researchers said. The intervention group also improved
significantly on several subjective measures, including perceived intensity and frequency of snoring
and sleep quality. The control group only improved in terms of subjective snore frequency, the
researchers said.

The apnea-hypopnea index did not drop significantly for the overall intervention group, but did
improve significantly among patients with moderate OSA, they added. “The most likely explanation
is that a ‘floor effect’ in the AHI prevented the observation of any effect on this metric among
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The study was funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). The researchers declared
they had no competing interests.

References

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