How To Stop Snoring | Earth Science

One in four of us are snoring culprits, giving our bodies and our partners a hard time. Hands up who snores? I've been told I do. It's like a chainsaw. Does anyone snore here? I snore. What does it sound like? When you go to sleep, the muscles in your throat and neck relax and go floppy. This makes the airways narrow so air has to be forced out through them, which makes the soft tissues rattle and vibrate. But how can we stop it? Here are some top tips and some brand new and exciting research to try. Top tip number one. Avoid alcohol before bedtime. Booze relaxes the muscles of the soft palate and the throat, causing the airways to narrow even more. Top tip number two. There's a reason why we're told to lie on our sides. When we lie on our back, our tongue, chin and the skin and fat around here can relax and squish our airways. And finally, top tip number three. If your snoring comes mainly from your nose, you could try this nasal strip. Basically they work by pulling your nostrils apart. And if your snoring comes mainly from your mouth, you could try this mouthpiece. But the best way to keep those airways open and stop the snoring? Strengthen your muscles. A brand new study has shown that doing a simple set of exercises every day can drastically reduce snoring. And they have allowed us to reveal their secret. So, get your tongue. Push it to the roof of your mouth on your hard palate. And then push your tongue backwards. Kind of makes you want to gag a bit. Does it, yeah? Can you feel it? Up, backwards. Another one is push your tongue down on your soft palate and the tip of your tongue forward. So it's like that. So it's like it's almost stretching your tongue. Show me. Uh-huh, like that. Can you feel it kind of stretching, yeah? Fantastic, she's doing it! Open your mouth wide. And you know the dangly bit? The uvula. Push it upwards and go, ah. Ah. Brilliant! For the best results, you need to do these exercises for two minutes each, three times a day. And in the study, snorers saw improvements after three months.