Sleep Apnea and Throat Exercises

Throat exercises may help patients with sleep apnea reduce their condition's severity.
According to the New York Times (5/24, O'Connor) Really? column, some sleep apnea sufferers "complain that the mask and headgear" used during CPAP "cause uncomfortable side effects, like congestion." There is new data, however, that may support a "free and fairly simple alternative" for such patients. "In a study published last year in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, scientists recruited a group of people with obstructive sleep apnea and split them into two groups." Three months into the trial, investigators found that "subjects who did the throat exercises snored less, slept better, and reduced the severity of their condition by 39 percent. They also showed reductions in neck circumference."