Sleep apnoea and snoring
Breathe your way to better sleep
Imagine if during a night's sleep you woke up every 10-15 minutes then went back to sleep. You’d be exhausted right? Imagine if you woke up every 2 minutes, all night. How would you function the next day? You’d feel groggy, snappy, unfocused, unwell. This is essentially what happens when you have a disorder of your breathing during sleep.
Sleep apnoea is a common but serious sleep disorder characterized by repeated interruptions in breathing during the night. It is estimated that up to 10 million people in the UK suffer with sleep apnoea affecting men more than women. When you are tested for sleep apnoea clinicians use a measure called the Apnoea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) which looks at the average number of breathing pauses (apnoeas) or shallow breathing events (hypopneas) that occur each hour during someone’s sleep. The most prevalent form, Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA), occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax during sleep, causing the airway to narrow or collapse. Breathing against a narrowed airway is hard and may lead to fragmented sleep, snoring, and a drop in blood oxygen levels. Individuals may experience headaches especially in the morning, a dry mouth, breathlessness, poor concentration and feeling exhausted during the day.
The standard treatment for OSA is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) therapy during sleep. This entails the wearing of a facemask through which a continuous flow of air is driven to create a pressure which keeps the airways open. This treatment may help to reduce the incidence of sleep apnoeas however, it is not very comfortable, has a huge impact on relationships and only addresses the structural cause while in place. It doesn’t fix the overall problem.
There’s Exercises for Everything!
To improve the problem that causes sleep apnoea and snoring there is evidence to show that a practice called Oropharyngeal rehabilitation introduced alongside breathing exercises can be helpful. The oropharynx is the medical term for the back of the throat so this is quite simply exercise for the throat. Oropharyngeal exercises provide tools for strengthening the airway, reducing the severity of symptoms and improving overall quality of life. The primary goal of these exercises is to improve the tone and coordination of the muscles surrounding the airway. Just as you would lift weights to strengthen your biceps, targeted movements can train the tongue, soft palate, and throat muscles to remain firm and open rather than floppy and obstructive during sleep.
Research suggests that consistent practice - typically 10 to 30 minutes a day - can reduce the incidence of apnoea by nearly 50% in some adults. Beyond strengthening the airway, these exercises promote nasal breathing. Mouth breathing during sleep significantly increases the likelihood of airway collapse. Through increased nose breathing you can improve upper airway hygiene, optimise oxygenation, feel more relaxed and gain more energy leading to healthier lifestyle.
Key Exercises for Sleep Apnoea
1. Diaphragmatic (Belly) Breathing
Many people breathe with the top of their chest leading to a shallow, less efficient breathing pattern which overstimulates the nervous system. Diaphragmatic breathing strengthens the primary respiratory muscle and encourages the body into a relaxed state tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system, the part that calms everything down.
How to do it: Lie on your back with one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. Inhale slowly through your nose, ensuring only the hand on your belly rises. Exhale slowly through your nose.
2. Alternate Nostril Breathing
This technique, common in yoga, helps clear the nasal passages andbalances the nervous system.
How to do it: Close your right nostril with your thumb and inhale through the left. Close the left nostril with your ring finger and exhale through the right. Inhale through the right, then exhale through the left.
3. The Tongue Slide
The tongue is a major culprit in airway obstruction. Strengthening it prevents it from falling back into the throat during sleep.
How to do it: Place the tip of your tongue against the back of your top front teeth. Slowly slide the tongue backward along the roof of your mouth. Repeat this 20 times.
4. Vowel Pronunciation
Exaggerating vowel sounds engages the muscles of the soft palate and the sides of the throat.
How to do it: Say the vowels (A-E-I-O-U) loudly and in an exaggerated manner, holding each sound for five seconds. Repeat the full circuit 10 times.
Breathing exercises are not a ‘quick fix’ and should not replace medical advice or prescribed CPAP therapy without a doctor’s consultation. However, they offer a non-invasive, cost-free way to improve sleep quality and cardiovascular health. Studies show that benefits appear after about three months of consistent daily practice. Breathing exercises, weight loss and improving lifestyle habits all have the potential to improve sleep apnoea, sleep quality and therefore quality of life.
It takes work so get in touch to see how Breathe and Move techniques can help you breathe easier.
Note: If you suspect you have sleep apnoea, it is important to consult a healthcare professional for a formal diagnosis, as untreated apnoea can lead to hypertension and heart disease.
Written by Jennie Harmsworth. Having qualified with a degree in Physiotherapy, Jennie spent more than 10-years working in intensive care and post-surgical rehabilitation at both University College London Hospital (UCLH) and Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital.
As a vastly experienced respiratory physiotherapist, Jennie has specialist expertise in dysfunctional breathing, breathlessness management, airway clearance and chronic cough as well as a range of other respiratory conditions such as Asthma, COPD and bronchiectasis.