CPAPtalk.com

Respirator99 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:06 am

The was some work done a few years ago which indicated that playing the didgeridoo strengthened throat muscles and had a measurable effect on obstructive apnea for a small cohort of patients. The problem is the didg is really difficult to play and you might end up alienating your family and neighbours.

Back when I thought my problem was just loud snoring, I tried playing the didge. Unfortunately I was not among the population for which it helped.

Surprisingly, playing the didgeridoo was not that hard.
Playing it well is a different matter

Playing it well is a different matter

Very true. This is how it should be done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLu9GmV2vF0

If you have a friend with a scooter, this is the best exercise for apnea - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kwaXjtRybhI

Exercise is an effort while awake.
Not happening while I'm asleep.
Cpap does it all for me.
I consider myself sensible . . .
I pity the fool who thinks anything else is possible.

@jereshoph--I've been amazed reading what the experienced & knowledgeable people on this forum have been able to help others achieve in obtaining successful CPAP therapy thru analyzing the CPAP data, adjusting settings and adding cervical collars, mouth tape & more. What you're bringing up might just be another tool for people to try and I wanted to offer some support for your idea.

While we typically think of exercise as building muscle, these oropharyngeal exercises might be more about increasing muscle tone. Muscle tone is described as 'the tension in the relaxed muscle'--and higher tone would help keep muscles in place when asleep (relaxed). I have one reference on this below where improvement with exercises was seen in mild to moderate cases of sleep apnea--and while this small group did not see any significant change in body weight--their neck circumferences got smaller indicating greater muscle tone, I believe. Other key measurements improved as well:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26993338/ "Oropharyngeal exercises in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea: our experience"

Results: Body mass index (25.6 ± 3.1) did not change significantly at the end of the study period. There was significant reduction in the neck circumference (38.4 ± 1.3 to 37.8 ± 1.6) at the end of the study. Significant improvement was seen in symptoms of daytime sleepiness, witnessed apnoea, and snoring intensity. Significant improvement was also seen in sleep indices like minimum oxygen saturation, time duration of Sao2 < 90 %, sleep efficiency, arousal index, and total sleep time N3 stage of sleep at the end of study. Conclusion: Graded oropharyngeal exercise therapy increases the compliance and also reduces the severity of mild to moderate OSAS.

Whether the exercises will be a significant benefit to you or others might depend on the level of OSA you have and how consistently the exercises are performed. But it doesn't cost anything to try it....

You should have posted this one too: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8071570/

4. The Anatomy Underlying the Regulation of Muscle Tone

Muscle tone is regulated by spinal and supraspinal mechanisms.

Yeah, not seein it.