Exercises for puffercheeks?

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:55 pm

OK, I'm tired of the cheek puffing thing. It sometimes disrupts my sleep. I tried the bit with sticking my tongue to the roof of my mouth, but that doesn't change the cheek thing.

I've had good success with the mouth band using the J&J Hurt-Free Wrap. However, it does give me marks and it's expensive! I'd rather not have to do all this wrapping.

I was wondering if anyone knows of exercises to make the muscles in your face, particularly the cheek muscles stronger. I'm convinced that if I had better muscle tone I might not do the puffing that blows the tape off my mouth when I tape it. If I could do that, I suspect I could get by with just a chin strap because I don't breathe in, all my mouth leaks are by breathing out (puffer fish effect).

Has anyone here tried this for the puffer fish effect? If so did it work? Or any general exercises to firm the faces, particularly the cheek muscles would be appreciated.

ColinP · Post by **ColinP** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:46 am

The only thing I can think of is learning to play the saxophone (or any other wind instrument I suppose...). It will really exercise your lips and cheeks

Colin

GrizzlyBear · Post by **GrizzlyBear** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:28 am

Hey, great suggestion ColinP - ALL music is improved by a saxophone!!!! Especially a tenor sax (hey, guess what I play!!!!).

RosemaryB - I read in an article run at the top of the forum the other day that some bloke has done some research (a whole 25 people!!!) which indicates that playing a didgeridoo helps sleep apnea sufferers (they think it may be something to do with vibration of the throat muscles, I think - although it may also be something to do with the circular breathing one has to do, as well). It may also help with the cheek thing, as ColinB suggests. I'm not sure where you're from, but as there are more didgeridoo players overseas than in Australia (there are more in Germany alone than in Australia - of course, the didge was only played by certain tribes in Australia's Northern Territory), you should be able to track someone down who could teach you and supply a didge - students at my school learn on pieces of hard plastic piping.

Regards,

GrizzlyBear

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:19 am

One of the morning news shows last week had a didge on the set and did a segment on using it to help sleep apnea. Unfortunately I had to leave and missed it. Was wondering if they did the subject justice.

Kathy

GrizzlyBear - That tip on practicing on a plastic pipe was good. For breathing exercise purposes, are there dimensions that would be more effective? Hey, would it work with our old cpap hoses!?

zorrro13 · Post by **zorrro13** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:43 am

"Snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome are common sleep disorders caused by the collapse of the upper airways. Continuous positive airway pressure therapy is effective, but is not suitable for many patients.

Reports of didgeridoo players experiencing reduced daytime sleepiness and snoring after practising, led experts in Switzerland to test the theory that training of the upper airways by didgeridoo playing can improve these disorders.

They identified 25 patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and who complained about snoring. Patients were randomly allocated to an intervention group (didgeridoo lessons and daily practice at home for four months) or a control group (remained on a waiting list for lessons).

Compared with the control group, daytime sleepiness and apnoea scores improved significantly in the didgeridoo group. Partners of patients in the didgeridoo group also reported much less sleep disturbance.

Although overall quality of sleep did not differ significantly between groups, a combined analysis of sleep related measures showed a moderate to large effect of didgeridoo playing.

The authors conclude that regular training of the upper airways by didgeridoo playing reduces daytime sleepiness and snoring in people with moderate obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and also improves the sleep quality of partners.

"Larger trials are needed to confirm our preliminary findings, but our results may give hope to the many people with moderate obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and snoring, as well as to their partners," they say. "

jasper · Post by **jasper** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:02 am

I don't know about exercises, but I have found a solution for puffercheeks. I bought an Optilife mask last May, and haven't had a problem since. The wings on the Opti provide just enough pressure to keep the cheeks where they belong.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:14 am

I think the key is to exercise the soft palate in order to firm it up and help prevent the air from escaping into your mouth in the first place. I believe that is how I trained myself not to mouth leak and I use no chinstrap, tape, glue, staples, or anything else to control mouth leaks while using my nasal pillow interface.

The didgeridoo may provide the correct type of exercise but then so does plain 'ol singing (which does not require that you buy or make a hollowed-out stick)

The didge does sound like a lot of fun nonetheless

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:26 am

Okay, I'll bite. How did you "train" your soft palate, Dreamstalker? Teeny little mouth weights?

Seriously, I wanna know.
Babs

zorrro13 · Post by **zorrro13** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:28 am

Anonymous wrote:Okay, I'll bite. How did you "train" your soft palate, Dreamstalker? Teeny little mouth weights?

Seriously, I wanna know.
Babs

PARTY TIME

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:52 am

The night I had my BiPAP titration once they got up to a pressure of 15--I got puffer cheeks and of course lip openings. A good chinstrap helped but I still had a few. I've changed back to the Opti-life, and modified it. Don't have the BiPAP yet , but if this doesn't solve the problem, will add a chin strap, and if that doestn't solve the problem, I've made two small fleece "pillows" (fabric of choice stuffed with a little batting or cosmetic foam pads) to slip between my face and the chin strap.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:17 pm

Anonymous wrote:Okay, I'll bite. How did you "train" your soft palate, Dreamstalker? Teeny little mouth weights?

Seriously, I wanna know.
Babs

When I first began training myself not to mouth leak (and I did leak during my first couple of weeks), I started by supporting the back of my soft palate with my tongue … like sucking on a mint candy (I haven’t had a mint or any other kind of candy in over 5 years but that is the best example I can give).

Later, I began practicing opening my mouth while under CPAP pressure and forcibly using my soft palate to prevent any air from leaking out my mouth as I lowered my tongue (you really don’t have to be a mutant to have muscles in your soft palate like me -- so I have learned from my internet research). Then I played around with trying to control the amount and timing of air out of my mouth while attempting to talk with my CPAP pressure on (I can now talk fairly well with my CPAP on … has a sort’a nasal tone, kind’a like Neil Young, but I still can’t sing worth a damn though ). BTW, my internet research on the soft palate is where I discovered that controlling the soft palate is vital to professional singers but I guess there is more to singing than controlling the soft palate .

Then when I began using the nasal saline irrigation last summer, I learned that controlling the soft palate is also useful for preventing the saline solution from entering the back of your throat and down the gullet.

So I think the combined exercise of avoiding the swallowing of saline (plus whatever else -- yuck!) nasal irrigation solution and learning to talk while under pressure of the PAP machine has strengthened and firmed up my soft palate to help me control mouth leaks while asleep. I have posted my leak graphs a few times here on this forum when others have doubted my ability to control mouth leaks … but in any case it doesn’t matter to me anymore if others believe or not cuz I know it works for me.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 4:01 pm

You can't possibly sing worse than Bob Dylan.

Great post DreamStalker! Thank you! I think this is really helpful for alot of is.

What makes me curious-er - why can't you train yourself into not needing a cpap, then?

Cheers,
Barbara

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:34 pm

Thanks for all the good responses. Dreamstalker, your post was especially helpful. I'm starting to understand the idea of muscles in the soft palate, or that control it.

If I'm getting it right, these are the muscles that would be activated if you started to yawn but then stifled it. Does this seem to make sense, Dreamstalker? If that's right, I will just start going to more meetings at work so I can practice working the "stifled yawn" muscles . Might as well get paid to practice this. . .

Joking aside, are these "stifled yawn" muscles the same ones?

ColinP · Post by **ColinP** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:12 am

Have you ever looked at what talking while you're on your CPAP does to your AHI numbers? Mine go through the roof! Must be because I talk far too much...

GrizzlyBear · Post by **GrizzlyBear** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:20 am

Hiya.

GrizzlyBear - That tip on practicing on a plastic pipe was good. For breathing exercise purposes, are there dimensions that would be more effective? Hey, would it work with our old cpap hoses!?

kteague - there are a number of websites about making didges from plastic pipes (or PVC piping) - and even a bloke on youtube (google search: "plastic" + "pipe" + "didgeridoo"). They generally use PVC pipes of three-quarters of an inch to about an inch-and-a-half - the wider diameters tend to get the best sounds (my school uses the wider pipes). They generally vary in length from three to more than six feet in length - you can even join several using a standard joint. Three feet is probably more manageable for a learner.

One of the sites talks about using a flexible hose didge, so it may work with a cpap tube - worth trying. The major problem, however, is that it is not as easy as one might think to play a didge and get the constant and varying sounds and pitches.

However, you may find that there is someone in your area who plays who may be prepared to teach you - I understand that the basics are fairly straightforward - you only need someone to point you in the right direction. I bought a beautiful didge for my brother on his 50th birthday, and he plays really well - and it has helped his lung capacity a lot.

Regards,

GrizzlyBear

Exercises for puffercheeks?

Exercises for puffercheeks?

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