From mouth taping to chin straps, self-repositioning pillow inserts, mouth exercises and sleeping on your side, which is worth your time, effort and money? CNA Lifestyle finds out from the doctors.
DOES VERY LOUD SNORING MEAN YOU HAVE OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNOEA?
“The quality of the sound of snoring can be affected by the craniofacial and neck anatomy of the person,” said Dr Ng.
“Mouth exercises are also known as orofacial myofunctional therapy and may help reduce the severity of snoring and OSA,” said Dr Wong, adding that for OSA patients, the exercises are usually used in addition to other treatments. And they aren’t for everyone either. For example, if you have large tonsils and a blocked nose, mouth exercises may not help you as much as removing the obstructive tonsils and treating the nose obstruction, said Dr Ng.
While the strip may help with better breathing, Dr Wong said that it has “not been shown to be helpful with snoring nor with the treatment of OSA”.Said Dr Ng: “Nasal strips work to widen the nasal airway in patients with tall tented noses, thin skin and soft nasal cartilages, that is, Caucasian noses.