Want to Stop Snoring? Try Singing!

If snoring is the bane of your life (or your partner’s life), you might want to give singing a go! There is a lot of research to suggest that singing in the day can lead to a quieter sleep at night. It can also improve the quality of your sleep so you and your loved one both wake up happier and well rested.

Why Do We Snore?

To understand how singing can stop you snoring, you need to first understand why you snore. Snoring is simply a vibration of the tissues in the throat caused by a blockage of the airways. Estimates on how common snoring is, vary, but according to The British Snoring and Sleep Apnea Association, it affects around 41.5% of the UK adult population. There are a few reasons why this happens, but it is more common in men, those who are overweight, and anyone with enlarged tonsils or adenoids. It also gets worse as we age.

How Does Singing Help Snoring?

Regular singing practice helps you gain control over your breathing and the airways. When you breathe in normally, muscles in the throat help tighten your airways so the air can easily pass through and into your body. But when you are asleep, these muscles are more relaxed, which is why the airways can sometimes become blocked.

The more you sing, the stronger those muscles get. By regularly varying your pitch, volume, and power, you work the muscles in different ways for best effect. This means that even when you are resting, your throat muscles are toned and able to keep the airwaves open.

The Best Singing Exercises for Snoring

There are a few vocal exercises that can help tone your throat muscles so you snore less. For some, simply singing for 20 minutes a day is enough. Make sure to really work on pronouncing each note.

Here are some other things you can try:

• Ahhs: Open your mouth wide and sing the word ‘ahh’ as low and for as long as you can. Start by breathing in deeply and then sing on the out-breath. Try to push the back of your tongue down to ensure maximum airflow into the throat.
• Vowels: Sing your vowels, really exaggerating the movement of your mouth and extending each vowel for as long as you can. Then speed it up, varying the tone and tempo of each vowel. Try repeating each vowel a few times and then singing them in sequence. The more you change it up, the stronger your throat muscles will become.
• Didgeridoo: Have you ever tried playing the digeridoo? This unique instrument relies on your voice to make a deep, echoing sound, and this action has a profound effect on your throat muscles. It’s fun to play too!

You can also try various myofunctional movements too. These will help improve your snoring and your singing!

• Curl your tongue: Open your mouth and start with your tongue at the front and top of your mouth. Push it back as far as it will go.
• Suck your tongue upwards: Hold your tongue on the roof of your mouth and then suck upwards. Hold for a few seconds.
• Push your tongue down: Open your mouth and hold the back of your tongue on the floor of your mouth while ensuring the tip of your tongue maintains light contact with the back of your front teeth.
• Pull out your cheek: Hold the inside of your cheek with your finger and pull outwards. Then use your facial muscles to pull it back in.

For best results, perform vocal exercises for at least 20 minutes a day and repeat each of the monofunctional movements 20 times. Results won’t be instant, and you might find you need to change some other lifestyle habits to get a snore-free sleep. Things such as a poor diet, excessive alcohol consumption, and a lack of exercise can counteract your singing efforts. But once you’ve lined up all your healthy habits, you should start to notice a difference in your nighttime noises.

If you need a little more help, why not sign up for one of our singing classes? Led by qualified coaches, we can help improve your singing technique so that you are more tuneful during the day and quieter at night. You can sing with a group or in a one-on-one lesson. And best of all, it’s great fun! Get in touch today to book your first session.