Throat exercises have an appealing pitch. No device, no cost, nothing to wear in bed: just some tongue and mouth work each day, and the snoring fades away. It sounds too simple to be true, and it is not quite that simple, but it is not nonsense either.
The exercises have a proper name, oropharyngeal or myofunctional therapy, and they have been tested in randomised trials, pooled in meta-analyses and reviewed by Cochrane. The results are more encouraging than most people expect, and more limited than the online versions suggest.
Here is what the studies found, what a programme actually involves, where singing and the didgeridoo fit in, and who is most likely to get something out of it.
What Throat Exercises Are Meant to Do
Snoring is the sound of soft tissue vibrating in a narrowed airway. During sleep the muscles that hold the throat open relax, and the soft palate, tongue and throat walls sag into the path of the air.
The idea behind the exercises is that muscles trained during the day may hold their shape better at night. The Cochrane review of the subject describes myofunctional therapy as combinations of mouth and throat exercises, both isotonic (moving) and isometric (holding), that work on everyday functions such as speaking, breathing, blowing, sucking, chewing and swallowing.
That definition matters, because it shows this is not one exercise. The programmes that were tested are packages. They train the tongue, the soft palate, the lips and cheeks, and the way you breathe and swallow, all at once.
A couple of moves copied from a short video are not the same thing as the programmes in the trials, in the same way that a few press-ups are not the same as a training plan.
What the Trials Found for Snoring
The randomised trial. The most useful single study for snorers was published in Chest in 2015. It recruited 39 adults whose main complaint was snoring, diagnosed with either simple snoring or mild to moderate sleep apnoea, with an average age of 46. For three months, 19 of them did daily oropharyngeal exercises, while 20 formed a control group who used nasal dilator strips plus breathing exercises.
Snoring was measured objectively during an overnight sleep study, not just by asking partners. In the exercise group, the snore index (snores louder than 36 decibels, per hour) fell from a median of 99.5 to 48.2, roughly halving, and the total sound power of snoring per hour fell from 60.4 to 31.0. The control group showed no significant change.
That control result is worth a sentence of its own. Nasal strips widen the nose, so they help most when the nose is the bottleneck. They are not designed to change vibration further back in the throat, which is exactly what the exercises target.
The snoring meta-analysis. A 2018 systematic review in the European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology gathered nine studies, with 211 adults, that reported snoring outcomes after myofunctional therapy. Snoring intensity rated on a visual scale fell by 51 percent in 80 patients, from 8.2 to 4.0. Intensity measured with the Berlin questionnaire fell by 36 percent in 34 patients. And in 60 patients measured during sleep studies, time spent snoring fell by 31 percent, from 26.3 percent to 18.1 percent of total sleep time.
Notice the pattern. Snoring got quieter, and there was less of it. It did not disappear.
What They Found for Sleep Apnoea
Most of the research has been done in obstructive sleep apnoea rather than simple snoring, because apnoea is the medical condition and the one that attracts study.
A 2015 meta-analysis in the journal Sleep combined nine adult studies with 120 patients. The apnoea hypopnoea index, the count of breathing interruptions per hour, fell from 24.5 to 12.3, a drop of about half. The lowest overnight oxygen level rose from 83.9 to 86.6 percent, and daytime sleepiness scores fell from 14.8 to 8.2 on the Epworth scale. Where sleep studies measured snoring, its share of the night fell from about 14 percent to under 4 percent.
Those are big changes, but the samples were small, and the authors suggested exercise could serve as an adjunct to other apnoea treatments, not a replacement for them.
The 2020 Cochrane review, which accepted only randomised controlled trials, is more cautious. It found nine trials with 347 participants, lasting two to four months. Compared with sham exercises, real therapy probably reduces daytime sleepiness (moderate certainty) and may produce a large reduction in breathing interruptions (low certainty). On snoring, it probably reduces how loud snoring is rated slightly, based on one study of 51 people, while the evidence on how often people snore was very uncertain.
The reviewers rated the certainty of the evidence as moderate to very low, mainly because the people assessing outcomes were often not blinded, some data were missing, and the trials were small. None of the included trials reported on side effects.
If you have been diagnosed with apnoea, or suspect you might have it, exercises are something to add alongside proper treatment, not a reason to delay it. Our guide to whether snoring is a sign of sleep apnoea covers the warning signs.
What a Programme Actually Involves
The 2015 Sleep review describes the most comprehensive set of exercises as the one published by Guimaraes and colleagues. They cover four areas.
Soft palate. Saying vowel sounds, either held continuously or repeated in short bursts. The held version is the isometric exercise; the repeated version is the isotonic one.
Tongue. Sweeping the tongue along the top and side surfaces of the teeth. Placing the tip of the tongue against the front of the hard palate, just behind the top teeth. Pressing the whole tongue up against the hard and soft palate. Forcing the tongue down onto the floor of the mouth.
Lips, cheeks and jaw. Tightening and relaxing the lips. Sucking the cheeks in, and pressing a finger against the inside of the cheek while the cheek muscles push back. Moving the jaw from side to side.
Breathing, swallowing and chewing. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, first on its own and then while blowing up a balloon. Swallowing with the teeth together and the tongue resting on the palate, without tensing the lips. Chewing on alternate sides.
Because the programmes combine all of this, the studies cannot tell you which single exercise does the work. The honest answer to "what is the best throat exercise?" is that the tested thing was the whole package.
Tongue work is a central part of these programmes, but it is one part. If your snoring seems to come from the back of the tongue in particular, our guide to tongue snoring covers how people try to tell and the devices that hold the tongue forward.
How Much Practice, and for How Long
This is the part online guides tend to leave out.
The Guimaraes routine was designed to be done for about 30 minutes a day. Across the studies in the 2015 review, practice ranged from as little as 5 minutes twice a day, four days a week for two months, to as much as 10 minutes three to five times a day for three months. The randomised snoring trial asked for daily practice for three months, and the Cochrane trials ran for two to four months.
So the realistic commitment is daily practice for at least two to three months before you judge it. A week of half-hearted effort is not a test.
A few habits make it more likely to stick:
- Split the time into short sessions through the day, as several of the trial protocols did, rather than one long block.
- Attach each session to something you already do daily, such as the commute, washing up or the evening news.
- Go slowly and precisely. A movement done properly is worth more than several done sloppily.
- Record your snoring for a few nights before you start, and again after two to three months, so you judge by evidence rather than impression.
There is also very little data on what happens after people stop. Most trials followed people for only a few months, and the Cochrane reviewers called for longer treatment and follow-up periods in future studies. Treat it as an ongoing habit rather than a course you finish.
Singing and the Didgeridoo
If half an hour of tongue drills sounds grim, there is a more musical branch of this research.
A 2020 systematic review in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine asked whether playing a wind instrument or singing affects snoring and sleep apnoea. It found six studies, five of them cross-sectional comparisons and one randomised trial, with sample sizes from 25 to 1,105 people.
Taken one by one, the studies were encouraging. Players of double-reed instruments had a lower risk of sleep apnoea. Singers snored less than people who did not sing. And in the one randomised trial, playing the didgeridoo improved breathing interruptions, daytime sleepiness and partners' ratings of disturbed sleep.
When the reviewers pooled the data, though, the descriptive findings did not hold up in the meta-analysis. The size of the effect was zero to small, and long professional rehearsal times or small samples limited how far the results apply to everyone else. They graded the certainty of the evidence as low.
Their conclusion was still mildly positive: playing a wind instrument and singing may have a small benefit, and, weighing up practicality and the time involved, the didgeridoo looks most promising for sleep apnoea and singing for snoring.
The practical reading is simple. If you would enjoy joining a choir or learning an instrument anyway, there may be a small bonus for your airway. If you would not, the evidence is not strong enough to start one for snoring alone.
Who Is Most Likely to Benefit
Exercises target the muscles of the mouth and throat, so they make most sense when that is where the noise comes from.
Good candidates. People with simple snoring or mild to moderate sleep apnoea, which is the group the Chest trial recruited. People who want something to do alongside other measures. People who are reliable about daily habits, since the results depend on months of practice.
Less likely to help on their own. People whose main problem is a blocked nose. Exercises do not clear congestion. Opening the nose with saline, allergy treatment or nasal strips deals with a different part of the airway, and the two approaches can run side by side. If you tend to sleep with your mouth open, our guide on how to stop sleeping with your mouth open is a useful companion to the breathing part of the programme.
Not a substitute for assessment. Anyone with witnessed breathing pauses, gasping or choking at night, or heavy daytime sleepiness. Exercises may still be worth doing, but alongside a GP assessment, not instead of one.
Making Exercises Part of a Wider Plan
Exercises are slow. Even in the best results, snoring took months to fall, and it fell rather than vanished. It makes sense to treat them as one strand of the plan rather than the whole of it.
Keep the quick wins going. Sleeping on your side, keeping alcohol away from bedtime and dealing with a blocked nose all work from the first night. None of them conflicts with exercising.
Protect your partner meanwhile. Two or three months is a long time to lie awake beside someone. A pair of soft silicone ear plugs for them buys some peace while the exercises have time to work.
Measure, do not guess. A phone recording before and after is the closest you can get at home to what the trials measured. If the recordings show no change after three months of honest daily practice, that is useful information too, and a reason to look at other options with your GP or dentist.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do throat exercises really stop snoring?
They reduce it more often than they stop it. In a 2018 review of nine studies, snoring intensity fell by 51 percent on a visual scale and time spent snoring fell by 31 percent. In a randomised trial, the snore index roughly halved after three months of daily exercises. Quieter and less frequent is the realistic goal.
How long do throat exercises take to work?
The trials ran for two to four months of regular practice, with the main snoring trial using three months of daily exercises. There is no good evidence that a week or two is enough. Plan on two to three months of daily practice before judging whether it has helped, and record your snoring before and after.
Which throat exercise is best for snoring?
No single exercise has been shown to be best. The programmes that were tested combined soft palate, tongue, lip, cheek, jaw, breathing and swallowing exercises, so the studies cannot separate out which one does the work. Following a full programme is closer to what was actually tested than picking one move.
Can singing help with snoring?
Possibly, a little. A 2020 review found singers snored less than non-singers, but when the data were pooled the effect was zero to small and the certainty was low. The reviewers still named singing as the most promising musical option for snoring. If you would enjoy it anyway, it is a pleasant thing to try.
Are throat exercises safe?
They use ordinary movements of the mouth, tongue, lips and jaw, and they need no equipment beyond a balloon. The Cochrane review found that none of its included trials reported on side effects, so there is no measured rate either way. Stop any movement that causes pain, and see your GP or dentist if jaw pain persists.
Can throat exercises replace CPAP or a mouthpiece?
Not for diagnosed sleep apnoea without a clinician's input. In the Cochrane review, CPAP reduced breathing interruptions more than exercises did, though daytime sleepiness came out similar, based on low certainty evidence. Exercises are best treated as an addition to recommended treatment, not a swap for it.
Sources
- Ieto V et al., Effects of Oropharyngeal Exercises on Snoring: A Randomized Trial, Chest, 2015
- Camacho M et al., Oropharyngeal and tongue exercises (myofunctional therapy) for snoring: a systematic review and meta-analysis, European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, 2018
- Camacho M et al., Myofunctional Therapy to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, Sleep, 2015
- Rueda JR et al., Myofunctional therapy (oropharyngeal exercises) for obstructive sleep apnoea, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020
- van der Weijden FN et al., The effect of playing a wind instrument or singing on risk of sleep apnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2020
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you snore loudly, stop breathing or gasp during sleep, or feel exhausted during the day, see your GP before relying on exercises alone.
