Stop snoring: Singapore is third noisiest city in the world, according to UK survey
Are you a snorer? Do you live with someone who is? Daily tongue exercises may strengthen the muscles controlling the tongue and back of the throat – and minimise snoring. Here's how.
If you’ve been sleepless in Singapore because of the noisy snorer next to you, you’re not alone. According to a UK survey, Singapore has been ranked the third noisiest snoring city across the world – if Google searches are any indication.
The results were based on 50 search terms centred around the topic of snoring, and how many times the terms were searched in each location over the last 12 months. The survey, by UK bedding company Sleepseeker, then calculated the number of searches per 1,000 people in each city and ranked the locations accordingly.
Just how desperate Singaporeans are for snoring solutions? In the past year, our population of 5.8 million has made 139,070 online searches about snoring or the rate of 24 searches per 1,000 people.
The world’s top snoring city is the Irish capital Dublin. Here, its population of 1.2 million rakes in 45,510 snoring-related searches, and has a rate of 37.9 searches per 1,000 residents.
People aren’t sleeping well in Australia’s capital Canberra either, the second noisiest city on the list and home to about 447,000 people. Here, snorers have led to 14,580 searches and a rate of 32.6 searches per 1,000 residents.
The list of nine English-speaking cities also included Wellington, London, Ottawa, Kingston, Cape Town and Washington DC.
TONGUE TAICHI, ANYONE?
Like the muscles in your body, the muscles controlling your tongue and those at the back of the throat can also be strengthened, said Dr Ruebini Anandarajan, the head of dental services at SingHealth Polyclinics.
There are upper airway exercises you can perform, though she advised that it is best to do them under the supervision of your sleep specialist.
Here are some basic examples you can try at least once a day, said Dr Anandarajan:
Tongue curls: Open your mouth wide and stretch your tongue down as far as possible towards your chin. Hold for at least 5 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
Tongue press: Suck your tongue upwards against the hard palate. Continue sucking while opening your mouth wide. Repeat up to 5 times.
Tongue taichi: Poke your tongue against your left and right cheek alternately. You can increase the resistance against the tongue by pushing your cheek against the tongue with your fingers. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat up to 5 times on each side.
Swallow saliva: Hold your tongue between your lips and swallow your saliva. Repeat up to 5 times.
Mouth blowing: Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth while keeping your lips pressed together like blowing an imaginary balloon. Blow for 5 seconds. You can repeat up to 10 times.
