correct tongue posture in sleep
Hi,
Recently I came across some videos on youtube about the correct tongue posture during the day and during sleep. It should be on the upper palate.
I never did that, I always had my tongue relaxed in my mouth and it was dropping down. But I thought that was the relaxed position. Now I found out this was wrong.
But with such a relaxed tongue it can easily collapse into your airway. So now I am keeping it up all day and night. After 2 days in training it stayed there, also during sleep.
I asked 2 cpap wearers where they keep their tongue and they also did it like me, dropping down. No wonder they need cpap.
I was wondering what the other apnea patients are doing with their tongues.
RE: correct tongue posture in sleep
I taught myself like you did so I could wear a Nasal mask. There was no way I was going to survive therapy in a full face mask.
RE: correct tongue posture in sleep
(06-25-2022, 05:33 AM)Nightynite Wrote: I taught myself like you did so I could wear a Nasal mask. There was no way I was going to survive therapy in a full face mask.
Did it make a difference for your apnea? So i am trying to figure out if it would be a solution for apnea. So you dont need to wear a mask.
RE: correct tongue posture in sleep
I started practicing this technique early in my treatment. It doesn't stop apneas, but is used mostly to stop air from flowing out of your mouth should your jaw/mouth fall open while sleeping.
There are some advantages should you master this technique, like using a nasal or nasal pillow mask instead of full face, and the best one is you can actually talk during treatment.
Some folk can master this quickly.
Tongue Suck Technique:
Place your tongue to the roof of your mouth with tip of tongue behind front teeth. (NOT PUSHING ON TEETH).
Gently suck upwards and back.
This places the tongue in a natural position, with the back of tongue at the back of the throat so that if your mouth/jaw drops open while sleeping, no air will escape.
Silvia, just to clarify: This technique doesn't cure apnea.
06-25-2022, 07:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-25-2022, 07:47 AM by Nightynite.)
RE: correct tongue posture in sleep
Silvia, I was diagnosed with 10 events per hour. Now I’m always under 2. And that isn’t because of the nasal mask, it’s because I’m on cpap in general.
RE: correct tongue posture in sleep
(06-25-2022, 06:19 AM)Silvia10 Wrote: Did it make a difference for your apnea? So i am trying to figure out if it would be a solution for apnea. So you dont need to wear a mask.
It is not a preventative for apnea. It's a technique to prevent mouth-leaking while wearing a nasal mask. Without a CPAP machine, it will have no effect on the collapse of your airway.
Sleepster
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: correct tongue posture in sleep
When I started CPAP therapy over a year ago, I was a mouthbreather and started with a full face mask. My tongue was relaxed all over the place in the mouth towards the bottom. Over time I trained the tongue to press against the roof of the mouth. It seals the mouth so that air does not escape through the mouth during CPAP use. Transitioned into a nasal mask.
