Experts Find That Loud Snoring Can Be Caused By Having A Fat Tongue
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Anyone that has ever *attempted* to sleep next to a snorer will know it's quite possibly the hardest thing in the world.
Now it's been revealed that there is a correlation between someone who snores and the size of their tongue. Fat-tongued snorers, apparently.
According to The Sun, the link was found in patients with mild to severe obstructive sleep apnoea - which leads to snoring - and a body mass index (BMI) over 30.
Those that lost weight found their sleeping improved by nearly a third. Sounds good but what does that have to do with your tongue? Well, that could lose weight as well.
In fact, MRI scans revealed that a reduction in tongue fat volume was the real game changer.
Professor Richard Schwab, one of the researchers, told The Sun: "Most experts have not typically focused on fat in the tongue. We now know it is a major factor."
There were 67 patients that were analysed by US researchers as they lost ten percent of their body weight over six months.
They discovered that as they lost the weight, their jaw muscle shrank as did muscles on both sides of the airway. These both relieved symptoms of snoring but not as much as a skinnier tongue did.
If losing weight isn't working, it might be time to start buying into alternative snoring-prevention methods.
One option is to invest in this battery-powered buzzer that you stick on your forehead...
Scientists in Spain found that a small, plaster-sized device called Somnibel helped curb snoring in one in three snorers, the Daily Mail reports.
The device was developed by scientists at Araba University Hospital in Spain, and aims to help people suffering with obstructive sleep apnoea - a condition that the NHS defines as 'when your breathing stops and starts while you sleep'.
The buzzer apparently alerts people when they are sleeping on their backs, sending out vibrations via the forehead whenever the person rolls over in the night.
The website states: "Somnibel is a Class IIa medical device that works for sleep apnoea and snoring treatment.
"It consists of a small, light device that is attached to the forehead and vibrates gently whenever your patient is sleeping in a supine position, encouraging him to change position.
"Many different clinical studies believe positional therapy to be an effective solution for positional OSA, obtaining similar results to CPAP treatment."
Happy sleeping, folks.
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: Weight Loss, News, Sleeping
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