Are Tongue Thrust and Snoring Related?

Your lips and tongue are made up of muscles. If you are used to breathing through your mouth, then your lips are used to living apart and not closed. Have you ever wondered why some people chew their food with their mouths open? Can’t you just hear the frustrating remarks from parents insisting that little Johnnie keep his mouth closed while eating? It’s possible that Johnnie is in the habit of breathing through his mouth and must keep at least part of his lips open to allow the air to go in so he can breathe. Probably no one- Johnnie included – at that dinner table is aware of this as a possible explanation. They just know that it’s their job to be sure that Johnnie learns how to eat properly or it may reflect on parenting skills.

What about the tongue? It is not unusual for the tongue to be so wide that if the teeth and lips are closed, then the tongue is squished inside and before long, that wide tongue has forced the teeth apart and the mouth open.

Do A Tongue Experiment

Here’s an activity: go to the mirror right now and stick out your tongue, letting it hang out and relax. Now, look at the sides of your tongue. Do you see any indentations? They are called scallops and were formed when your tongue was squished in your mouth. Your teeth left marks on your tongue.

So, it looks like there are 2 culprits involved that are preventing you from breathing through your nose while sleeping. If you had flabby arms and wanted to change them, you would start exercising using weights to firm up those muscles, right? Well, what if you start exercising your tongue and lips to make them firmer and stronger?

You may be realizing that your lips are closed when you are awake and you breathe through your nose. It is only when you sleep that your lips fall open and you breathe through your mouth. To that, I would say that your lips are not as weak as someone who mouth breathes all of the time and/or your extra wide tongue forces your lips apart while lying down.

The goals of The Correct My Tongue Thrust program are to strengthen the muscles in your lips and tongue; train your tongue to “live” on the roof of your mouth with closed lips. The lip exercises will make your lips stronger and help them stay closed habitually. The tongue exercises will tone the lateral muscles to hopefully change the shape so the tongue is skinnier. They will also strengthen the muscles on top of your tongue to aid the natural suctioning ability of the tongue to keep it on the roof while sleeping. When all of that happens, you are habitually breathing through your nose and if you used to snore, you probably aren’t doing that anymore! Start the Program Today