Best Exercises to Stop Snoring

Most people think snoring is something you just live with, a quirky sleep habit that’s more embarrassing than anything else. But if you’re waking up groggy, dealing with headaches, or getting elbowed by a frustrated partner at 3 a.m., your body might be telling you something important.

Snoring often comes down to weak or relaxed muscles in the throat and airway that collapse during sleep, restricting airflow. And just like any other muscle in your body, they can be trained. Research shows that simple, targeted exercises to stop snoring, sometimes called oropharyngeal or myofunctional exercises, can reduce snoring frequency and intensity without surgery, devices, or medication.

In this guide, you’ll learn the specific moves that actually work, the science behind why they help, and how to tell when it’s time to see a specialist.

Causes of Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Snoring happens when the muscles in your tongue, soft palate, and throat relax too much during sleep. When those muscles go slack, your airway narrows. Air still pushes through, but it has to work harder, and that’s what creates the vibrations you (or your partner) hear as snoring.

With obstructive sleep apnea, the airway doesn’t just narrow; it collapses completely, causing breathing to stop for seconds at a time. Your body jolts you partially awake to reopen the airway, then you drift off again, often without even knowing it happened. This cycle can repeat dozens of times per hour.

Several factors make this worse:

• Excess weight, especially around the neck, adds pressure to the airway
• Sleeping on your back lets gravity pull throat tissue downward
• Alcohol and sedatives relax muscles further than normal
• Nasal congestion forces mouth breathing, which destabilizes the airway
• Naturally weak oropharyngeal muscles from genetics or aging

The muscle weakness piece is where exercise comes in. Just like you’d train your core to support your spine, you can train the muscles around your airway to stay firm enough at night to keep the passage open.

Sleep Apnea Exercises for Snoring

Oropharyngeal exercises strengthen your tongue, throat, and facial muscles to reduce snoring and mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), by keeping your airway from collapsing while you sleep.

These exercises target the specific muscles most likely to collapse and cause snoring. They’re grouped by area, tongue, face, and a few other techniques that round out a solid routine. Start slow, be consistent, and think of this like any other fitness habit: results come with repetition over time.

Tongue Exercises

Your tongue is the biggest player in airway stability. A weak tongue falls backward during sleep and blocks your throat. These moves build the strength and muscle memory to keep it where it belongs.

Tongue Slide

Place the tip of your tongue just behind your top front teeth. Slowly slide it backward along the roof of your mouth until it reaches as far back as it can go. Bring it forward and repeat. Do this 5–20 times per session. It sounds simple, but this move directly trains the muscle group most responsible for airway collapse.

Tongue Stretch

Stick your tongue straight out as far as possible, aiming to touch your nose or chin. Hold for 10 seconds, then relax. Repeat 10 times. If you want a variation, try rolling the sides of your tongue upward like a taco shell, holding that curl for 10 seconds. Both versions target lateral tongue strength, which helps keep the airway open from multiple angles.

Tongue Push Up

Press your entire tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, not just the tip, but the whole surface. Hold that position for 10 seconds, then release. Do this 5 times. You should feel tension in the muscles under your chin. That tension is exactly what you’re building.

Tongue Push Down

This one works the opposite direction. Press the back of your tongue down and flat against the floor of your mouth while keeping the tip pressed against your lower front teeth. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 5 times. Together with the push up, this creates a balanced workout for the full tongue muscle group.

Face Exercises

Your jaw and cheeks play a supporting role in keeping your airway stable. Strengthening them reduces snoring and can also ease tension headaches caused by clenching during sleep.

Cheek Hook

Open your mouth wide, wider than feels comfortable. Shift your jaw slowly to the right and hold for 30 seconds, then move it to the left and hold again. This stretches and tones the muscles along the sides of your jaw. If you feel stiffness on one side, that’s often the side that needs more attention. Repeat the full sequence 2–3 times.

Jaw Stretch

Open your mouth as wide as you can and try to contract the muscles at the back of your throat, the movement that makes your uvula (that small dangling piece of tissue) rise. Hold the contraction for 30 seconds, then relax. Repeat. This one is harder to feel at first, but with practice you’ll notice the activation clearly. It’s one of the more direct ways to train the soft palate muscles that contribute most to snoring.

Other Exercises

Beyond targeted muscle moves, a few full-body and breathing habits round out an effective anti-snoring routine.

Breathing Through Your Nose

Mouth breathing during the day trains your body to breathe the same way at night, and mouth breathing is a major snoring trigger. Practice deliberate nasal breathing throughout the day. Inhale slowly through your nose, exhale through your nose, and repeat. It feels awkward at first if you’re used to breathing through your mouth, but it retrains your default. If nasal congestion is getting in the way, addressing that (with a saline rinse or allergy treatment) should be part of your plan. Learning to stop sleeping with your mouth open can have a big impact on nighttime airway stability.

Pronouncing Vowel Sounds

This one feels a little silly, but it works. Say the vowel sounds, A, E, I, O, U, out loud, clearly and with exaggeration, for about 3 minutes at a time. Do this several times throughout the day. The exaggerated mouth movements tone the muscles around your lips, cheeks, and the back of your throat. It’s the same principle behind why singers rarely snore.

Singing

Speaking of singers, regular singing is one of the best-documented ways to reduce snoring. It increases muscle tone in your soft palate and throat, and it does so in a way that feels far less clinical than holding your tongue to the roof of your mouth. A 2008 study found that people who sang daily for three months significantly reduced their snoring. You don’t need to be good. Singing along to music in the car counts. The key is doing it regularly.

How Mouth Exercises May Help With Snoring and Sleep Apnea

The science behind oropharyngeal exercises has gotten stronger over the past decade. A widely cited study published in CHEST found that mouth exercises reduced the frequency of snoring by 36% and reduced snoring intensity by 59% in participants with primary snoring and mild to moderate OSA. A separate analysis showed that these exercises reduced apnea events by about 39% in people with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea.

The mechanism is straightforward: stronger muscles don’t collapse as easily. When your tongue and soft palate have enough tone, they hold their position during sleep instead of sagging into the airway. It’s not magic, it’s muscle physiology.

That said, these exercises aren’t a cure for everything. For severe sleep apnea, CPAP therapy remains the standard of care, and exercises work best as a complement rather than a replacement. Think of them as the physical therapy component of a broader treatment plan.

Who Can Benefit

Mouth and throat exercises tend to work best for:

• People with mild to moderate OSA who want a non-device option
• Primary snorers (those who snore without a formal apnea diagnosis)
• CPAP users who want to reduce reliance on the machine over time
• People who snore due to muscle laxity rather than structural issues like a deviated septum

They’re less effective for people with severe OSA, significant anatomical blockages, or obesity-related airway compression. If you’re not sure which category you fall into, a sleep study can clarify your baseline.

Practicing better nighttime breathing habits alongside these exercises can help lock in results faster, especially if mouth breathing at night is part of your pattern.

How Often to Do Mouth Exercises

Consistency matters more than intensity here. Aim for 2–3 short sessions per day, with each session running about 10–20 minutes total. You can split them up: a round in the morning, one after lunch, one before bed.

Most studies that showed significant results used a 3-month practice window. Don’t expect overnight results, but if you stick with it, the 4–6 week mark is usually when people notice the first real difference: sleeping through the night more, waking less congested, or getting fewer complaints from a partner.

When to See a Doctor

Exercises are a smart first step, but they’re not always enough on their own. There are situations where you need professional input, not just a new exercise routine.

See a doctor if you experience any of the following:

• Loud, frequent snoring that disrupts your sleep or your partner’s consistently
• Waking up gasping or choking at night
• Pauses in breathing observed by someone else while you sleep
• Excessive daytime sleepiness even after a full night in bed
• Morning headaches that don’t have another clear cause
• No improvement after 6–8 weeks of consistent exercise practice

These signs point toward moderate to severe sleep apnea, which carries real health risks if left untreated, including higher odds of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. A sleep specialist can order a home sleep test or in-lab polysomnography to get a clear picture of what’s happening.

From there, your options might include CPAP, an oral appliance, positional therapy, or surgery, depending on the severity and cause. Exercises can still be part of the plan. But getting a diagnosis first means you’re treating the right problem.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Exercise is Best for Sleep Apnea?

Tongue slides and vowel sound repetition show some of the strongest results in clinical research. Tongue slides directly train the muscle group most likely to collapse during sleep, while vowel sounds target a broader range of throat and mouth muscles at once. If you only have time for one exercise, tongue slides are a solid starting point. But the best routine is one you’ll actually do every day, so pick a combination that fits your schedule and stick with it.

Can Sleep Apnea Be Reversed with Exercise?

For mild cases, possibly. Studies show that consistent oropharyngeal exercise can meaningfully reduce apnea events and snoring in people with mild to moderate OSA. “Reversed” is a strong word, it’s more accurate to say that symptoms can improve enough that they no longer meet the clinical threshold for a diagnosis. For moderate to severe OSA, exercise alone won’t reverse the condition, but it can reduce symptom severity when combined with other treatments.

How Can I Fix My Sleep Apnea Naturally?

A few lifestyle changes have solid evidence behind them:

• Daily oropharyngeal exercises (tongue, throat, and jaw moves as outlined above)
• Nasal breathing practice to reduce mouth breathing during sleep
• Weight loss, if excess weight is contributing to airway pressure
• Side sleeping, which keeps the airway more open than back sleeping
• Cutting alcohol, especially within 3 hours of bedtime

These approaches work best together. Natural strategies are most effective for mild cases, if your apnea is moderate to severe, talk to a provider before skipping medical treatment.

What are the best exercises to stop snoring?

Tongue slides and vowel sound repetition are among the most clinically supported exercises to stop snoring. Tongue slides train the muscle group most prone to airway collapse, while vowel sounds target a broader range of throat and mouth muscles. Practicing 2–3 sessions daily for at least 3 months yields the most consistent results.

How often should you do anti-snoring throat exercises?

Aim for 2–3 short sessions per day, each lasting 10–20 minutes. Consistency over intensity is key; most clinical studies that showed meaningful results used a structured 3-month practice window.

Can mouth breathing at night make snoring worse?

Yes. Mouth breathing destabilizes the airway and is a major snoring trigger. Practicing nasal breathing throughout the day helps retrain your default pattern, and addressing nasal congestion through saline rinses or allergy treatment can also help.

When should you see a doctor instead of relying on snoring exercises?

See a doctor if you experience gasping or choking at night, breathing pauses observed by a partner, excessive daytime sleepiness, or no improvement after 6–8 weeks of consistent exercise. These signs may indicate moderate to severe sleep apnea, which carries risks of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke if left untreated.

References

1. Camacho, M., et al. (2015). Myofunctional therapy to treat obstructive sleep apnea: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep, 38(5), 669–675. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4402674/
2. Ieto, V., et al. (2015). Effects of oropharyngeal exercises on snoring: A randomized trial. CHEST, 148(3), 683–691. Retrieved from https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(15)48464-6/fulltext
3. Guimarães, K. C., et al. (2009). Effects of oropharyngeal exercises on patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 179(10), 962–966. Retrieved from https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.200806-981OC
4. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2023). Sleep apnea information for clinicians. Retrieved from https://aasm.org/resources/clinicalguidelines/
5. Sleep Foundation. (2024). Mouth and throat exercises to help stop snoring and improve OSA. Retrieved from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/snoring/mouth-exercises-snoring
6. Hilton, M. P., et al. (2013). Singing exercises improve sleepiness and frequency of snoring among snorers—A randomised controlled trial. International Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, 2(3), 97–102. Retrieved from https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=31850
7. Camacho, M., et al. (2018). Oropharyngeal and tongue exercises (myofunctional therapy) for snoring: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, 275(4), 849–855. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29275425/