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Singing karaoke, can this really treat snoring?

  • Sleep
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Singing karaoke, can this really treat snoring?
Many people understand that singing every day can help stop snoring. First of all you need to understand that "Snoring" means sleep apnea, which according to the definition of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, it is a condition in which the upper airway collapses during sleep, causing the  pauses (apneas) in breathing that last at least 10 seconds during sleep and then startle awake not less than 5 times per hour or there is a "Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI)", an index indicating that the person is startle awake by more than 15 times per hour from breathing disturbances.  All of this must be accompanied by daytime drowsiness without being able to relieve with any medication.  

To diagnose this disease, the number of apnea occurrences or the number of startle awakes must be specified from various tests or measurements which must be performed only in the room or by sleep diagnostic equipment while sleeping.  

People with this disease often have daytime drowsiness, morning daze, amnesia, brain fog, lethargy, personality and mood swings, depression, anxiety, sexual dysfunction, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The disease is most likely to affect people aged 40-65, obese, paunchy, large neck, or anatomical bone and skull structure which is a causative factor of the disease such as small jaw, high palate, hemispherical bone, nose deformity, abnormal upper airway anatomy such as hypothyroid, large tongue, genetic disorders, or smoking, alcoholism, sleeping pills, including postmenopausal women.

The standard treatment for this disease are
1.    General recommendation which are weight loss, quitting smoking, reducing alcohol, sedatives and sleeping pills, avoiding supine position.
2.    Use of assistive devices. There are many types of equipment. The first device is a nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine.  The second device is a bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machine, which the patient can adjust the pressure during inhalation and exhalation to fit need by themselves. And the last device is airway opening devices. There are 3 popular types of devices which are tongue retaining device, mandibular advancement device (MAD), and soft palate lifter (SPL).  
3.    Surgery. Different surgical methods are used, depending on characteristic and area of airway obstruction whether it is located behind palate or tongue or straddle both level.  

While the daily singing therapy was a small pilot study requiring 20 snorers to record a tape measuring the frequency of snoring for 7 days and sing 20 minutes every day for 3 months then record the tape again after 3 months. It was found that the average snoring rate decreased. However, since this is a small research and its study design is not yet complete. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that singing can help stop snoring.  However, we need further evidence and well-developed study designed to answer this.