Sunday, February 4, 2007

Playing didgeridoo as a stop snoring remedy

Stop snoring remedy - didgeridooIt may seem unbelievable and even funny but playing didgeridoo, a wind instrument used by Aborigines, is a good stop snoring remedy. Scientists discovered that regular training of the upper airways by didgeridoo playing reduces daytime sleepiness and snoring in patients with mild sleep apnea. Didgeridoo exercises also have a positive effect on sleep quality of patients.

The attempt to discover such an original-aboriginal stop snoring remedy was undertaken by Swiss experts who wanted to test the theory that training of the upper airways by didgeridoo playing can improve sleep apnea and hypopnea and, as a result, reduce snoring. Their study involved twenty-five patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and who complained about snoring. They were divided into two groups: the first one received didgeridoo lessons and practiced daily at home for four months; the second (or control) group remained on a waiting list for lessons and received no training.

Stop snoring remedyThe didgeridoo group reached a significant progress in improvement of daytime sleepiness and sleep apnea scores in comparison with the control group. Members of the first group also reported much less sleep disturbance. As it was stated in the British Medical Journal, the overall quality of sleep did not differ much between the members of those two groups. But still a combined analysis of sleep related measures showed that didgeridoo playing as a stop snoring remedy can have a moderate to large effect.