Posts Tagged ‘Jaw Muscles’
Grinding Your Teeth- How to Eliminate a Bad Habit
It wouldn’t be a surprise if you are trying to find a way to stop grinding your teeth. This isn’t a rare condition because at least 20% of adults experience it at night, not to mention the hundreds of adolescents and kids who have the problem too. Also, many others have had to deal with it during the day. Since bruxism can damage or wear out the teeth, you would do well to look for an appropriate solution.
Progressive Relaxation
Stress is one outstanding cause of bruxism. When a person is under a lot of stress, the muscles of the jaw can tighten up for long periods of time. You can find a remedy for this in the technique of progressive muscle relaxation. An individual who has a problem with grinding of teeth simply has to think and perform slow muscle loosening. This means clenching and unclenching your jaw in turns and consciously keeping your jaws unclenched for longer time spans. The jaw muscles aren’t the only ones you should consider this technique for. You may do yourself a whole lot of good by progressively relaxing all your muscles. This is such a fundamental method that you don’t have to take special time off from work. You can do this while you are at your work table.
Therapy
There may be many psychological reasons behind stress and tension. If you have deep issues, the act of grinding your teeth may only be one of a handful of symptoms or complications. You can deal with this condition best if you choose to undergo therapy or counseling sessions. Once you are able to handle and manage your inner issues, you will also be able to most likely automatically resolve teeth grinding.
Relaxing Habits
You don’t have to go all fancy. There is a chance that you feel stressed out and you are unable to sleep because of bad habits. This includes watching late night TV, drinking too much coffee and bringing lots of work home. You can counter this by making a commitment to practice relaxing habits. You can for example drink warm milk before bedtime, listen to soothing music, take a warm bath or put an icepack on your jaws to stop the grinding of teeth.
Aligning Teeth
Aside from stress, grinding may also be the result of badly aligned teeth. Bruxism is the result of an individual’s attempt to find a better bite or to make the jaw feel more comfortable. You can ask your dentist Melbourne practitioner if there are corrective solutions for this. You might want to consider wearing braces or having some of your teeth filed.
Teeth Guards
A very common option is to try wearing a teeth grinding guard. These come in plastic or rubber and double and single wall and can be made for morning or night wear. You can buy a guard straight from the counter or you can ask your dentist to custom fit you with your own grind guard. Since custom guards are a bit expensive, a lot of folks try pre made products first and only opt for customization if they get no relief from store bought options. Regardless of your choice, make sure you get a durable and comfortable guard.
You can stop grinding your teeth. All that you really need to do is to find which solution fits you best. Don’t let this problem ruin your oral assets or cause more distress.
Do Snoring Exercises Help You Stop Snoring or Just Another Scam?
If you are a snorer, chances are you may have heard of snoring exercises that can help you stop this annoying problem. You may wonder whether it really works or are they all just nonsense. As humans, we often disregard remedies that are new or different and do not bother trying them out even more so if they are health related. Hence, you may be suspicious if someone were to tell you that these exercises do any good at all. However, these exercises are scientifically linked to the principle that snoring is caused by weak throat muscles that collapse during sleep. Therefore, they make some sense after all as they are aimed at strengthening the throat and jaw muscles which is directly related to snoring.
Improving Muscle Tone
Snoring exercises that are done consistently and regularly do stop snoring as they are aimed at improving muscle tone around the throat. These exercises are easy to perform and should be done daily for a few minutes. It can be done anywhere and does not require any equipment. All you have to do is open your mouth as wide as you can and then close it shut. Make sure your lips meet when you close your mouth. Next, pucker your lips as though you are going to kiss someone and hold this position for ten seconds before relaxing. After that, put on the widest smile you possibly can, hold it and then relax. You may perform these exercises in any order you desire.
If the cause of your snoring is due to your tongue falling back into your throat, the following exercises may help you. Stick your tongue out as far as you can, make sure it stays in the middle, hold it for 5 seconds then relax. You aim is to stick your tongue our further each day. Over time, your tongue and throat muscles will get stronger and you will notice that the results. You may also try touching the tip of your nose and chin with your tongue. This method provides some sort of guide as your nose and chin act like indicators for your tongue.
Singing also helps tone the muscle tissues that line your air passage. If these muscle tissues are weak, they tend to lax and cause you to snore when you sleep. Singing through the vowels can be helpful as well as certain notes, try singing ‘La’ and ‘Li’ repeatedly.
Most Natural Way to Stop Snoring
Snoring exercises are convenient and can be done almost anywhere at anytime of the day. These exercises are free and do not do any harm for you to try it out before moving on to other therapies. On the other hand, surgery and other aids seem drastic and may also cause some side effects as compared to the natural way to remedy snoring. So, if you are asking whether these exercises do help? The answer is yes, they do and with no side effects.
By: Ray Lam
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