Snoring occurs when relaxed tissues in your airway vibrate during sleep, and the primary modifiable risk factor is your daytime breathing pattern. Chronic mouth breathers are far more likely to snore because mouth breathing weakens the tongue and palatal muscles that maintain airway patency during sleep. Additionally, mouth breathing dries the airway tissues, making them more prone to the vibration that produces snoring.
Retraining yourself to breathe through your nose during the day directly reduces nighttime snoring by strengthening the muscles that keep the airway open during sleep. The myofunctional exercises used by sleep dentists — tongue positioning, palatal strengthening — are essentially the same muscles that nasal breathing naturally trains with every breath. Studies show that mouth taping during sleep (after establishing comfortable nasal breathing during the day) can reduce snoring by over 50%.
A comprehensive anti-snoring breathwork protocol combines daytime nasal breathing retraining with specific oropharyngeal exercises that strengthen the soft palate, tongue base, and lateral pharyngeal walls. Evening breathwork before bed — slow nasal breathing while consciously maintaining tongue position on the roof of the mouth — sets the neuromuscular pattern that carries into sleep, keeping the airway open and quiet throughout the night.