Could conches put snoring to bed?
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Could this be the answer to ending this? On the streets of Sydney, those living alongside snorers are open to all sorts of solutions.
Opinion: Very distracting. I don't think I could sleep with anyone that snores. There's a 12 person room, there's at least three people though snored. The person above me and the person next to me snored. And for doing like 25,000 steps a day in Europe, walking around and getting like no sleep because of snoring, it was rough.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: A new study released this week by the European Respiratory Society and carried out by a research institute in India, looked at 30 people with obstructive sleep apnoea. It required them to play a conch seashell, specifically a shunk in this instance, for 15 minutes a day, five days a week. The study found those who practice shunk blowing as a low cost breathing technique were less sleepy during the day and had better quality sleep at night. The findings were especially exciting to Karen, who's not keen on using a sleep apnoea machine.
Karen: And the doctor actually suggested one of those, you know, breathing machines. When you've been married 40 years, that would be like the icing on the cake for the death-knell of the marriage.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: I think hearing something like that, would you ever be willing to practice?
Karen: I don't know. I've got a conch shell at home. Maybe I'll give it a go.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: You're kidding.
Karen: Yeah, I've got a little one from the islands when I did used to sail back in the, in the eighties.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: You know how to blow into it and all that?
Karen: Not really, but I'm sure I could try.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Do you think if you suggested it to your husband, he'd be,
Karen: he'd think I've completely lost the pot. I'd have a crack at it. I think anything that, that helps, you know, um, tried pillows. I've tried loads of different things, but yeah, I'm just a mouth mouth breather snorer.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Dr Kat Lederle is a sleep therapist in the United Kingdom. She told the BBC, this study fits in with other data around improving respiratory muscles.
Dr Kat Lederle: So what that probably does is it strengthens the muscles in the face, in the sort of firings in the thoracic area. And it's really, it's the regular practice. And there are other similar studies looking at other instruments and looking at other exercises that all involve basically the face and sort of the neck, the muscles there to strengthen them and to then stop them from collapsing at night.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: Dr Moira Junge is the CEO of the Sleep Foundation and was not involved in the study. She says it's a novel idea.
Dr Moira Junge: It is curious. I've never, um, hadn't heard of this before, even though I have heard of ancient healing things like, you know, with Buteyko methods and things like that. So we don't have standard guidelines or it's not a validated part of therapy for sleep apnoea at this stage at least.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: But she warned the sleep industry can be prone to solutions that are not yet substantively proven to be effective and recommended pursuing other means of treatment under the guidance of a healthcare professional. Across the board, Dr Moira Junge says practising good sleep hygiene is crucial.
Dr Moira Junge: Consistent sleep patterns, being very aware of the light and the dark. So being in really bright light conditions when you want to be alert. So during the day and in the night-time, plunging yourself into dim light conditions and less stress, unwinding, unplugging before bed. And that doesn't mean just phones and screens. It's like unplugging from your busy mind, unplugging from responsibilities.
Myles Houlbrook-Walk: She says more research needs to be done before this can become a promising alternative.
Andy Park: Miles Houlbrook-Walk there.
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