If you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, like nearly one billion people around the globe, it might be because your tongue is fat.
Researchers at Penn Medicine found that reducing the fat in your tongue provided some relief from symptoms such as snoring, choking, and gasping while asleep, publishing their results Friday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
"In fact, the more tongue fat you lost, the more your apnea improved," said the study's lead author, Dr. Richard Schwab.
But since you can't put your tongue on a diet, you'll have to lose weight overall to reduce its fat content, notes sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, who was not involved with this study.
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