The surprising role the tongue plays in your overall health

Tongue dysfunction - I’m not talking about saying bad words here. 😂 It’s hard to know if your tongue is dysfunctional, am I right? I wouldn’t wait to see if you have a dysfunctional tongue before stretching and exercising this powerhouse muscle.

A couple of weird but effective ways to mobilize your tongue are listed below. The most important thing to remember is to do these in public with lots of people watching. Make eye contact with family members at the dinner table while practicing these exercises, and once you see them getting really confused, wink at them. Laughing is good for the soul.

1. Lizard lipstick- Pretend you are a lizard with a super long tongue. Open your mouth as wide as you can, and trace your lips like you are putting lipstick on with your tongue. Stretch your tongue as far as you can in each direction and keep your mouth open and still. Notice if you feel tighter going to one side than the other and practice that side more.
2. Suction and hold- Suction your tongue, flat to the roof of your mouth, keeping all pieces of your tongue inside of your teeth. Now open your mouth as wet as you can keeping your tongue suctioned completely. The front middle and back of your tongue should all be firmly pressed against the roof of your mouth. Under your tongue, you will seet the skin that tethers your tongue to your mouth. If it feels tight and is turning white or blanching, you may have a tongue tie. That’s OK! Many times doing these tongue exercises can make a big difference for you. Hold this suctioned tongue open mouth pose for 30 seconds and repeat 10 times.
3. Pufferfish- Seal your lips tightly together and puff your entire mouth full of air. Try to make sure you get plenty of air even behind your upper lip and lower lip on the right and the left. Hold for 10 seconds. You should feel some stretching inside of your mouth. Repeat 10 times.
4. Teeth tracing- Start with your tongue in front of your top teeth. Move all the way to the right, tracing your teeth until you get to your very back Mohler. Circle around that tooth and continue behind your front teeth, circling around your other Mohler and returning to the front. Repeat on your bottom teeth. You will quickly have an idea of where your range of motion may be restricted. Regardless, it’s a great stretch for the tongue.

These tongue workouts are easy to do during your everyday life, and they can make a big difference. People with jaw pain or chronic neck stiffness can especially see good results doing these exercises. I’ve even seen people with trigeminal nerve pain and headaches, improve by stretching and exercising the tongue. Sometimes I even grab hold of my tongue and pull it away from my body to feel the stretch.

The tongue is involved in the movement of lymph fluid and good oral hygiene as well. You just can’t go wrong by giving your tongue a little extra attention this holiday season. It was my goal to be the only person to tell you that and I hope I’m right that I was. 😂

I’ve included a picture of Emily’s cute tongue for motivation! Happy holidays and I hope to see you in the office while I’m in there for a few days in December. And yes, of course, I’m Looking forward to coming back in January!