The Importance of Proper Tongue Posture
Do you suffer from TMJ pain, headaches, neck/back pain, breathing issues, or poor sleep? If so, your tongue could be part of the problem.
If no one’s ever told you where your tongue should be resting when you’re not talking, eating, drinking, or kissing, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Unfortunately, it is a neglected topic and while it is important for adults, it is particularly crucial for children.
I had 5.5 years of orthodontic work and, while I respect that orthodontist so much for never pulling a single tooth and expanding the heck out of my palate, I never recall him or my allergy doctors ever mentioning where my tongue should be hangin out. This needs to be common knowledge.
What is Proper Tongue Posture?
Proper tongue posture means that your tongue rests:
Gently against the roof of your mouth
Just behind your front teeth (but not touching them)
With the entire tongue lifted but not blocking your throat
Mouth closed, breathing through your nose
Teeth gently closed or slightly apart
Jaw relaxed
Some Signs of Improper Tongue Posture
Chronic mouth breathing or difficulty keeping your lips closed
Snoring or sleep-disordered breathing
Teeth grinding, clenching, or jaw tightness or clicking
Poor posture, particularly forward head posture
Narrow palate or crowded teeth
Speech sound distortions
Choking or coughing while eating
Frequent dry mouth or chapped lips
Fatigue while talking or eating
Common Causes of Poor Tongue Posture
Tongue ties
Chronic nasal congestion
Mouth breathing
Long-term pacifier or bottle use
Poor oral habits like thumb sucking
Lack of awareness or muscle tone in the tongue
Why is Tongue Posture Important?
Positioning of the tongue influences the entire body, including our nervous system (indirectly).
When tongue posture or function is compromised, the body usually compensates in a few ways, including poor breathing, forward head posture, and the over activation of other muscles such as the jaw, neck, upper chest, and shoulder muscles (hello pain and tension in all those muscles).
A key aspect in regards to breathing and our nervous system is that when our tongue is in the right place, our airways remain more open, making breathing easier. And when we are breathing through our nose with our tongue in the right place and at a slow pace, it creates the conditions for our nervous system to regulate properly. So, if we are living in sympathetic (fight or flight) overdrive, we’re able to support parasympathetic activity (rest and digest) and eventually, our nervous system is easily able to seamlessly switch between calm and alert when needed.
(More on the importance below).
What Does Improper Tongue Posture Lead To?
Crooked teeth
Narrow palate which causes narrower airways (i.e. harder to breathe)
speech impediments
snoring and sleep apnea
tooth grinding
tongue thrust
mouth breathing and other breathing disorders
dental issues
orofacial development problems
What Does Proper Tongue Posture Lead To?
On the flip side, proper tongue posture can lead to basically the opposite of everything listed above.
We’re talking a more defined jawline, improved breathing, straighter teeth, expanded palate, stable airway, clearer speech, more nervous system regulation, and less tension in the jaw, chest, neck, and shoulders.
Getting Your Tongue Up
If you aren’t already keeping your tongue where it should be during rest, and there aren’t any anatomical issues holding you back from putting your tongue in the proper position, then there’s some things you can do to work on strengthening that muscle.
First things first, try to become more aware of where your tongue is chillin out when you’re not doing anything that requires your mouth to be open or moving. And with that awareness, if you notice it is not in its place, practice bringing it there. So much of it comes down to habit and training the muscles to automatically be in that spot without having to think about it.
I have a habit of chewing my lips and cheeks, which, I’ve been told, looks weird. That in of itself is some motivation to try and stop. But, my biggest motivation is because I know how important it is that my tongue is resting on the roof of my mouth and if I’m consistently chewing the inside of my mouth, then there’s a big chunk of my day that my tongue is assisting in that instead of resting where it should be. Since committing to stopping, everytime I notice myself doing it now, I stop, take a breath, and place my tongue back where it belongs.
In the Buteyko method, we teach tongue pops to help with tongue posture, which, to be honest, is really hard to explain in writing because the sound of it is sort of key. But if you want to check it out, I just made a video about it on my instagram.
If you can’t get your tongue up on the roof of the mouth, I suggest finding a myofunctional therapist to work with. They are trained to discover the root cause of why the tongue struggles to get/stay up there and will teach you tailored exercises to train the muscle.