It’s long been known that losing weight helps reduce snoring and sleep apnea. Now an MRI study from the University of Pennsylvania has found that the culprit is not neck or chin fat, but tongue fat. Yes, the problem is fat tongues.

　　人们一直认为减肥有助于缓解打鼾和睡眠呼吸暂停，但现在宾夕法尼亚大学进行的磁共振成像研究发现罪魁祸首不是脖子或者下巴脂肪，而是舌头脂肪。对，就是舌头太胖了。

　　“Most clinicians, and even experts in the sleep apnea world, have not typically focused on fat in the tongue for treating sleep apnea,” says coauthor Richard Schwab, co-medical director of Penn Sleep Center. “Now that we know tongue fat is a risk factor and that sleep apnea improves when tongue fat is reduced, we have established a unique therapeutic target that we’ve never had before.”

　　此次研究的合著者Richard Schwab是宾夕法尼亚大学睡眠中心联合医学主任，他说：“大部分临床医生，甚至还有睡眠呼吸暂停方面的专家，在治疗睡眠呼吸暂停时通常都没有关注舌脂。既然我们知道了舌脂是风险因素，而且减少舌脂会改善睡眠呼吸暂停，我们就已经确定了此前没有发现的独特的治疗靶点。”

　　He means tongue diets.

　　他指的就是舌头节食。

　　Schwab found a strong correlation between lowing tongue fat volume and lessening sleep apnea: “Future studies could be designed to explore whether certain low-fat diets are better than others in reducing tongue fat, and whether cold therapies, like those used to reduce stomach fat, might be applied to reducing tongue fat.” He is also looking into whether some snorers who are not obese might just have fat tongues.

　　Schwab发现减少舌头脂肪含量和减轻睡眠呼吸暂停之间有很强的相关性：“未来研究的目的可以是研究特定的低脂饮食是否比其他饮食在减少舌脂方面效果更好，像用于减少胃部脂肪的冷疗法是否可以被用来减少舌脂。”他也调查了那些不肥胖的人打鼾是不是就只是因为舌头太胖了。

　　Sleep apnea is a big deal: 22 million Americans stop and start breathing while sleeping, often causing high blood pressure, constant wake-ups, and the utter consternation of bedmates who, years later, still read studies about snoring prevention (no personal experience here whatsoever). The researchers note that snoring can occasionally also be caused by large tonsils or a recessed jaw. Or fat tongues.

　　睡眠呼吸暂停是大问题：2200万美国人在睡觉时呼吸会暂停，这种情况通常会导致高血压、频繁醒来，还会使同床的人受到严重惊吓，致使他们多年后还会去读关于避免打鼾的研究(此处并非个人经历)。研究人员强调打鼾偶尔也会由扁桃体肥大或下巴短造成，或者就是因为舌头胖。