I am a passionate and tenacious woman in all my endeavors, but I am my most audacious self within the framework of my profession. At work, I developed a groundbreaking therapy aiming at preventing individuals from snoring or manifesting sleep apnea.
I am a speech and language pathologist who have spent the last 10 years of her life researching and treating snoring and sleep apnea from the toddler and pregnant woman, all the way to your average aging Joe.
My message is this: Snoring and sleep apnea does not need to be a life sentence.
Most people do not know that it is within the scope of a speech and language pathologist to retrain the muscles at the root of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. This is not taught during our master’s degree. To the best of my knowledge, I am the first in my country and so had to teach myself how to do it (with a few trials and errors along the way). I have been instructing children and adults to breathe efficiently at night for the better part of the last decade.
I have put thousands of hours in research (my bibliography is over than 45 pages long) and clinical experience (hundreds of patients), analysis and reflection. All that effort led me to establish an efficient protocol that I teach to other speech and language pathologists to further our practice. With it, progress is observed after 3-4 weeks. Those who consult me stop snoring or do it less loudly, for less time, less often. They also have better management of their emotions like irritability and depression, better attention (ADHD) and memory, have lessen symptoms of asthma, no longer clench their teeth at night or no longer have a cracking jaw, have better digestion and choke less on their saliva. Why? Simply because all of this is linked to the functions, we, speech and language pathologists, optimize; ventilation, breathing, mastication, swallowing, sucking and speech.
I am trying to get the word out. Not because I seek new clients, but because sleeping poorly is a suffering to which I am particularly sensitive, not to mention a health hazard since it increases the risk of developing cancer and Alzheimer, and as it accelerates cognitive decline, just to name a few.
It seems to me that we should consider strengthening the muscles contributing to the collapses of the upper airways just like we work on the muscles surrounding a weak ankle.
In some regard, that is oversimplifying it as I know there are structural factors playing a part. I’m not ignoring them, but rather working around them to see what progress is attainable for a specific individual.
I will end by saying that giving hope and power to people who sleep poorly has become a mission of mine. You can see my publications, television appearances and radio interviews on my website under À propos. This needs to be known.
To all my clients out there: « You don’t need to worry about progressing slowly. You need only to worry about climbing the wrong mountain.” – James Clear
Marie-Emmanuelle Marchand, M. Sc., Speech and language pathologist
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