Tips on How to Stop Gag Reflex

Understanding our gag reflex is something we should first understand in our efforts to finding out how to stop it. The tips on how to stop gag reflex you will find here, vary greatly. Our gag reflex is a simple reflex by our throats, that won't allow anything past it but the normal action of swallowing our food. It is out throats way of telling certain objects that they shouldn't be there.

Tip number one is, you can train or should I say, retrain your throat to react differently when something other than food is put into your mouth. A simple test will allow you to find out where exactly your gag reflex starts. When you brush you teeth, use your toothbrush in a way to see where your gag reflex starts. Put your toothbrush into the area of your mouth, far as you can stand until you feel like your about to gag. This may seem a bit extreme, but you need to know where the reflex begins. Try brushing your teeth for approximately 15 seconds each night and, you will start to find that you are building a tolerance to how far your reflex will start. Keep brushing in this manner, and move the brush back further as you progress.

Some people think that the gag reflex is psychological, while others think that it is purely physical. In a simple answer, it is both. Many people have a hard time while at their dentist visit, where the gag reflex is concerned. Try breathing through the nose. Also, you can place a little salt on the tip of your tongue and hold it a bit in your mouth, then swallow. For some reason or another, this has been found to work around 95% of the time. Also, if you can chew some mint gum before you see the dentist, this often seems to help.

A lot of dentists encounter this problem, and have been known to use a spray on a patient with a super-sensitive gag reflex. This to is usually found to be mint derived, or will have a numbing agent in it. This helps to numb and relax the throat therefore, aiding in the gag reflex. One type of method used by dentist and physicians for people who have a problem with their gag reflex, will be to get their mind off the situation at hand. They will often give their patients something to hold on to such as a magazine or stuffed animal or other objects. Some have even been known to tell their patients to hold their leg up and make circular motions with the foot while doing this.

These tips all play a part into the thought that the gag reflex may be psychological or physical. The main objective is to get the mind off of the reflex and, for the most part do just that. All of these tips can help you with your gag reflex and should be implemented if you are indeed a person who has a problem with this.

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