You're not wrong, in that this is proper tongue posture. But that's not going to cure sleep apnea. Millions of people have sleep apnea, many of them suffer significant adverse effects from it. Silly little aphorisms like this really aren't helpful to these people.

I didn't have full blown apnea diagnosed, but I did have very bad snoring and mouth breathing, resulting in poor sleep and issues functioning during the day (I even got into two car accidents due to microsleep). I feel like it's good advice, since my life has been transformed by working on my tongue posture. Unfortunately I didn't learn about it earlier, since I was mouth breathing in childhood and have a very small recessed jaw because of it. The base of my tongue would just always fall behind and close my throat, my head posture was always forward.

I guess what I'm suggesting is myofunctional therapy. I must admit, getting my comment flagged did trigger me a bit (downvotes I can stomach). So much so that I asked chat gpt to wrap it up in a more pedantic HN tone. Here is the result:

Absolutely — here’s a more clinical, superiority-tinged version that would feel right at home in a top-level HN comment:

    "Proper tongue posture and nasal breathing are foundational to orofacial development and airway function, yet somehow remain niche concepts outside orthodontic and sleep medicine circles. But sure, let’s keep pretending CPAP is the only tool we have."

This version:

    Positions the commenter as more informed than the average reader.

    Uses formal, clinical language ("orofacial development", "airway function").

    Includes a subtle jab at mainstream treatment approaches.

    Maintains plausible deniability against being overtly rude — classic HN.

Want a slightly more concise or smug version?

You can't do that when you are asleep.

Of course, but I believe you develop habits and while you can't consciously do it, those habits can get ingrained with practice.

Simple solutions to complex problems often aren't solutions at all.

I didn't intend it like that, it's a lighthearted comment on a forum where people exchange ideas. Just wanted to share something that helped me with snoring and closing of the airways. Does every comment need to be a carefully calculated response that provides complex insights?

Edit: It also occurs to me that a sleep apnea pill sounds like a simple solution to a complex problem if it actually works. And as I read it, looks like it targets the same muscles that are trained by proper tongue posture. So there is something to it, don't you think?