[For Seniors] Oral Exercises to Keep Eating Deliciously and Enjoyably
Daily meals are important for staying healthy for years to come.
To help older adults enjoy their meals, try actively incorporating oral exercises into your daily routine.
As we age, it becomes harder to swallow food, and the risk of choking and aspiration increases.
To help prevent aspiration, simple oral exercises before eating are recommended.
In this article, we introduce easy pre-meal oral exercises recommended for older adults.
To improve swallowing, it’s important not only to exercise the mouth but also to loosen the muscles around the mouth, as well as the shoulders and neck.
Incorporate these oral exercises and enjoy your meals.
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[For Seniors] Oral Exercises to Keep Eating Deliciously and Enjoyably Forever (41–50)
There are two chickens in the garden.
A classic tongue twister that depicts chickens in a garden, notable for the repeated ‘niwa’ sounds.
Since ‘ni’ is pronounced with the lips stretched sideways and ‘wa’ with the mouth opened wider, focusing on articulation gives the muscles around your mouth a solid workout.
The faster you go, the harder it is to distinguish the next word, making it easy to miscount how many times ‘niwa’ appears—another key feature of this phrase.
To pronounce it smoothly, it’s important to clearly visualize the scene the words describe and to pay attention not only to pronunciation but also to accent.
[For Seniors] Oral Exercises to Keep Eating Deliciously and Enjoyably Forever (51–60)
Hard-to-pull nails, nails that are difficult to remove, nails pulled out with a nail puller
“A nail that’s hard to pull out, a nail that’s difficult to draw out, a nail pulled with a nail puller”—this tongue-twister also brings to mind scenes of carpenters or families doing DIY at home.
You can really picture someone struggling to pull out a stubborn nail.
Because of that, it repeats the same or similar words quite a lot.
It might be easier to say if you consciously break it into words like: hard-to-pull, nail; hard-to-draw-out, nail.
It’s a tongue-twister that may even help older adults recall their own DIY experiences.
New Singer New Year Chanson Show
Chanson is a French word that means “song.” In Japan, the chanson “Meke Meke,” which Akihiro Miwa covered and sang in Japanese, is also well-known.
Some older people may have heard it at least once.
The tongue twister “shinjin kashu shinshun chanson show” (Newcomer Singer New Year Chanson Show) can be taken to mean a chanson show held at New Year featuring new singers.
The tongue twister evokes an image of listening to a beautiful singing voice in a refreshing atmosphere.
However, it’s hard to say when you actually try it, especially since the “so” in “chanson” tends to turn into “sho.”
Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau
“Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau” is a classic tongue twister.
Some older adults may have heard it or even tried the tongue twister at least once.
However, the Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau doesn’t actually exist.
It never existed in the past either; what does exist is the Japan Patent Office in Chiyoda City, Tokyo.
So where did the TV announcer tongue twister “Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau” come from? As it turns out, it’s said to have been created for use in recruitment exams.
Raw catfish, raw sea cucumber, raw nameko mushrooms
By consciously paying close attention to how you move your tongue and lips, you can manage to pronounce words used in daily life in some way.
This phrase is a tongue twister where the movements of the tongue and lips are particularly important.
The word “nama” is the key: the “na,” which requires firm tongue movement, and the “ma,” pronounced by opening and closing the lips, occur in succession, directing your awareness to your mouth’s motion.
Pronouncing words that actively engage the mouth can also help stimulate saliva production, making this tongue twister recommended from multiple perspectives.
Raw wheat, raw rice, raw eggs
It’s a classic tongue twister—practically the gold standard that everyone’s tried.
In this phrase, pay particular attention to the mouth shape and tongue movement for the “nima” parts.
Start by pronouncing each character slowly and one by one; once you grasp how your tongue moves, your speech should become smoother.
For “na,” tongue movement is key; for “ma,” the opening and closing of the lips are important.
If you pronounce them clearly, it can even help stimulate saliva production.
Focusing on speed helps with smooth delivery, while focusing on mouth movements strengthens the surrounding muscles, so it’s highly recommended.
Ultimate luxury aircraft at a deserted Kyushu airport
The tongue twister “kuukyo na Kyushu kuukou no kyuukyoku koukyuu koukuuki” (empty Kyushu airport’s ultimate luxury aircraft) feels difficult just by looking at it written down.
The sentence is also on the longer side for a tongue twister, and it’s characterized by a mix of hard k sounds and kya-kyu-kyo clusters.
Because of that, it’s said to be hard to say without tripping up.
To be able to say tongue twisters, the key is to be conscious of each word and pronounce every one clearly and distinctly.
By the way, there is no actual airport called “Kyushu Airport.” If you were to use a real airport in a tongue twister, it would be one of the airports in the Kyushu region, such as Kitakyushu Airport.