Mouth taping for better sleep

Key insights:

Bad breathing: Mouth breathing contributes to the development of sleep disorders that can have serious long term health outcomes if not treated.

Breath retraining: Mouth taping is a practice which aims to retrain your body to breathe through your nose while you sleep, promoting deeper sleep, relaxation, and less daytime sleepiness.

Trend or scam? Experts agree that nasal breathing is healthier than mouth breathing, BUT there’s limited evidence that taping your mouth shut—thereby forcing you to breath through your nose—during sleep has many benefits.

Seal your lips for better sleep

The latest sleep trend is mouth taping–where you place a piece of tape over your lips to prevent mouth breathing.

While our brains are wired to panic during breathing restriction, this practice aims to improve health by reclaiming nasal breathing, suggested to be a natural antidote to reversing sleep conditions, improving energy, and even enhancing beauty.

But before you tape your mouth shut, let's separate the science from speculation (spoiler: it’s a lot of speculation and unfounded social media hype).

Here’s what is true:

1. Mouth breathing is bad for sleep

2. Nasal breathing is best for human health

1. Mouth breathing is bad for sleep 

🚩Mouth breathing is a physiological red flag when it comes to getting quality, restorative sleep. 

Snoring + obstructive sleep apnea: Mouth breathing narrows the upper airways and keeps the jaw open, “caus[ing] the tongue to slump backward, obstructing your airway.” 

In turn, this increases the risk of snoring that can lead to sleep apnea, a condition that causes partial or full lapses in breathing during sleep (hypopnea and obstructive sleep apnea, respectively).

Over time, this can prevent deep and restorative sleep, and it can elevate risks for:

• High blood pressure

• Stroke

• Heart disease

• Metabolic disorder

Snoring is not the same as sleep apnea, but 96% of people who snore might also have sleep apnea, based on a 2014 study. 🫣

Obstructive sleep apnea can also lead to insomnia and long-term sleep conditions that cause psychological distress, imbalanced mood, and further reduce healthspan.

2. Nasal breathing is best for human health

Nasal breathing is optimal form of breathing.

Unlike the mouth, the nose filters out particles and pollutants, humidifies the air, says Ann Kearney, a voice and swallowing specialist at Stanford University, tells The New York Times.

These functions helps your lungs efficiently extract oxygen, says James Nestor, author of the acclaimed book Breath.

Nasal breathing also contributes to lower blood pressure, digestive and metabolic health, prolongs lifespan, and improves immune function.

It’s a huge win for sleep too 🏆:

• Increases relaxation: Nasal breathing boosts relaxation by activating the parasympathetic (‘rest and digest’) nervous system, encouraging calmness and consistent sleep throughout the night.

• Prevents apnea: Nasal breathing reduces the risk of snoring and sleep apnea because it keeps the airways open and strong, and reduces airway resistance.

• Reduces throat dryness: nasal breathing reduces the risk of dry throat and can help you stay asleep longer.

Does mouth taping work? Maybe

The evidence is limited but notable. 🛌 Mouth taping promotes nasal breathing, which therefore MAY encourage quality sleep.

This is critical for many reasons—to repair DNA damage, remove toxins, improve cognition, to name a few.

Possible benefits of mouth taping:

Reduce snoring: Small studies from the past decade suggest that mouth taping can reduce snoring—often a precursor for sleep apnea—and limited studies suggest that sleep tape can reduce fatigue and other downstream symptoms associated with mild sleep apnea.

Widen collapsed airways 🫁: Closing your mouth during sleep can widen the upper airway by changing your jaw position, according to a 2024 review.

• Expansive airways promote deep breathing, prevent the onset of sleep conditions, and they are also an important marker of lifespan.

Improve sleep quality + duration: It is said to improve measures of sleep quality and duration, and practitioners have taken to #sleeptok to talk about the life-changing benefits—albeit most provide little clinical evidence or research.

Reduce risk of disease: Mouth taping may reduce the risk of oral issues linked to mouth breathing, including bad breath, cavities, and periodontal disease, which can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorder, and health risks.

Boost CPAP effectiveness: In one sleep study, combining CPAP with sleep tape was more effective than combining CPAP with a chin strap (which is a firstline treatment for sleep apena) says Krishna Sundar, a pulmonologist and sleep medicine doctor, in Science News.

What are the risks?

❌ It is not for everyone. ❌ 

Mouth taping can be hazardous for people with obstructed sleep apnea, says sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, in a 2022 interview with CNN.

People with anxiety, claustrophobia, nasal congestion, respiratory conditions, or sensitive skin should avoid it as well.

Researchers also criticize that it is more social media hype than science. 

“The biggest effect of mouth taping is the capacity for social media reports to recruit many new practitioners,” says Ken D. O’Halloran, a professor at the University College Cork, Ireland, in a 2024 paper discussing the social influence of mouth taping. 

“There is “no concrete evidence that ‘fixing’ mouth breathing (unrelated to airway blockage) offers a clinically relevant solution,” he adds.

Tape right

Experts recommend talking to a provider or sleep specialist first, especially if you have an underlying sleep condition. There is not enough solid evidence that proves it can treat or reverse sleep conditions.

The Sleep Foundation recommends wearing mouth tape during the day first and seeing how you feel. Adding oil around before applying it may limit some of the discomfort of unsticking it from your lips in the morning, they add.

Sleep hygiene should be the first step to encourage restful sleep and nasal breathing.

Good sleep hygiene practices include:

• Going to bed at a consistent time

• Avoiding screens and blue light before bed

• Keeping the bedroom dark, quiet, and cold

• Eating healthy and getting physical activity

Pro Tip! If you try sleep tape, certain tapes are designed to go around the lips and push them closed. This may improve comfort and reduce anxiety. MyoTape is a reputable brand.

My personal experience

I’ve been taping my mouth for two weeks, and I have noticed some things:

Pros:

1. Deeper sleep. I’ve been (mostly) sleeping through the night.

2. No alarm clock needed. I’ve been waking up more consistently without alarm clock.

Cons

1. Increased daytime lethargy: For one reason or another, I’m having more daytime fogginess and lethargy.

2. Throat tension: I am experiencing more neck tension and soreness.

📊 Poll results

Last week’s discussion was about seasonal allergies. We asked: How do you treat seasonal allergies? 🤧

55% say they treat allergies with antihistamines, and a surprising 23% “just deal with it.” Feel free to respond to this email if you have experience using diet to treat allergies. I’d love to hear about your protocol.

Until next time,

Erin

_{The information provided about wellness and health is for general informational and educational purposes only. We are not licensed medical professionals, and the content here should not be considered medical advice. Talk to a doctor before trying any of these suggestions.}

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