Taping your mouth while you sleep is supposed to improve both looks and health. Its origin is a book with dubious scholarship.
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I put this question: “what is the evidence for and against mouth taping and where does the balance of evidence lie”
Into chatGPT and got
https://chatgpt.com/c/6860f66a-a29c-800c-a9a8-5e9477e01649
chatGPT and all LLMs suffer from a bias towards the conventional wisdom, but as a starting position that is helpful:
Quoting the conclusion: " In short: Mouth taping is an intriguing idea supported by meagre early data and overshadowed by clear safety questions. For now, its place is limited to well-supervised trials—not mainstream self-care."
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Lol - improve looks and health. I did try mouth taping many years ago and did not notice many benefits.
Many factors for a good sleep. From breathing to chemicals to environment etc.
I’ve heard of some high level athletes using sleep apnea machines (various types) for sleep if needed, or perhaps some use it to get a better sleep overall.
Never tried this myself, but would like to one day as they are hard to acquire without a prescription.
The article you linked mentions cpap machine:
“Mouth taping is appealing to people who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and who are told by doctors that they need to invest in an expensive and cumbersome CPAP machine. A motor blows air into a tube, forcing this air into a mask strapped to the sleeper’s face. No wonder so many patients abondon them”
However, there are other (newer) types of sleep apnea machines beyond cpap, which does not force the air.
Sleep medication of course is well beyond mouth taping.
Along with all the other stuff people here already use or know about.
This article reminds me of the “alarm” raised by the lack of evidence for flossing teeth. There is a lack of published evidence as the results are so evident. It is non-invasive. It costs pennies. (or nickles). In my case, it prevents me from waking up with a dry mouth throughout the night. It prevents snoring which is a godsend. I -think- it helps with gum health as my mouth seems pretty moist-minty fresh waking in the morning. At a younger age I never needed it - now I do. What could be simpler?
As to other attributes - Who knows? Who cares? Do I really need a scientific study which could plausibly be done at great expense to guide my use? Do I respect influencers needing eyeballs on their Instagram accounts inflating mouth tape’s attributes?
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I have been using mouth taping for about a year. It is one of my prime sleep aids.
Because I tend to start breathing through my mouth, I would typically wake up a few times a night because my mouth became so dry. The tape on the mouth ensures that I breathe through my nose, and I don’t wake up to take a sip of water.
I use 3M Micropore paper tape.
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I’ve heard from people who use mouth tape because they wake up with a dry mouth—and I get that it can offer real, short-term relief. But it’s a temporary fix, not a solution.
If your body’s defaulting to mouth breathing at night, the question isn’t “should I tape?” It’s why is it happening in the first place?
First step is probably to get evaluated for sleep apnea. From there, it could be a mix of things—nasal congestion, allergies, tongue posture, even childhood habits or dehydration in dry environments.
Dry mouth might seem minor, but it’s often a sign worth listening to. The tape helps temporarily but it’s good to solve from the root…and probably not a quick fix.
At 85, I am always in for a quick fix. Yes, there are many reasons for reverting to mouth breathing when asleep, including total relaxation. Many other causes, such as basic anatomical differences in jaw structure, preferred sleeping positions, etc.
So no, I am not going to go on a journey to find the “root” cause when a simple fix is sufficient. And, yes, I was wired up and tested for sleep apnea.
No need to go through a lot of hassle to discover a complex answer when a simple, affordable “fix” will address the most prevalent, apparent, and readily fixable issue.
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All of your “first steps” require money, time and engaging with the medical industry. All pretty drastic “steps” when in some cases, all that is required is a little tape and self-experimentation. Basically your solutions requires someone to chase their tale to arrive at an outcome that is possibly obtainable without drugs, contraptions, and endless consultation with fallible overworked and time-restricted medical personal.
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The article says:
None of the author’s three references behind that claim show this. One is to a 2002 study that did not even measure oxygen levels;
What? Nasal breathing is claimed to increase nitric oxide, not oxygen. That is why you tape your mouth.
Below is the paper he chastises.
https://publications.ersnet.org/content/erj/19/5/859
The quote above seems to refer to the following statement in the study.
Nasal breathing increases arterial oxygenation in healthy volunteers and reduces pulmonary arterial pressure in postoperative cardiac patients 18
The statement is citing a reference. Did he read it? I did. The reference states:
Thus, air derived from the patient’s own nose was aspirated and led into the inhalation limb of the ventilator. In six out of eight healthy subjects tcPO2 was 10% higher during periods of nasal breathing when compared with periods of oral breathing. In six out of six long-term intubated patients PaO2 increased by 18% in response to the addition of nasal air samples. PVRI was reduced by 11% in four of 12 short-term intubated patients when nasal air was added to the inhaled air. The present study demonstrates that tcPO2 increases during nasal breathing compared with oral breathing in healthy subjects.
Partial pressure of oxygen, or PaO2
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content?ContentTypeID=167&ContentID=arterial_blood_gas
transcutaneous oxygen tension (tcPO2)
I love mouth taping. This is one of those interventions where we should not be slaves to studies that were specifically done on mouth taping.
Here’s the thing, we have slam dunk evidence that mouth breathing is bad for you and that nose breathing is the optimal way to breathe for human health.
Mouth taping forces us to breathe through our noses. How would this NOT be effective unless you’re already very good as breathing through your nose?
For former mouth breathers like myself, mouth tape has completely transformed the way I breathe.
It is obviously no substitute for a CPAP machine if you have apnea but it’s a tremendous help in changing your breathing patterns.
How anyone can say it’s a BS fad is beyond me once you understand that nasal breathing > mouth breathing.
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