You might not have heard of it yet, but “mouth taping” is a trend that’s gaining traction thanks to a TikTok trend. Mouth taping is about taping your mouth closed while you sleep to improve snoring, allergies, and bad breath often brought on by sleeping with your mouth open. However, since the origin for this idea is TikTok, should you really be considering this? Bottom line is no, and here is why…
Breathing through your nose does have benefits including:
- lowering blood pressure
- filtering allergens
- regulating the temperature of your breath
- humidifying the air you breathe and moisturizing your throat
- decreasing anxiety
On the other hand, breathing through your mouth while sleeping can result in a dry mouth, bad breath, and a sore throat. For some people mouth breathing results in snoring.
We often breathe through our mouth when we can’t breathe properly through our nose. This often happen when we are congested from allergies, sinus infections, or suffer from other nasal problems.
The goal of mouth taping is to force breathing through the nose. However studies to date show no concrete advantages to mouth taping. As well, mouth taping is not considered part of any practice to treat sleep disorders. Taping your mouth shut while sleeping could impair your ability to breathe properly. You could also experience a skin rash from the tape itself. Bottom line – don’t listen to things you hear on TikTok.
So what can you do about snoring or sleep apnea?
For snoring, depending on the cause, you can try sleeping on your side, using nasal strips, or taking decongestants. It would also be best to talk to your doctor to find out the right approach to take and to ensure it is not a symptom of something more serious.
For sleep apnea, the most common treatment is the use of a CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) machine to help open the airways while you sleep. If you are concerned that you might have sleep apnea, contact your doctor right away.
