The weirdest thing I’ve ever tried in my quest for good sleep? Mouth taping.
And I’m hooked—you’re going to want to try it, too, because it works. I had originally planned on simply mentioning mouth taping in my list of ways to sleep better, but I felt like it’s SUCH an unusual practice that it deserved some deeper exploration in its own post.
If you find yourself breathing through your mouth, especially at night (or if you suspect you aren’t sleeping as deeply as you could), you should try this out. After all, it’s a really cheap and easy way to find better health. Taping your mouth shut guides your body back to its more functional state of breathing: through your nose.
I started mouth taping a little over a year ago, and have since been covering my mouth Hannibal Lecter-style every single night before sleep. I’ve found that I wake up with more energy and am far less foggy-headed!
Yeah, you see—I became a mouth-breather at night for a while there.
There are a number of different reasons you might be breathing through your mouth.
In my case, I had a physical issue going on called overgrown turbinates. My nose was constantly feeling stuffed up, and I thought it was my San Diego allergies until I moved to Hawaii and still had the same issues. It took a lot of investigating and an eventual MRI to confirm I had overgrown little bones called turbinates that were physically blocking my nasal passages, making it very hard to breathe through my nose. So I was compensating by breathing through my mouth. I had turbinate reduction surgery in my nose in Jan 2019, and have been flourishing and mouth taping since to retrain myself to breathe through my nose!
I could probably start to wean myself off, but I like that the tape is a little extra security to keep my body in place. It’s kind of like how a retainer works for your teeth: the tape keeps your mouth closed and your jaw in place.
Now, there may be a number of reasons you or your loved one might be mouth breathing, so the first step before you try mouth taping is—as always—to consult your doctor. There may be an issue preventing you from breathing properly through your nose that we want to rule out first before you try this method.
Our breath is one of the most essential components of our overall wellness.
And yet we take our breath for granted far too easily! Be honest—when was the last time you thought about it? We assume that, because it’s automatic, we don’t have to do anything about it. But the vast majority of modern humans are breathing incorrectly.
We tend to breathe very shallow, up in our chests. This causes us to feel more stressed and anxious, which keeps our breathing more shallow. It’s a vicious cycle.
Our modern anatomy plays a part. According to this fantastic article in the Wall Street Journal, human mouths and sinuses have have shrunk over the past 300,000 years—part of the reason so many of us have crooked teeth, and have to have our wisdom teeth extracted.
But it’s also partly due to the fact that we neglect our breath in a major way. Past cultures considered breathing essential to health, but it’s discussed in modern health… basically never.
The good news is, our poor breathing is easily fixable.
Ideally, our breath should be slow, deep, and relaxed—expanding all the way to the lowest part of your belly, wrapping around to the sides of your ribs and the back.
When we think of breathing deeply, we focus on our bellies expanding forward, but you want to think of breathing from your center core and expanding out in all directions, like an umbrella opening. You shouldn’t feel like you’re forcefully trying to suck in more air, but like you’re relaxing your body enough that the air fills you up.
I teach a lot of breathwork as a yoga teacher, which is something I highly recommend looking into if you feel like you have trouble breathing deeply. Breathwork (aka pranayama) is at the core of yoga—the focus on your breath is one of the reasons yoga is so effective at creating mind-body connection and spiritual awakening. Breath is power.
There is an assortment of tried-and-true breathwork methods, all with various purposes, so I recommend searching for a local yoga or breathwork teacher (or even a physical therapist) who can help teach you some of the exercises. I also often post how-to breathing lessons on my Instagram and TikTok accounts!
It’s the same as training any other muscle—you’ll likely be weak at first, and you may even feel tightness or shaking in your diaphragm when you try to take a deep breath. But the more you practice, the easier it becomes! Trust me—I am doing the work every day to deepen my own breathing! It CAN be done.
Our shallow breath is making us sicker. Poor breathing can worsen asthma, anxiety, ADHD, hypertension, and more. It can also weaken our bones.
Mouth breathing also contributes to a host of health issues.
Put shortly—mouth breathing is the worst of all breathing. It has all the problems of shallow breathing, plus some added bonuses. It sucks to try to get by as a mouth breather, because you feel like crap. But it’s not something you have to settle for living with!
Mouth breathing can cause a number of sleep and health issues, including poor brain function. People who regularly breathe through their mouth are more likely than nasal breathers to have sleep disorders and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). It can also cause dry mouth, crooked teeth, periodontal disease, increased blood pressure and/or heart rate, and worsened asthma.
Yikes.
Mouth breathing, plus the extra aggravation of your normal shallow breathing, keeps your body’s sympathetic nervous system (stress response) activated. It’s like you’re suffocating, but very, very slowly.
I also have trouble feeling panicky when I’m snorkeling, for this reason. You’re forced to breathe through your mouth. But I digress.
Breathing through your nose, on the other hand, helps you feel your best.
Pair nose breathing with deep belly breathing and WATCH OUT, world. You’ll be freaking superhuman. (Or at least feel that way!)
Let’s talk about some of the health benefits for nose breathing, shall we? Nose breathing basically allows your body to turn off its stress response so your systems can return to functioning properly. You’ll turn on your body’s parasympathetic nervous system—allowing you to rest and restore. You’ll detox stress hormones more quickly and have reduced sleep apnea and snoring. The increased nitric oxide levels in your blood can improve dental health and brain function, lower blood pressure, regulate inflammatory response, reduce pain, boost sexual performance (say what!), reduce your risk of heart disease risk, and improve anxiety and depression.
Yes, please.
If you’re newer to nose breathing, it will be a bit of a challenge at first, but it’s easier the more you RELAX. And, of course, your body will try to return to its old habit of mouth breathing, especially when you’re asleep and, you know, unconscious.
That’s where your handy mouth tape comes in.
Heels because why not talk about something weird like mouth taping — but make it fashion. And also because I’m currently bored in COVID quarantine and these shoes got nowhere else to go.
The right Mouth Tape to use:
I personally use 3M micropore paper tape, but any hypoallergenic paper tape or surgical tape works. It doesn’t irritate my skin, which is vital. I also fold over the tape’s edge on one end, to make it super easy to peel off in the morning.
To be clear: you don’t want to use just any ol’ tape. You could cause a rash or pull at your skin, so put the Scotch away! Also, lay it down gently, after you’ve applied a solid layer of lip balm to keep your lips protected and lush.
I first found out about mouth taping through an unexpected source: the wonderful book Dodging Energy Vampires by Christiane Northrup, M.D, an obstetrician and gynecologist. That’s where I found her advice to use this specific tape to help improve your sleep (which is key to keeping yourself emotionally strong and energetically grounded). It’s a fantastic book that I highly recommend, especially for my fellow empaths out there!
Now, I totally understand being a bit freaked out about suffocating.
But no, this tape will not prevent you from breathing! If it does, something’s wrong. You should be able to breathe exclusively through your nose.
It’s totally normal to feel a little anxious when you first try it. I remember a panicked feeling rising in my chest, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe enough. But after a few minutes, my body adjusted and my nose kicked in. After a few days, it felt totally natural. If you feel like you’re struggling to breathe in enough, that likely just means you need to practice deep breathing in general during your waking hours to strengthen your system. With a little practice and consistency, your body will respond!
What if your nose gets congested? On a night where my allergies are bad and my nose is super stuffy (or, to be real, when I’ve been crying a lot), I will skip the mouth tape because nose breathing just isn’t an option. But otherwise, I’ve never had a problem. The most likely worst case scenario if you had any trouble breathing is: you’d wake up and take off the tape. No biggie.
But if you’re still worried, I found a solution! These sleep strips by SomniFix each have a safety hole cut out in the center—just in case. I haven’t tried them, but they have great reviews. I personally prefer to stick with my paper tape honestly because it’s just much more cost-effective, and I’ve never had an issue with it! But let me know what you think if you give these a shot.
Pro tip: use a neti pot before you put on your mouth tape.
I use a saline wash (and nasya oil) every morning and night to literally clean out my nasal passages and keep everything flowing clearly. Honestly, the feeling is so satisfying. This ensures you’re as decongested as possible, keeping the nose airways open so you won’t feel like you need your mouth to breathe. It’s uber effective (without the side effects of decongestant medicine) and helpful to do whether you feel stuffy or not. Using a saline rinse can even help prevent you from getting sick from respiratory diseases (heyyy COVID-19).
I wrote all about how to neti pot in this post. Since then I’ve also upgraded to the 2020 version of a neti pot: the battery-operated NeilMed Sinugator. (I mean, you gotta love it just for the balls of that name, right?) My surgeon had me get it after my turbinate surgery—it’s like a vibrator for your nose. It straight shoots the saline water up and out of your nose with a gentle pulsation that is highly efficient and effective. It’s so weird and wonderful and I never want to use a regular neti pot again. I always pack my Sinugator and my mouth tape when I travel—they’re essentials.
I hope mouth taping helps you sleep and feel better!
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How’s your breathing? Have you ever noticed? Let’s talk in the Comments below!
xo,
Amy
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