Gluing Your Mouth Shut for Better Sleep? Here’s What Doctors Say.
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A recent trend circulatingโฃ on social media platforms like TikTok suggests using โadhesive โtape to close the mouthโค during sleep, purportedly to improve sleep quality, lengthen sleepโ duration, and โขreduce snoring. โHowever, medical professionalsโค strongly advise against this practice.
The claims, often promoted โby individuals connected โขto companies selling related products,โค lack scientific backing.”The โฃstudies behind the adhesive tape โare small, the benefits are modest and thereโ areโ potential โrisks,” explains Dr. โKimberly Hutchison, a neurologistโข and sleep medicine โexpert at Oregon Health & Science university.
Theโ practice carriesโ meaningful risks, including the potential โขto worsen โexisting sleepโข disorders like sleep apnea, and, in severe cases,โ evenโค lead to โsuffocation.
Why Noseโ Breathing is Preferred
Experts agree that while mouth breathing in adults isn’t a major health concern, nasal breathing is preferable. The nose functions as a natural filtration system,โ trapping dust and allergens before they reach the lungs.
Breathing through the mouth during sleep can result in a dry โฃmouth, irritated throat, bad breath, โคand contribute to โฃoral โhealth problems.โข It’s also frequently linked to โคincreased snoring.
Mouth Taping: Unproven and Possibly Hazardous
Despite theโฃ benefits of nasal breathing, experts caution against resorting to mouth taping as a solution. Current evidence does not demonstrate that it improvesโ sleep. Limited studies have shown minimal โฃor no effect, and their small sample sizes prevent definitive conclusions.
“There is no clear evidence that it improves sleep,” the article states.
Dr. david Schulman, a sleep doctor at โฃemory โUniversity School of Medicine in Atlanta, highlights safer and moreโ effective alternatives. These include prescription mouthpiecesโ designed โto open airways, and CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway pressure) devices – a ventilation therapy that supports patients with irregular breathing patterns by applying air pressure. Lifestyle changes, such as โขweight โloss andโค smoking cessation, can also be beneficial, especially for those who are overweight.
Identifying the Root Cause of Mouth Breathing
The safest approach is to determine why someoneโ is breathing throughโ their mouth. This could indicate an underlying issue, such as obstructive sleep apnea – a condition where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep โdue to airway blockage. Sleep apnea is often associated with mouth breathing and snoring and is typically treatedโฃ with a โฃCPAP device.
“Sleep apneaโข canโข be bad because any deterioration in sleep qualityโ can affect everyday โคlife,” says Dr.Brianโ Chen, a sleep doctor at the โCleveland Clinic.โฃ โคHe โคnotes that disrupted sleep from snoringโ can prevent individuals from reaching deeper, restorative โขsleep stages, leadingโ to daytime exhaustion and โeven dangerous situations like โfalling asleep at the wheel.
dr.โฃ Schulman recommends considering a sleep โtest, which can even be conducted at home.”It is always โbetter to no something than not know,” he states. “And if you know โฃthat something is wrong and you โdecide against therapy, atโข least you know that you make a justified decision.”
