From skincare to sleep hacks, TikTok is a breeding ground for trends and one of the latest to gain traction is mouth taping. But can sticking your lips shut at night really help you sleep better?
“Mouth taping is using a plaster tape such as micropore and placing it either from nose to chin or across the mouth to prevent the mouth opening during the night,” explains Dr Alison Bentley, sleep disorder specialist at Restonic Ezintsha Sleep Clinic. The goal? To encourage nasal breathing, which is how our bodies are meant to function during rest.
“We are not designed to breathe through our mouth,” she says. “The nose is designed to clean the air, hairs for big bugs and mucous for little bugs, as well as warm and wet the air so that it is perfect to go down into the lungs.” Mouth breathing, on the other hand, “means you’re breathing in all the dirt as well as drying out the mouth and throat.”
People often breathe through their mouths at night if their noses are blocked – from allergies, a deviated septum, or enlarged adenoids and tonsils or simply because the jaw relaxes when lying on the back.
But does taping really improve sleep? “There is evidence that it can work in more than half of people with snoring and mild apnoea,” says Dr Bentley. “The improved sleep quality is usually because you make it easier to breathe when mouth taping. Taping the mouth makes the jaw more stable and it doesn’t flop back. That movement of the jaw can cause snoring and apnoea.”
If you’re keen to try it, Dr Bentley advises checking that you can breathe easily through your nose first. “If not – get that fixed.” Then, try a couple of strips of micropore tape vertically from your nose down towards your chin. “Check that it works before buying anything more expensive.”
Not into tape? Chin straps and snore guards are other options, but ultimately, “make sure your nose is as open as possible.”
