TikTok Might Love Mouth Taping, But Experts Aren’t Convinced
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In a world of many internet life hacks, add taping your mouth shut at night to the list of things people are trying to get better sleep. Mouth tape is one health and beauty trend that involves taping over your mouth at night, and hopefully has you waking up feeling refreshed inside and out. Supporters of this practice say it gives them a better night's sleep, prevents bad morning breath, and even snatches their jawline. Sounds like a dream!
But, it's possibly just that. While there are real benefits to nasal breathing—the entire purpose of mouth taping—adding a sticky strip over your mouth might not be the answer to better rest, according to experts. And, before you add some adhesive to your nightly routine, it's a good idea to consult with a doctor to see if it's safe for you in the first place.
Here's what experts think about the mouth tape trend and if it really can make a difference for your wellness.
Meet the experts: Raj Dasgupta, MD, specializes in pulmonary, sleep, internal, and critical care medicine and is the chief medical advisor at Sleepopolis. Shannon Sullivan, MD, is a sleep specialist at Stanford Medicine. Priya Mistry, DDS, is a dentist with a TMJ practice in Vancouver, WA. PJ Nestler, CSCS, is the vice president of performance at FitLab.
What is mouth taping?
Even if you’ve never heard of it before, you can likely guess what mouth taping is just from the name. Mouth taping is the practice of applying an adhesive over your lips to keep your mouth closed. What is potentially less obvious, though, is why you might want to do this. It’s because mouth taping is one way to encourage nose breathing, which has a whole host of benefits (more on that later).
There's not much research supporting mouth tape specifically, but this wellness hack started to take off on social media in the 2020s predominantly as an addition to a nighttime routine to aid sleep, but some athletes have incorporated it into their fitness routines in order to get the benefits of nasal breathing too.
Mainly though, people tape their mouths at night, a time when it might be easier for their lips to slip open and mouth breathing to start. If you’re waking up in the morning with a dry mouth, sore throat, and bad breath, it could be because you were sleeping with your mouth open—but it could be from other things, too, like a cold or virus.
Benefits Of Nasal Breathing
Of all of mouth taping's claimed benefits, one thing it can do is promote nose breathing (because, well, your mouth is no longer an option). Since breathing through your nose is part of your body’s natural design, there are a lot of benefits that come with it. First, breathing through your nose can filter out dust and allergens, says sleep specialist Raj Dasgupta, MD. Your nose has tiny hairs called cilia that protect you from things like germs and environmental debris that your mouth can’t protect from. Second, breathing through your nose humidifies the air before it reaches your lungs—and apparently, your lungs prefer moist air. “When you are breathing in dry air, it's really irritating to your lungs,” Dr. Dasgupta says.
Nose breathing also *might* lower your blood pressure, but the key word is might. The thought behind this is that breathing through your nose releases nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels, and could therefore help lower your blood pressure, Dr. Dasgupta says.
Other Potential Benefits Of Mouth Taping, Explained
It could aid sleep, but docs don't recommend it.
When it comes to mouth taping for better sleep, sleep docs like Shannon Sullivan, MD, a sleep specialist at Stanford Medicine, and Dr. Gasgupta aren't convinced. Breathing through your nose can help you relax and lower anxiety, which could also be helping you drift off a little easier, says Dr. Dasgupta, but he wouldn't recommend this "sleep hack" to his patients, and neither would Dr. Sullivan.
In fact, if you’re really struggling with sleep, it’s a good idea to see a doctor instead of turning to different tricks because they can help determine the root cause and a better treatment, both docs say. "If you have to tape your mouth to breathe through your nose, that tells me there's gotta be something anatomically wrong or medically wrong and that should be evaluated," says Dr. Dasgupta.
Similarly, it could help with dental hygiene...
Mouth taping may offer some dental hygiene benefits, says Priya Mistry, DDS, a dentist in Vancouver, WA. “Mouth breathing dries out the mouth and less saliva equals more cavities,” she says. By taping your mouth closed at night, you can help fight cavities and bad morning breath.
Exercising with mouth tape is more complicated than it seems.
You also might see some athletes donning mouth tape as an attempt to get the benefits of nasal breathing. While there are some times when it's okay to use mouth tape during athletics, this practice is mostly misunderstood, says PJ Nestler, CSCS, vice president of performance at FitLab. "Mouth tape during exercise or for athletes is very, very, very, very commonly misused, and people really don't understand the when and why to use it," says Nestler.
While he no longer really uses mouth tape to train his athletes, Neslter has used it as a tool to remind people to keep themselves at a certain, lower level of intensity during a workout or as a psychological challenge or stressor. Mouth tape could be used on a casual run to remind you to breathe through your nose, but it shouldn't be used during high intensity sports like tennis, Nestler says.
It probably won’t give you a stronger jawline.
One reason people might want to try mouth taping is its supposed ability to help tighten up your jawline. The reason behind this is simple: if your lips are taped shut, there’s a better chance your tongue is also sitting in the correct position up against the roof of your mouth, says Dr. Mistry. However—just like mewing, which follows the same thought process—mouth taping probably won’t make much of a difference, if at all.
How To Try Mouth Taping
There isn't a universal recommendation for when or how often to do mouth taping (note: experts generally don't recommend it). That said, many people on social media claim to do it consistently every night. Assuming you’ve spoken with a healthcare professional and determined it’s a safe practice for you, purchase some adhesive, place your lips comfortably together, and tape ‘em closed right before bed.
Is mouth taping safe?
The safety of mouth taping comes down to each individual person. If you can reliably breathe through your nose, then mouth taping is safe, but for many people, nose breathing isn’t that simple. “I think the most important question to ask rather than jumping to mouth taping is: Why is it that the nasal route is not being used?” Shannon Sullivan, MD, a sleep specialist says.
Identifying the reason will lead to better treatment—and also help avoid any risks that mouth taping might incur. “Taping closed a viable airway, even if it's not the preferred airway, has a series of risks associated with it,” Dr. Sullivan says. Potential risks of mouth taping include poor quality sleep, which can affect every organ in the body, says Dr. Dasgupta. This is because if you're sealing an airway that your body needs, you might have abnormal breathing, a drop in oxygen saturation, not be able to take adequate breaths, and therefore experience sleep disruptions, says Dr. Sullivan.
There's a whole host of conditions that would make mouth taping not be the right choice for you. If you have sleep apnea, a deviated septum, had a previous nose injury, allergies, chronic sinusitis, a chronic cough, postnasal drip, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or esophageal reflux—or basically anything that messes with your breathing—it’s not a good idea to mouth tape, say the docs. You also wouldn’t want to mouth tape if you don’t wake easily, are taking medicines that increase drowsiness or have a sedative effect, or consumed alcohol or another drug that might complicate sleeping, adds Dr. Sullivan.
The bottom line: Speak with your doctor to determine if mouth taping is safe for you—and to identify any potential underlying conditions that could be causing you to breathe through your mouth in the first place.
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