Bad breath, snoring and sleep apnea are common results of mouth-breathing during sleep. Can simply taping your mouth shut solve these problems – or are people suffocating themselves with this latest online trend?
Another day, another internet trend. Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Graham are using the mouth-taping technique to improve their sleep – and the internet is following their lead. But can mouth-taping really improve sleep quality?
„What a mouth-breather“ is often used as an insult and while it has nothing to do with people’s intelligence, mouth-breathing might interfere with the quality of sleep – and the ability to concentrate. It is a bit of a stretch, but the bottom line is that nasal breathing has several advantages over mouth-breathing. It warms and filters the air before entering the lungs, humidifies the airways and increases blood flow to the lungs. Whereas mouth breathing can lead to a multitude of negative impacts, such as a sore throat, cavities, or high blood pressure due to lower oxygen saturation of the blood. Thus nasal breathing is favorable. When sleeping, however, it can be difficult to control the way we are breathing.
People who sleep with an open mouth (be it out of habit or due to obstructed nasal airways) are at higher risk of snoring or experiencing sleep apnea. When sleeping with an open mouth, especially in the supine position (lying on the back), the upper airways become more narrow due to the position of the uvula palatina and tongue. In individuals with sleep apnea, this becomes more pronounced and the airway is blocked entirely.
This and other open-mouth-breathing-related problems can be fixed with a small piece of tape – according to mouth-tapers. The theory behind the taping trend is simple: When using a piece of tape over the mouth, the airflow is inhibited, thus one has to breathe through the nose. And nose-breathing will fix all your problems, such as sleep apnea and snoring – right?
The idea is not new: In the early 2000s studies (here and here) already revealed a significant correlation between sleep-disordered breathing, such as sleep apnea, and impaired nasal breathing. Patients with obstructed nasal airways who underwent corrective surgeries that enabled them to nasal-breathing reported that snoring had disappeared (27 %) and an increased daytime energy level (78 %). Supporting nasal breathing could thus be desirable, whether taping has the same effects as surgical treatment of obstructed airways remains questionable.
A small study supports the benefits of mouth-taping. Scientists analyzed the sleep of 20 participants, of which 19 were male and one was female. To assess the occurrence of episodes with sleep apnea, home sleep tests were used at the beginning of the study and after one week of mouth-taping. For mouth-taping, participants used a piece of hypoallergenic silicone tape that was installed before sleeping. The mouth was sealed entirely with a strip to inhibit airflow through the mouth entirely.
The scientists observed a decrease in the severity of obstructive sleep apnea after taping for one week. Especially the values of the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) – an index of occurrence of apnea and hypopnea per hour – were significantly reduced by taping (p = 0.0002). Especially for patients who sleep in the supine position experienced an improvement in their symptoms after taping. The occurrence of events of AHIs was reduced significantly from an average of 9.3 to 5.5 events per hour (p = 0.0001). Oxygen saturation levels, however, were not seen to improve significantly.
The authors argued that taping for individuals with mild cases of obstructive sleep apnea could be beneficial. However, they do not recommend it for severe cases, as the risks of insufficient oxygen uptake via the nose might be too great.
Whereas this might sound promising for mild cases – and you are ready to glue a piece of tape over your snoring partner’s mouth – this study comes with limitations. For one, the sample size is small, which also reduces the statistical power of its results, and it moreover lacked a control group. The technique of mouth-taping in general, so far lacks evidence as performed studies are scarce and small.
Forcing nasal breathing can come with risks. Especially when looking at the reason for why some people might breathe through their mouth. Very often it is not habitual but due to obstructed nasal airways, such as a deviated septum or nasal polyps. In these cases, mouth breathing is inevitable and necessary for sufficient oxygen intake. Taping the mouth shut can then become counterproductive.
Rather than forcing mouth breathing by taping the mouth shut, you should recommend your patients to explore other options. If the obstruction in nasal airways results from anatomic reasons or polyps, surgical options could be a sustainable alternative with a long-lasting effect. For mild cases changing the sleeping position might already do the trick. Avoiding the supine position by using pillows that prevent rolling around could help with snoring and sleep apnea.
Image source: leyre del rio, unsplash
