Close Your Mouth! …and Be Healthier!

January 4, 2021

A popular practice in sleep biohacking is mouth taping. It’s exactly what it sounds like: taping your mouth shut while you sleep. At first, it might sound uncomfortable or even dangerous, but the surprising health benefits of such a simple practice are anything but.

Nose Breathing

Ultimately, the goal of mouth taping is to stop mouth breathing. Ancient wisdom and modern breathing experts alike have a lot to say on the benefits of nose breathing and why we should train ourselves to breathe primarily through the nose.

Breathing through the nose instead of the mouth has health benefits recognized by yogis long before modern scientific investigations. In fact, over a century ago Yogi Ramacharaka wrote this about mouth breathing in his book The Science of Breath:

"One of the first lessons in the Yogi Science of Breath is to learn how to breathe through the nostrils, and to overcome the common practice of mouth breathing".

Why? Nasal breathing provides more oxygen to the body with 10-20% more O2 uptake than mouth breathing. It also considerably warms and humidifies the air as it comes in. Cold air breathed in through the nose at 42.8°F is warmed to 86°F by the time it reaches the back of the throat, allowing it to reach body temperature equilibrium as it reaches the lungs.

Nitric Oxide

Just the boost of oxygen might be enough to sell nasal breathing for better health. But the benefits of nasal breathing actually go much further.

While nitric oxide outside the body is seen as a dangerous toxin, it couldn’t be more critical to health inside the body. Nitric oxide is a molecule that participates in bio-regulation and influences overall wellness in every system in the body. A few primary roles it plays include vasoregulation, homeostasis, neurotransmission, immunity, and respiration.

One of the best sources of nitric oxide for the body is actually through nasal breathing. Both the nasal cavity and the lining of blood vessels (of which there are thousands of miles throughout the body) produce nitric oxide.

A study published in Thorax revealed that,

“Nitric oxide (NO) is released in the nasal airways in humans. During inspiration through the nose, this NO will follow the airstream to the lower airways and the lungs.”

Nasal breathing provides a reservoir of nitric oxide for the lungs and bloodstream to circulate through the body. Mouth breathing bypasses that access point, depriving your body of being flooded by this vital molecule.

Are You a Mouth Breather?

Yogi Ramacharaka continues in his book to say that,

“Many of the diseases to which civilized man is subject to are undoubtedly caused by this common habit of mouth breathing.”

As you nasal breathe, the nose acts as a filter for the air. It removes a significant amount of bacteria and other particulates that may not belong in the respiratory system.

Mouth breathing, however, alters bacterial flora in the mouth which causes bad breath, among other more serious issues. It also contributes to faster dehydration. For example, you may wake up with a dry mouth if you’ve been mouth breathing during sleep. Dry mouth increases acidification of the mouth which causes cavities and gum disease.

Mouth breathing has been connected to development of forward head posture in children as well as reduced respiratory strength and can decrease facial symmetry over time, even through adulthood. Essentially, the mouth is for eating. The nose is for breathing.

My Mouth Taping Experience

Even though I was initially skeptical and maybe even a little scared to try mouth taping, the reported benefits were worth giving it a try. (Full disclosure: my ultimate goal was to get my husband to give it a try as he has been known to snore some nights.) But first I wanted to see for myself how it works. Quality, deep sleep eludes many and I am always researching tips to share with my clients.

Every night, once I’m done with all of my sleep hygiene and talking is over for the night, I have been putting a small piece of tape over my mouth to keep it shut. I just found the most inexpensive ones and I like them. They are transparent pieces of tape in the shape of an X that fit perfectly over my lips. You can find them here: Amazon/Breathing Tape.

At first, I felt a little panicky, sort of claustrophic, but because you can actually cough and even talk a little, I quickly settled in and actually liked the feeling… sort of a blanket for my mouth! The tape is not so sticky that you couldn’t get it off by forcibly opening your mouth. We’re not talking about duct tape here.

The first couple of days, I was shocked at how I felt when waking up. I felt “heavier” in my body, like I had slept deeper. I also could really feel like my tongue had been “seated” deeper in my mouth (which is a big thing for me as my holistic dentist has told me that I have large tori or bones in the bottom of my mouth which can crowd out space for my tongue). Actually, I would also describe how I felt as peaceful. Weird, I know.

One night, my tape did come off at some point – I think I maybe just went heavy with moisturizer that night? I will say that moisturizer and lip balm will affect the experience, but I have actually decided that a little lip balm before applying is the perfect balance – the tape stays on, but is easier to remove in the morning. My throat was really parched the morning after the tape came off. That reinforced the benefit I was getting from using the mouth tape.

Mouth Taping Forever?

I’ve been using mouth taping pretty consistently for several weeks now. I don’t so much notice it first thing in the morning like I used to. I’m not sure if that means I’m just getting used to the tape or if I’m starting to train a closed-mouth habit, which is the ultimate goal.

I’ve also been practicing intentional nasal breathing during the day, so avoiding mouth breathing while I’m conscious surely helps speed up the retraining process during sleep.

To me, it’s worth the perks of nasal breathing. And I’m willing to try anything that supports better natural health at least once.

To learn more, check out this video: Mouth Taping - Dr. Jockers …Although he uses a roll tape and I prefer the little Xs that I selected – less unnecessary face coverage.

Here’s to your Good Health!