Trying the viral sleeping hack that's on everyone's lips.
I Taped My Mouth Shut to Improve My Sleep. Here's What Happened...
Trying the viral sleeping hack that's on everyone's lips.
Never did I think I’d be taping my mouth shut before going to sleep. Never did I think I’d be taping my mouth shut before going to sleep and writing about it on the internet, but alas, here we are!
We've tried brown noise for sleep and the Scandinavian sleep method and now I'm giving mouth tape a go.
What is mouth taping?
Mouth taping involves placing a piece of “face-friendly” tape over your mouth before you sleep, to promote breathing through your nose, rather than your mouth. And while it might be going viral on TikTok in 2023, this method was created decades ago to assist people who struggle with sleep apnea, chronic snoring, poor oral hygiene, and overall lesser quality of sleep due to breathing out of their mouths.
1893 depicition of how I sleep without mouth tape by Edvard Munch.
While sleeping with your mouth open might not seem all that bad, there are some nasty side effects. One side effect – one that I fall victim to at 6am every morning (or 6.45am if I’ve decided snoozing my alarm several times before getting up will somehow cure my tiredness) – is a dry mouth. While a dry mouth might not sound like the end of the world, waking up with a dry mouth is almost always accompanied by morning breath capable of stripping paint (TMI – sorry), and a splitting headache from the consequential dehydration.
Instead of bouncing out of bed and trying a healthy morning routine, I drag myself into the day trying to deal with the side effects of sleeping like ‘The Scream’ painting.
So I gave mouth taping a go for seven nights to see if it would improve my quality of sleep, and overall productivity… Here's how it went down.
Five things I noticed after using mouth tape for a week:
1. No more cracked lips
I always thought my dry, cracked lips were a symptom of the weather cooling down, but after taping my mouth for seven days I noticed a dramatic change in how much moisture was retained in my lips!
2. I slept through the whole night
I have a habit of waking up around 2am and having a glass of water that feels like my first in years. I never knew I was doing this because my mouth had dried out so much from sleeping that I actually needed to wake up in the middle of the night to hydrate it. Once I started taping my mouth, I slept through the night and woke up feeling more refreshed.
3. Morning breath… minimized
I won’t say I woke up with a 'kiss-worthy' mouth every morning because then I'd be lying to both you and myself. But my breath was significantly better than if I had slept with my mouth wide open – I'll take that as a win
4. Blocked nose, be gone!
I often woke up with a blocked nose that I almost always blamed on whatever the weather was doing that day. After sleeping with mouth tape for a week, I realised I was no longer waking up with this issue. Because I was using my nose to breathe through all night long, it wasn't able to get blocked – resulting in me waking up feeling fresh as a daisy!
5. I think I'm a morning person now?
Never did I think I'd be saying this, but after sleeping with my mouth taped shut for a week, I'm finally starting to enjoy my mornings. The first part of my day is no longer spent trying to aid my headache, unblock my nose, or hydrate my dry mouth – I now wake up almost bouncing out of bed ready to walk my dog and get my iced latte.
Overall, using mouth tape for sleep for the past seven days was beneficial for me. I was able to reduce the prevalence of the issues I had been experiencing while sleeping, and feel more energised when I wake up.
For those who are considering using mouth tape for sleep, please consult a GP or healthcare professional first to ensure this method will work for you.
