‘Shut your mouth’ used to be an insult, but now it turns out that this is a solid health tip!
I’ve recently been experimenting with nighttime mouth taping, which is a sentence I never thought I’d be typing. If I’m being totally honest, I don’t love it and don’t do it every night, but I do believe in why it is beneficial.
Here are my reasons for mouth taping:
Mouth breathing - especially overnight - dries out the oral cavity and creates an environment that is more conducive to bacterial growth. Without the protective saliva to coat the teeth and gums, bacteria have the upper hand. Gum health is SO essential to overall health and I want to give my mouth the best possible chance to stay healthy. Especially since the oral microbiome seeds the gut microbiome.
Nasal breathing is super important for the production of nitric oxide which is a key player in circulatory health. I want my night shift to be pumping out nitric oxide and the only way to ensure this is to tape my mouth closed to enforce nasal breathing. Nasal breathing also filters and humidifies the air going into your system better which seems like a no brainer. Of course, I’m lucky that I have a clear nasal passage and no allergy congestion. If you find nasal breathing to be hard for whatever reason please get support asap!
Mouth taping isn’t the sexiest bedtime accessory, but it does help decrease the potential for loud breathing/snoring! So, I guess that’s a win too.
I made sure to buy a product specifically intended for mouth taping to make sure the tape was strong enough to stay on, but gentle enough to come off if my body decided it needed to breath through the mouth. The lips are also able to be partly open so you can still get air in through the mouth if needed and it comes off easily. The downsides are that I can’t put my favorite facial serum around my mouth or the tape won’t stick. It also doesn’t seem like it would work for people with lots of facial hair, but I can’t personally verify this. As always, do your own research, check in with your own doctor and have fun experimenting!
love,
Jenna