A new trend on social media is recommending taping your mouth at night to prevent snoring and dry mouth. Called “mouth taping,” this technique is strongly discouraged by health professionals.
- On social media, including TikTok, users claim that sleeping with tape over their mouth reduces snoring, dry mouth and improves facial shape.
- Health professionals are warning against this dangerous trend.
- This can make it difficult to breathe at night, cause irritation or allergies, and generally disrupt sleep.
Social media is full of tricks. Their usefulness is sometimes debatable, but some can be clearly dangerous. The latest one involves placing tape over your mouth at night. The technique is called “mouth taping” and is said to help reduce snoring and dry mouth. TikTok users even claim that it changes the shape of your face by softening your jawline and reducing your double chin. However, health professionals strongly advise against this practice.
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Taping your mouth shut at night can make it harder to breathe
On the Harvard University websiteToni Golen and Hope Ricciotti, co-editors of the publication, answer a reader’s question about “mouth taping” and their answer is clear: no scientific study confirms its benefits.While breathing through your nose during waking hours can offer many benefits — including slowing your breathing, filtering out allergens, and reducing anxiety — taping your mouth shut while you sleep to achieve this can be risky, leading to breathing difficulties or sleep disruptions.”the two experts say. According to them, it could even reduce a person’s oxygen levels while they sleep.
Mouth taping: multiple risks
Cinthya Pena Orbea, sleep medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States, shares the same concerns. Intentionally closing your mouth at night can impair breathing, as it will be more difficult to take a deep breath. But it can also have effects on the skin.Mouth tape may cause an allergic reaction, irritation or rash”she warns.
COPD, sleep apnea, asthma: the dangers of mouth taping
On the American media website PreventionDr. Abhay Sharma, a sleep physician at the University of South Florida, adds that this can be especially dangerous for people with sleep-related conditions. In the case of sleep apnea, for example, the throat closes during sleep.Mouth opening is an emergency response to nasal breathing restriction, he recalls. As a result, (…) this could significantly worsen the obstruction.” And therefore put the lives of these people in danger, according to him. In cases of asthma, congestive heart failure, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mouth taping could also be particularly risky. If you suffer from snoring or any other sleep disorder, only a health professional will be able to give you suitable advice.
