The Benefits of Taping Your Mouth Shut at Night

“Wait. You do what?!”

“I tape my mouth shut at night.”

“Why?!”

Great question. I’ll tell you why.

Breathing: The Lost Fundamental

“We can live without food for weeks and water for days, but air for just a few brief minutes. While we spend a great deal of time and attention on what we eat and drink, we pay practically no attention to the air we breathe.” –Patrick McKeown¹

Long-time readers will know that I’m all about brain health fundamentals: eating well, sleeping well, and exercising in order to optimize my brain for improved intelligence, creativity, productivity, and happiness.

Well, there’s another core brain health practice that has been heretofore neglected: breathing. Plain and simple, your brain needs oxygen. And actually, it needs a lot of oxygen. Just as your brain uses about 20% of your daily calories, it also uses about 20% of the oxygen you breathe.²

Thus, poor breathing will result in reduced brainpower, and odds are, you’re not breathing properly. Most people aren’t. I certainly wasn’t before studying the topic of optimal breathing.

But breathing is easy. Aren’t we good at breathing?

I can see why you’d think that. I was certainly surprised to learn that I wasn’t breathing well. But ultimately, it makes sense: Just as the modern world messes with our natural ways of sleeping, eating, and exercising, it messes with our breathing as well.

For example, most of us spend large amounts of time sitting, and sitting with bad posture, which leads to poor breathing, as Anders Olsson explains in The Power of Your Breath:

“A slumped posture means that your diaphragm is compressed and its ability to move downward on inhalation decreases, making your breathing shallow and high up in your chest.”³

We ought to be breathing slowly, into the bottoms of our lungs, using our diaphragm, yet many of us habitually take quick, shallow breaths, using only the upper chest.³ However, this is not to say that we should be taking huge, deep breaths. That’s completely unnecessary and may actually be counterproductive, as we’ll discuss shortly.¹

We also don’t chew enough. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors didn’t have bread or blenders or oatmeal or applesauce or ice cream. They ate a lot of tough, chewy food. And it turns out, getting enough jaw exercise is important for maintaining good airflow because, without it, our faces and air passageways become deformed, as James Nestor explains in Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art:

“People, pigs, whatever. Whenever they switched from harder foods to soft foods, faces would narrow, teeth would crowd, jaws would fall out of alignment. Breathing problems would soon follow.”⁴

The solution? Well, you could certainly adjust your diet to include less soft food and more hard food: less bread and pasta, more seeds and nuts; fewer smoothies, more salads. But if you don’t want to change your diet, or if you just want to up your game, Nestor suggests chewing gum.⁴ That’s a simple way to get more jaw exercise, which should gradually improve your breathing.

These and other factors have led to some stunning statistics:

“Ninety percent of children have acquired some degree of deformity in their mouths and noses. Forty-five percent of adults snore occasionally, and a quarter of the population snores constantly. Twenty-five percent of American adults over 30 choke on themselves because of sleep apnea; and an estimated 80 percent of moderate or severe cases are undiagnosed. Meanwhile, the majority of the population suffers from some form of breathing difficulty or resistance.”⁴

And lastly, many of us, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, spend much of our lives breathing through our mouths rather than our noses.

The Surprising Power of Nose Breathing

Breathing experts agree: It’s better to breathe through your nose. One reason is chemical: “Mouth breathing can also disrupt the pH balance of the blood, making it too alkaline. Alkalosis can lead to feelings of apprehension, anxiety, and chronic pain conditions.”² And then there’s the role of nitric oxide.

Our nasal passageways release nitric oxide (NO), which helps our lungs function properly.⁵ Thus, if we do not breathe through our noses, we will be missing out on the benefits of NO. Nasal nitric oxide increases the amount of oxygen we get from each breath while simultaneously reducing blood pressure.⁶ Medical researchers are concerned that patients who are intubated with breathing tubes will suffer ill-effects from this lack of NO, and they are testing the benefits of supplying it artificially.⁷ Furthermore, nasal NO also a key line of defense against illness because it is lethal to some airborne pathogens.⁶

So yeah, mouth breathing is not ideal. And breathing through your nose isn’t just a matter of getting air via a different pathway – it actually increases the quality of your breathing in important, measurable ways.

From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense. Other mammals don’t breathe through their mouths. The normal way for mammals to breathe is through the nose. And this is true even when they’re exercising, so we too can continue to breathe through our noses when we exercise.

In fact, I’ve found it to be especially helpful because that’s when I need oxygen the most. It takes some getting used to, and at first, you’ll feel somewhat deprived of air. But oddly, breathing more isn’t always the best way to get more oxygen to your cells. In The Oxygen Advantage:, Patrick McKeown explains:

“The crucial point to remember is that hemoglobin releases oxygen when in the presence of carbon dioxide. When we overbreathe, too much carbon dioxide is washed from the lungs, blood, tissues, and cells. This condition is called hypocapnia, causing the hemoglobin to hold on to oxygen, resulting in reduced oxygen release and therefore reduced oxygen delivery to tissues and organs. With less oxygen delivered to the muscles, they cannot work as effectively as we might like them to. As counterintuitive as it may seem, the urge to take bigger, deeper breaths when we hit the wall during exercise does not provide the muscles with more oxygen but effectively reduces oxygenation even further. In contrast, when breathing volume remains nearer to correct levels, the pressure of carbon dioxide in the blood is higher, loosening the bond between hemoglobin and oxygen and facilitating the delivery of oxygen to the muscles and organs.”¹

If this seems radical, consider the extreme version of overbreathing: hyperventilating. Most people know that this behavior is unhelpful and can make you lightheaded. This occurs not because you’re giving your brain too much oxygen, but because the lack of CO₂ in your blood is preventing oxygen from being delivered to your brain. McKeown makes the case that many of us unknowingly engage in a mild form of hyperventilation all the time, and suggests that nasal breathing is an effective way to prevent overbreathing.

Nose breathing is also preferred because of how breathing is connected to stress. When we’re stressed, we tend to take quick, shallow breaths through the mouth.¹ Not only is this unhelpful during periods of acute stress because it provides poor oxygenation, but it also prevents us from recovering from the stress afterward. Nasal breathing tends to be slower and calmer, which sends a signal to your brain that it’s okay to relax. Sadly, “Many people habitually breathe in this manner every minute of every hour of every day, holding them in a perpetual state of fight-or-flight with adrenalin levels high.”¹

So yeah, nose breathing is where it’s at. And that brings us to the subject of mouth-taping.

The Benefits Of Taping My Mouth Shut At Night

I can only consciously choose to breathe through my nose when I’m, well, conscious. When I’m asleep, I could easily slip into mouth breathing – and do so for many hours. Some people are good at nasal breathing during sleep. I am not.

How can you tell if you’re breathing through your mouth at night? One clue is thirst. If you wake up in the middle of the night parched, it’s likely that your mouth dried out because you’ve been mouth breathing. That used to happen to me every night. But when I tape my mouth shut, I don’t wake up parched, so clearly I’m not thirsty because of dehydration.

Another clue is feeling tired even though you’re getting enough sleep. If you’re getting 7.5-9 hours of sleep each night and practicing good sleep hygiene (blue light blockers and no screentime right before bed, no eating near bedtime, no shaking the snow globe), and you’re still exhausted all day, mouth breathing might be to blame.

I have found that taping my mouth shut at night improves my sleep quality, much in the same way that eating less before bed did. Just one night of this doesn’t produce monumental results, but doing it consistently for several days does create a noticeable improvement. I have more energy and greater mental endurance during the day. I feel a little sharper and a little more creative. As a result, I get more done and feel more accomplished. I’m also generally in a better mood and more likely to be kind and patient. You know – all the benefits of quality sleep.

Sure, you’ll look weird if anyone else in your house sees you getting ready for bed, but sometimes it’s good to be weird. And, in this case, it’s totally worth it. It’s a small, easy behavior that has the potential to trigger a cascade of benefits.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s Patrick McKeown again:

“For many years I too woke up tired and lethargic, suffering from poor concentration throughout the day. The key to improving the quality of my sleep was incredibly simple: All I had to do was to learn to keep my mouth closed during sleep. Because we are unaware of how we breathe at night, the only sure way to ensure nasal breathing is to wear light paper tape across the lips to prevent the mouth from falling open. … Over the years, I have introduced this taping method to thousands of people with incredible results. Unless you breathe calmly through your nose at night, you have no idea what it feels like to have a great night’s sleep. Taping the mouth at night is a simple but very effective technique, and while it may sound a little strange, it is well worth getting used to.”¹

Tips for Taping Your Mouth Shut at Night

I recommend 3M micropore tape because it’s skin-friendly. You can get a roll with a dispenser on Amazon for about $8., which is a pretty cheap little experiment.

Men: You’re going to want to shave. A few days of stubble is fine. Anything approaching a beard will make taping harder and tape-removal, um, problematic.

Fold the ends back on themselves to make a ¼ inch handle on each end. This ensures easy removal.

If you need a drink of water in the middle of the night, you can peel the tape off of your upper lip, take a drink, and then press the tape back on. Or just take it off completely and reapply.

If you find you can’t wear it the whole night, don’t sweat it. Everything counts.

Cautions About Mouth Taping

Mouth taping is not for everyone. It might not help you, and in some situations, it’s not safe. If you have any concerns about whether or not this is safe for you to try, please consult your doctor.

Experiment with mouth taping while you’re awake, such as while reading or watching TV. See how it feels. Can you breathe comfortably? If taping your mouth shut makes you feel anxious, it’s not for you.

If you have a nasal obstruction that’s preventing you from breathing through your nose, you should not tape your mouth shut because you’ll be unable to breathe. Don’t wear the tape if you have a cough, or if your nose is stuffed up.

If you do try mouth taping, and you feel less rested, stop. If the tape irritates your skin, stop. If you find yourself waking up more often during the night, stop.

Lastly, a great tool you can use with or without mouth taping to improve nasal breathing at night is Breathe Right Strips. These are perfectly safe, medicine-free, and very effective.

¹ McKeown, Patrick. The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques to Help You Become Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter. William Morrow, 2015.

² Vranich, Belisa. Breathe. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2016.

³ Olsson, Anders. The Power of Your Breath: The Secret Key to Reshaping Your Looks, Body, Health and Weight. Sorena AB, 2014.

⁴ Nestor, James. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Riverhead Books, 2020.

⁵ Lundberg, J., and E. Weitzberg. “Nasal nitric oxide in man.” Thorax. 1999 Oct; 54(10): 947–952. 

⁶ “Nitric Oxide Might Outweigh All Other Benefits of Nose Breathing.” The Breathing Diabetic. January 14, 2020. 

⁷ Lundberg J. O., et al. “Inhalation of nasally derived nitric oxide modulates pulmonary function in humans.” Acta Physiol Scand. 1996 Dec;158(4):343-7.