HMN 2025: How Social media fad of nighttime mouth taping to deal with mouth respiratory might pose critical dangers

An analysis of 10 beforehand revealed research suggests {that a} current fad of taping one’s mouth shut whereas sleeping to stop mouth respiratory might have little profit and will pose critical asphyxiation dangers. Dr. Brian Rotenberg of Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues current these findings in PLOS One.

When the nasal passages are blocked, respiratory switches from the nostril to the mouth. Mouth respiratory has been linked to sleep-disordered respiratory, which incorporates circumstances starting from loud night breathing to obstructive sleep apnea, where respiratory stops and begins incessantly throughout sleep. A current pattern amplified by social media has some folks taping their mouths shut at evening in efforts to deal with sleep-disordered respiratory by stopping mouth respiratory.

Despite this fad, the security and effectiveness of nighttime mouth taping has been unclear. To assist make clear the present proof, Rotenberg and colleagues at St. Joseph’s Health Care London and London Health Sciences Center Research Institute systematically reviewed research which have explored the usual procedure. Their evaluation included 10 research that employed completely different analysis strategies to guage the potential advantages of sealing the mouth shut—utilizing tape or different gadgets, equivalent to chin straps—for a complete of 213 sufferers.

Out of the ten research, two prompt that amongst a subset of individuals with gentle obstructive sleep apnea, mouth taping could also be related to some slight enchancment in an ordinary measure of sleep apnea severity often known as the apnea-hypopnea index. However, different research discovered no proof that mouth taping would possibly assist deal with mouth respiratory, sleep-disordered respiratory, or sleep apnea.

Four of the ten research included dialogue of a probably critical danger of asphyxiation posed by sealing the mouth shut throughout sleep for folks whose mouth respiratory is brought on by critical restriction or blockage of nasal airways. Serious nasal obstruction may outcome from circumstances equivalent to hay fever, persistent rhinitis, deviated septum, sinonasal illness, or enlarged tonsils.

On the premise of those findings, the authors conclude that present proof doesn’t help nighttime mouth taping as a remedy for sleep-disordered respiratory, together with obstructive sleep apnea. However, they notice that additional analysis is warranted, as the present literature is restricted with inconsistent study methodology.

The authors add, “Mouth taping is a recent practice that’s typically celebrity-endorsed, however will not be essentially scientifically correct. Many individuals are not acceptable for mouth taping, and in some instances it could actually result in the chance of great well being hurt.”