Taping your mouth might seem scary for some, but the reason we should start taping our mouth during our sleep is to perform nasal breathing.
What’s the difference, I hear you thinking, between mouth or nasal breathing?
First of all, nasal breathing is the most healthy way of breathing, in daily life, during sleep, sports, …
Through nasal breathing you:
1. Filter out foreign particles, like dust, allergens, … to prevent them from entering your lungs.
2. Humidify and warm the air which enhances the quality of your lungs.
3. Breath lower, slower and deeper into your lower lungs which provides more oxygen to your cells.
4. Enhance better sleep which will provide you with a higher energy in the morning.
5. Produce a gas called nitric oxide, which increases blood flow, lowers blood pressure, improves brain function.
6. Link to your parasympathetic nervous system, which switches the body to a more relaxed state.
7. Lower your risk of snoring and sleep apnea.
8. Support the correct formation of teeth and mouth.
Now… imagine having all these healthy advantages during all your hours of sleep!
How do you start?
I would suggest you start bringing on some tape (shown on picture) on your lips for a short period of time while awake, for example during meditation, reading a book, … if this feels comfortable you can start holding on your tape during the night.
What kind of tape to use for sleep?
Try using a porous tape intended to use on human skin, hypoallergenic tape, surgical tape, athletic tape (example: Micropore).
Some companies recently have their own mouth tape for reducing mouth breathing (examples: Hostage tape, Zippit, Myotape and Moonbird).
Is nasal breathing doable for every person?
In some cases you might still need to breathe through your mouth:
* if you have a deviated septum.
* if your nose is congested.
* if you have small nostrils.
* if you experience anxiety or feel claustrophobic when your mouth is taped.
Although on the congested nose I would like to give you a very simple ‘Quick Fix’-breathing technique that helps to clear a blocked nose:
* Sit on a chair with an upright posture, shoulders relaxed.
* Breath in through your nose.
* Breathe out through your nose.
* Pinch your nose, meanwhile shake your head from left to right, front to back until your feel an urge to breathe again.
* Release your nose and breath in through your nose.
* Repeat max. 5-6x with a pause of 1 min. in between.