Mewing

The mewing technique explained and why the Mews were disbarred

Sadie Dingfelder explains mewing as "tongue yoga" -- placing the tip of the tongue behind the top teeth, swallowing, and holding the tongue against the roof of the mouth. Named after John Mew, who was struck from the orthodontic register, followed by his son Mike.

"And do you feel how your tongue presses against the roof of your mouth when you swallow? Mm-hmm. A little bit. A little bit. Now breathe through your nose. Mm-hmm. Now do that for 10 to 20 seconds. Mm-hmm. Every mini, like about once an hour every day. And so 20 seconds every hour, every day for the rest of your life. Yeah. And your jaw gets lantern, your jaw. When you do it, do you feel- That's just one rep. I think you're supposed to do like more than one rep, like maybe 10 reps. Okay. That's a rep. And is that the only exercise or is that a series of exercises? Is that the downward dog of tongue yoga? That is the whole thing. That is mewing. But interestingly, yeah. That's it? Oh, wow. What a delight you'd be at parties. Yeah. And there's a lot of instructional videos. So maybe I didn't do it exactly right, but I think that's pretty standard. Okay. And interestingly, though, there's a more common usage of the word mu that young people use that I think is more common. And they don't even know about the tongue exercise really. But it's a gesture. And the gesture is this. You put your finger on your lips in an exaggerated hush gesture, and then you just draw your jawline. So you bring your finger along your jawline. And that's supposed to do something? No. That is how you can say to someone, I'm sorry, I can't answer your question right now because I am mewing. Oh, wow. So etiquette. It's the exercise. It's the etiquette. That's like at the gym. Hey, man, can you give me a spot? This is the exercise. Oh, wow. Apparently, kids use it to annoy their teachers. So if they're asked a question in class, they'll be like."

Why mewing cannot work for adults -- even theoretically

Even the Mews agree that mewing should not work for adults because the jaw is done growing. John Mew conducted twin studies on his own children using spiked orthodontic devices that caused harm. One 18-year-old practiced mewing 7 hours a day and developed an impacted salivary gland requiring surgery.

"Even theoretically, there's no reason why this should work for adults. And even the muse will agree with this. So your jaw is done growing and you're not going to change it by doing weird tongue exercises all the time."

Verdict -- mewing is definitively bullshit for adult jaw transformation

After reviewing the evidence, the hosts conclude that mewing is definitively bullshit for adult jawline changes. No independent controlled studies exist, the practitioners are disbarred, and before-and-after photos are unreliable.

"No one's done these studies, but it's mostly because these guys are definitely quacks. Mewing, tongue yoga, jaw maxing. You could do exercises to improve the shape and contours of your jaw. Is that bullshit? Definitely. Definitely bullshit."

Mewing as a potential sleep apnea treatment for bodybuilders

Derek explains how he discovered mewing through Mike Mew's videos, initially drawn in by the sleep apnea connection rather than aesthetics. He describes how his lifetime of mouth breathing -- caused by a deviated septum and regrown adenoids -- may have contributed to his severe obstructive sleep apnea.

"The first thing that got my interest was the sleep apnea thing. Cause I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. And then he talks about mouth breathing and malocclusion."

How tongue posture may affect airway obstruction during sleep

Derek theorizes that his tongue falls back and blocks his airway when sleeping on his back, contributing to apnea episodes. He notes he never experiences apnea when sleeping upright. He plans to adopt proper tongue posture during waking hours and considers surgery for his deviated septum to enable full nasal breathing.

"Obviously i've never done this but i'm gonna try and start now my tongue is not situated on the top of my mouth it basically just Falls back into itself. I guess while i'm sleeping and you basically like You basically like inhibit your own airway by first of all having a thick neck So if you're fat, you're gonna more likely have sleep apnea, but for bodybuilders in particular where we just have like muscular necks it still contributes greatly to it and most most bodybuilders that are"

John Mew's disturbing experiments on his own children

A New York Times excerpt reveals John Mew's experiments on his three children. His first son Bill was subjected to hypnosis and a spiked headband to prevent mouth breathing. His daughter Rosie was fed only pureed food until age 4, resulting in severely crowded teeth. Only his middle child Mike, his orthotropic success story, developed the broad jaw Mew was aiming for.

"His first son, Bill, did poorly. He suffered from severe allergies and had so much trouble keeping his mouth shut that John resorted to hypnosis. Though Bill disputes this, John says he created a headband with a spike that poked his son's chin any time he parted his lips."

The actual mewing technique and the Bioblock device

Sydney explains the actual mewing technique: keep mouth shut, lips and teeth together, press tongue into the roof of the mouth, and maintain this constantly. She also describes the Bioblock device -- a retainer-like appliance with spikes that punishes open-mouth posture and includes a heat sensor so orthodontists know if patients are wearing it.

"If you open your mouth you will find that your tongue naturally sits in the floor of your mouth. But what John Mew wants you to do is keep your mouth shut, keep your lips together, your teeth together and press your tongue up into the roof of your mouth. That is mewing."

John Mew admits he only showcases his successes

Sydney reveals that John Mew himself has admitted to cherry-picking results, saying he only shows pictures of successful cases because showing failures would undermine confidence in the technique. Small studies suggest possible effects but rely heavily on self-reported mouth breathing, making rigorous research extremely difficult.

"John Mew himself has said like, well, I put up pictures of my successes, but I don't put up pictures of all my patients because you would see the ones that it didn't work on and you would say, see, it doesn't work. So I just don't put them up."

Mewing basics: suction your entire tongue against the roof of your mouth all day

Suction your entire tongue tip-to-base against the palate during all activities. The book Jaws shows dramatic facial changes from mewing.

"And actually, in the book Jaws, they show some shocking photos of people who began this process of mewing and proper jaw and tongue alignment, and their entire faces changed. They became more symmetrical. Jaws became more square and defined in men. The faces became less kind of like narrow and sharp in women, a little bit more round and beautiful. And so there's something to this idea of face reinvention."

What mewing actually is and why it became a social media phenomenon

The hosts explain the mewing technique -- pressing the full tongue including the back against the roof of the mouth -- and discuss how Mike Mew popularized it on YouTube, with Google Trends showing massive growth from 2018. The trend intersects with fitness, weight loss, and male aesthetics communities.

"So the technique is, everyone at home, you can try this right now. It's actually so simple that it's kind of dumb. It's like you close your mouth."

Study shows no significant muscle activity changes from tongue positioning

A study measuring electromyographic activity in jaw muscles found no significant differences in muscle activity as a function of tongue position. Placing the tongue at the top of the mouth does not meaningfully strengthen jaw muscles, undermining the core mechanism claimed by mewing proponents.

"Basically they found there's no significant differences in muscle activity as a function of tongue position. So you're not actually like changing the muscles in your jaw that much to the degree that you will like strengthen them as though you've gone to the gym."

Mewing guides bundle many lifestyle changes that confound results

A deep dive into mewing guides reveals they also recommend proper breathing, body posture changes, sleep positions, chewing differently, tongue exercises, and lowering body fat. With so many variables being changed simultaneously, it is impossible to attribute any results to mewing alone.

"It's like they are also giving tips on how to breathe properly, like you said, how to change your body posture, what sleep positions you need to go in, how to chew differently, how to swallow differently, tongue exercises, you should lower your body fat. So it's like you start to realize that you're like, is this really about mewing?"