Summary
A dental hygienist and myofunctional therapist shares her personal experience and professional expertise on mouth taping in this detailed episode. She explains that humans were designed to breathe through their noses 24/7, and that mouth breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system, keeping the body in fight-or-flight mode during sleep. This leads to poor sleep quality, elevated cortisol, increased heart rate, and even bladder issues from the relaxation of the bladder during sympathetic activation. The host shares how mouth taping transformed her own sleep, eliminating nighttime bathroom trips, dry mouth, sore throat, and headaches that she had attributed to a bladder problem for years. She covers the practical details of mouth taping including different tape types (Myotape, Hostage Tape, Somnifix, kinesiology tape), various application methods, and a critical prerequisite test: holding water in your mouth while breathing through your nose for at least three minutes. She emphasizes that mouth taping is not for everyone and should not be attempted if you cannot breathe through your nose, and that underlying issues like deviated septums, swollen tonsils, or nasal polyps should be addressed first. The episode also connects mouth breathing to broader oral health issues including cavities, gum disease, teeth grinding, TMJ pain, and facial structural changes, drawing on the host's background in myofunctional therapy to explain how mouth taping fits into a larger framework of retraining proper breathing and tongue position habits.
Key Points
- Nasal breathing produces nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels, improves circulation, and helps lower blood pressure
- Mouth breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system during sleep, increasing cortisol, heart rate, and epinephrine release
- Mouth taping was originally developed alongside Buteyko Breathing methods as a tool to retrain nasal breathing
- Before trying mouth taping, test if you can hold water in your mouth while nose breathing for 3+ minutes
- The host eliminated nighttime bathroom trips, dry mouth, headaches, and dark circles by switching to mouth taping
- Mouth breathing causes 18% less oxygen delivery to the brain and body compared to nasal breathing
- Chronic mouth breathing can lead to facial structural changes, poor posture, TMJ pain, teeth grinding, and dental disease
- Different tape options include Myotape (stretchy, goes around lips), Hostage Tape, Somnifix (has a breathing hole), and kinesiology tape
Key Moments
Nasal breathing produces nitric oxide for cardiovascular health
Nasal breathing produces nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels and improves circulation, helping with hypertension and reducing risk factors for stroke and heart disease. Chronic mouth breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system, keeping the body in fight or flight mode.
"naturally are designed to breathe through our noses. Nasal breathing produces something called nitric oxide. That's one of the benefits of mouth taping. Nitric oxide dilates your blood vessels, improves circulation, which helps hypertension and risk factors associated with stroke, heart disease, and so much more."
Three-minute water test determines if you can mouth tape
A simple test to determine readiness for mouth taping involves holding a sip of water in your mouth while breathing through your nose. If you can do this for three minutes, you can retrain yourself to nasal breathe. If not, you need to investigate underlying nasal issues first.
"the liquid in your mouth and breathe through your nose. If you can breathe through your nose for three minutes, you can retrain yourself to breathe properly and start using your nose to breathe. Mouth taping is not recommended and you should not try mouth taping if you cannot breathe through your nose for three minutes without using your mouth. If you can't, you're going to want to look into why. Do you have swollen amyloids, swollen tonsils, a deviated septum, polyps? What's going on in your nose? You can see a myofunctional therapist. They can help"
Mouth taping eliminated nighttime bathroom trips and dry mouth
The host shares her personal experience of seeing a urologist for years due to waking 2-3 times per night, only to discover mouth breathing was the real cause. After starting mouth taping, she stopped waking up and eliminated dry mouth, sore throat, headaches, and dark circles.
"Mouth breathing was my issue. Once I started taping, I didn't get up to pee anymore. No dry mouth, no sore throat, no stippy nose, no headaches, no dark circles under my eyes. And I was actually sleeping six to seven hours without waking up unless the cat or the dog woke me up. So mouth taping has been a game changer for me and I don't sleep without it. You might not need to tape, but I found that it works best for me and it helps me use my diaphragm to breathe."
Mouth breathing causes 18% less oxygen to brain and body
When breathing through the mouth, the body misses the nitric oxide production from nasal breathing, resulting in 18% less oxygen delivery to the brain and body. This explains morning fatigue and is linked to signs like drooling, snoring, dry mouth, and agitated sleep.
"be a problem if you've got GERD. When you breathe through your mouth, you don't produce that nitric oxide. So you get 18% less oxygen to your brain and your body, which is probably why you're waking up feeling tired. So if you're wondering why, that's probably why. So you are a mouth breather if you're sleeping with your mouth open, if you're snoring, if you're waking up with a dry mouth, sore throat, itchy nose, if you're drooling on your pillow or you notice that you had drooled on your pillow once you wake up."
