Does mouth taping help you sleep better?

Mouth taping has one well-supported exception: people who use nasal ventilation at night (such as BiPAP) and lose air through their mouth. In 9 such patients, the number of sleep disruptions per hour fell from an average of 35 to 14, REM sleep rose from 13% to 21%, and CO2 levels dropped. These are substantial improvements, but they apply to a very specific medical situation. This result says nothing about healthy sleepers.

For broader applications such as sleep apnea and snoring, the picture is far less positive. Two systematic reviews (covering 10 and 9 studies respectively, totalling 213 patients) show that only two studies demonstrated any improvement in sleep apnea measurements; the remaining studies found no difference. The studies are too small and too varied in design to support a clear recommendation. The popular TikTok claims about improved sleep and oral health have barely been tested scientifically.

For more severe sleep apnea there are also safety signals. A small study of 10 patients showed that people with severe sleep apnea still try to open their mouth while wearing tape, so-called mouth puffing. The more severe the condition, the more often this occurs. This suggests that the tape does not effectively keep the airway open and may even be dangerous in severe apnea.

The greatest safety risk applies to anyone with a blocked nose or other nasal problems. A systematic review explicitly highlights that mouth taping can lead to oxygen deficiency when nasal breathing is not unobstructed. Several studies excluded this type of participant for that reason. If you regularly have a blocked nose at night, mouth taping is something to avoid.

For asthma, mouth taping is not beneficial. A randomised study of 51 asthma patients showed no measurable difference in lung function or symptoms after four weeks of nightly use.