In my first appointment with my functional nutritionist, Francesca, she highly recommended mouth taping to improve my sleep. I was curious, so I conducted a mini experiment using my Apple Watch and the SleepWatch app to see if it improved my sleep. Although I did not follow the scientific method and my results are not statistically significant, I did have fun collecting this data 😊
As you can see below, my average sleep score with mouth-taping increased by almost 50 points. What is also interesting is my sleep was more consistent with mouth-taping than without it.
Without mouth taping: Average 627 (I removed the outlier of 361)
Day 1 = 541
Day 2 = 361 (I had insomnia and Millie didn’t sleep)
Day 3 = 539
Day 4 = 656
Day 5 = 770
With mouth taping: Average of 674
Day 1 = 675
Day 2 = 697
Day 3 = 685
Day 4 = 622
Day 5 = 689
Benefits of mouth-taping:
- Reduces snoring
- Reduces dry mouth
- Promotes nose breathing – which has the benefits of lowering blood pressure, filtering allergens, regulating breath temperature, moisturizing your throat & decreasing anxiety
- Increases sleep quality
I am planning to continue my mouth-taping practice, so here are some tips:
Before bed:
- Make sure you are finished speaking for the day…LOL
- Moisturize your lips before placing the tape
- Place a 1-inch strip of surgical tape over the center of your mouth, vertically (I use standard 3M surgical tape)
- Sleep well 😉
Upon waking:
- Slowly remove the tape (or you can rip it off if that’s your style)
- I use a bit of avocado oil on a warm washcloth to remove the sticky residue
- Have a great day!
Together in healing 💜
