Shut Yo' Mouth Foo
Years ago I began using a small piece of tape over my mouth to sleep.
At first, I would find the tape on floor in the morning. Some nights I would wake up from a dream where I was trying to blow a bubble, then I would realize it was the tape….hahahaha.
Sleeping with tape on your mouth has so many benefits:
- Less Snoring: Sleeping with your mouth closed and using your nose to breathe will decrease if not eliminate snoring. You could even drop a hint to your snoring significant other…”hey baby, here’s some tape”
- Increased REM Sleep: REM sleep is your deepest most restorative sleep. REM sleep is also the stage of sleep where you dream. Tape will help you enter this stage of sleep for longer.
- Decrease Dehydration: Sleeping with your mouths open creates more moisture loss which can lead to dehydration. Keeping the mouth closed will prevent that fluid loss.
- Peeing Less: Sleeping with your mouth open decreases the level of CO2 in the system which can create more frequent urination in the night. When the mouth stays closed we do not push off so much CO2 so we will pee less frequently. Let’s be real who likes getting up in the middle of the night to pee…I know I don’t.
- Balanced Nervous System: When you breathe in and out of your nose you activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is your resting and digesting system. Mouth breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system which is the fight and flight part of your system. You want to be resting during the night not in a sympathetic, fight or flight state.
Now, this may seems very stressful to sleep with your mouth taped closed. If it creates some anxiety in you maybe do some shorter time framed things around the house with your mouth taped to get used to it. You could try this while you are reading, doing the dishes, taking a nap, etc. Smaller time frames that can help you feel less anxious about the whole thing.
Often times I hear, “My nose is too plugged to breathe out of it.” cool thing is, the more you breathe out of your nose the more you clear up your nostrils, it’s a win-win baby.
If your tape ends up on the floor night after night, no worries, just keep at it.
What type of tape should I use?
I like to use kinesiology tape, it has a little give to it and it’s got some good stick that I can use the same strip a few nights in a row.
You can buy some mouth tape online but it seems a little expensive to me. Try some out and see, but don’t try duct tape, gorilla tape, scotch or painters tape, some work WAY to well and you’ll rip your lips right off and others just don’t do the trick…believe me I tried.
I hope this little tip helped, let me know how it goes. Feel free to email us back if you have any questions about this topic.
