What Is Mouth Taping and Is It Worth It For Sleep, Performance and Recovery?
What is mouth taping and is it worth it?
The rise of mouth taping, like cold therapy, as a method to improve sleep, performance and recovery is gaining attention in the wellness and health communities.
What is mouth taping and why are so many people taping their mouths shut?
With increased awareness on the importance of quality breathing, breathwork as a wellness practice and taping the mouth shut even during exercise has become a staple for those looking to improve their health or take their athletic performance up a notch, by way of deliberately forcing you to breath only through the nose.
When seal the lips, shut the mouth, and breath only through the nose – magic happens, as we return to our normal and optimal way of breathing.
This article explores the scientific basis behind the practice of mouth taping, the benefits it may offer, and why nasal breathing is considered superior to mouth breathing for sleep and overall health.
Understanding Mouth Taping
Mouth taping involves the simple act of placing a small piece of hypoallergenic tape over the lips to gently keep the mouth closed during sleep and encourage breathing through the nose. While it might sound discomforting to some, it is a non-invasive method to retrain the body to adopt nasal breathing, which has numerous physiological benefits. The tape used is designed to be skin-friendly and easily removable, ensuring safety and comfort.
Nasal breathing is the body's intended method of inhaling and exhaling. The nasal passages are designed to filter, humidify, and warm or cool the air entering the lungs, making it optimal for gas exchange.
This natural process ensures that the air reaching the lungs is in the best condition, regardless of external circumstances. On the contrary, mouth breathing bypasses these natural filtration and conditioning processes, leading to potential issues like dry mouth, increased risk of dental health problems, and less efficient oxygen exchange.
Nasal Breathing vs. Mouth Breathing
James Nestor's book, "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art," emphasises the myriad benefits of nasal breathing, which include improved CO2 tolerance, better filtration and humidification of incoming air, and more efficient oxygen uptake.
The book argues that these benefits can lead to enhanced athletic performance, better sleep, and overall health improvements.
Constantly mouth breathing is a sign of breathing dysfunction. Some of the other signs of breathing dysfunction include:
Shortness of Breath: The feeling of not getting enough air, leading to breathlessness.
Rapid Breathing (Tachypnoea): A higher than normal breathing rate, which can indicate distress or disease.
Use of Accessory Muscles: The use of neck, chest, and abdominal muscles to help with breathing, signifying that normal breathing is laboured.
Nasal Flaring: The widening of nostrils during breathing, often a sign of increased effort to breathe.
Wheezing: A high-pitched whistling sound when exhaling, indicating narrowed airways.
Rapid Fatigue: Quick onset of exhaustion during activity, due to insufficient oxygen delivery or increased work of breathing.
Poor Posture: Slouching or hunching over can restrict the lungs and diaphragm, making breathing less efficient and potentially leading to dysfunction.
The Basics of Breathing
Breathing is an automatic process driven by the respiratory centre in the brain, yet we have the unique ability to control it. This can be through deep or shallow breaths, fast or slow rates, and crucially, through the mouth or the nose.
While mouth breathing is common, especially during high-intensity activities or in cases of nasal congestion, it is nasal breathing that is physiologically optimal for several reasons.
Nasal Breathing and Its Benefits
1. Filtration and Humidification: The nasal passages are lined with a mucous membrane that traps dust, pollutants, and pathogens, acting as a filter for the air entering our lungs. Additionally, this mucous membrane humidifies the air, protecting our lung tissue from irritation and dryness.
2. Nitric Oxide Production: Breathing through the nose stimulates the production of nitric oxide, a crucial molecule with various beneficial effects, including vasodilation (widening of blood vessels), which enhances oxygen circulation throughout the body. Nitric oxide also has antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, supporting the immune system.
3. Optimal Oxygen-Carbon Dioxide Balance: Nasal breathing helps maintain a balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the blood. Mouth breathing can lead to over-breathing and a reduction in carbon dioxide, which, contrary to popular belief, is essential for the release of oxygen from haemoglobin in the blood.
4. Diaphragmatic Breathing: Nasal breathing promotes diaphragmatic breathing (deep breathing using the diaphragm), which has a calming effect on the nervous system. This is particularly beneficial before sleep, as it can enhance the quality of rest.
Mouth Taping Science
You have no doubt seen a lot of athletes using mouth tape during training lately, but, as seen during a press conference of World No.1 women’s tennis player Iga Swiatek after photographs of her training in Montreal were published around the world, many don’t quite understand why it helps their performance, with the 22-year-old from Poland saying “I don’t get it either...”.
It has to do with the Bohr Effect.
What is the Bohr Effect, sounds complex?
The Bohr effect is a physiological phenomenon first described by Christian Bohr in 1904. It refers to the way hemoglobin's oxygen binding affinity is inversely related to both acidity and the concentration of carbon dioxide.
To explain as simply as possible how this relates to the benefits of mouth taping: it means that under conditions where carbon dioxide levels are higher (mouth taping during exercise) and the pH is lower (more acidic), hemoglobin releases oxygen more readily. Conversely, when carbon dioxide levels are lower and the pH is higher (more alkaline), hemoglobin binds to oxygen more tightly.
How Does The Bohr Effect Relate to Nasal Breathing?
Nasal breathing plays a significant role in leveraging the Bohr effect for improved oxygen efficiency due to several key factors:
Humidification and Warming of Air: The nasal passage warms and humidifies the air before it reaches the lungs. Warmer air can enhance the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, indirectly influencing the Bohr effect by affecting the temperature and thus the reaction rates of the biochemical processes involved.
Increased CO2 Retention: Nasal breathing tends to promote a slight increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) retention compared to mouth breathing. Since the Bohr effect states that higher levels of CO2 lower the pH (making it more acidic) and reduce hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen, this allows for more efficient offloading of oxygen from the blood to the tissues where it's needed.
Nitric Oxide Production: The nasal cavities produce nitric oxide (NO), a potent vasodilator that plays a crucial role in regulating blood flow and enhancing oxygen transport. When you breathe through your nose, this nitric oxide is carried to your lungs and then to the rest of your body, helping to improve oxygenation and the overall efficiency of breathing.
Reduced Breathing Rate: Nasal breathing tends to slow down the breathing rate and increase diaphragmatic activation, leading to more efficient gas exchange. A slower, more controlled breathing pattern ensures that the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide is more balanced, optimizing the blood's pH levels and CO2 concentration for the Bohr effect to facilitate oxygen delivery to the tissues.
Tying this back in to mouth taping at any time, we can understand how nasal breathing can enhance the efficiency of oxygen transport and utilisation in the body by creating conditions that optimise the Bohr effect. This improved oxygen efficiency is particularly beneficial during physical activity and rest, contributing to better performance, endurance, and overall health.
Other Snippets of Science of Mouth Tape
Improves Sleep Quality: Taping the mouth shut encourages nasal breathing, which can lead to a more restful and uninterrupted sleep. Nasal breathing is associated with better oxygen saturation in the blood, reduced snoring, and a decrease in the likelihood of sleep disturbances like sleep apnea (Lee et al., 2022).
Enhances Recovery: By promoting deeper and more stable sleep patterns, mouth taping can aid in the body's recovery processes. Good sleep is crucial for physical recovery, cognitive function, and overall well-being.
May Reduce Asthma Symptoms: Although a study by Cooper et al. (2009) found no significant effect on asthma control, the practice of promoting nasal over mouth breathing could theoretically benefit asthma sufferers by ensuring air is warmer, more humid, and better filtered before reaching the lungs (Cooper et al., 2009).
Nasal Breathing for Sleep
The benefits of nasal breathing extend significantly to sleep quality. Mouth breathing during sleep, often associated with snoring and sleep apnea, leads to disrupted sleep patterns and reduced sleep quality.
Nasal breathing, on the other hand, supports the natural physiology of sleep by maintaining optimal levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen, facilitating smoother transitions through sleep stages, and reducing the likelihood of sleep disturbances.
James Nestor explains why he tapes his mouth during sleep
Nasal Breathing for Performance and Focus
For athletes and those engaged in physical activities, nasal breathing can be a game-changer. Despite the instinct to breathe through the mouth during intense exercise, training oneself to breathe nasally can improve endurance and performance.
This is due to the efficient use of oxygen and the role of nitric oxide in dilating blood vessels, allowing for better blood flow and oxygen delivery to muscles.
In terms of cognitive performance and focus, nasal breathing has a positive impact on the nervous system, reducing stress levels and improving concentration.
The calming effect of nasal breathing on the nervous system can enhance mental clarity and focus, making it an invaluable tool for tasks requiring attention and precision.
By using mouth tape, you can train breathing patterns that offer superior conditions for sleep for optimal recovery, and superior use of the breath for sustained physical output with reduced risk of injury.
What is the end goal of Mouth Taping and Nasal Breathing?
There is a concept that came up in training for the special forces in the military, which is the four stages of competence. This is essentially of flow of awareness or understanding of a skill or behaviour, which can be applied to many areas of life.
The four stages of competence are: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence. Essentially, many people fall into the first stage of competence around breathing, meaning they have poor breathing patterns and they are not aware of it.
The goal of focussing ‘consciously’ on our breath and carrying out practices like mouth taping, bring to the fore areas that we are maybe deficient in our breathing function and move us into this conscious incompetence closer towards conscious competence.
Eventually, by retraining and reprogramming our breathing patterns through conscious control via stimulus from the mouth tape, we can remove the tape and work towards unconscious competence of nasal breathing – naturally breathing through the nose even in times of stress and during sleep.
The four stages of competence
Incorporating Mouth Tape into Training
The teachings of the Oxygen Advantage, a program developed by Patrick McKeown, highlight the role of nasal breathing in improving athletic performance. By increasing CO2 tolerance and ensuring more efficient oxygen delivery to muscles, nasal breathing can enhance endurance and reduce breathlessness during exercise.
For athletes looking to incorporate mouth taping into their regimen, it's advisable to start with low-intensity workouts to adapt to the sensation and mechanics of nasal breathing. Begin with short sessions of Zone 2 cardio, gradually increasing the duration as comfort and proficiency with nasal breathing improve. It's crucial to listen to the body and proceed with caution, ensuring the practice feels beneficial rather than restrictive.
The aim is not to cause breathing distress, but to reprogram the breathing patterns by encouraging the use of the diaphragm during breathing (which also helps stabilise the spine, leading to lower injury rate) and restricting effort to the point of what is capable via breathing through the nose. By doing this during training, we are essentially training the body to do more with less!
Conclusion
While mouth taping might seem unconventional, its basis in the fundamental principles of respiratory physiology makes it a practice worth considering for those looking to enhance their breathing function, sleep quality, physical performance, and overall health.
As with any new practice, it's essential to approach it with an open mind and a willingness to adapt based on personal experiences and outcomes.
