A study proves viral Sleep Apnea hack

Sensible people are skeptical about viral things on YouTube, Instagram and especially TikTok.

But writing them off might mean lost opportunities.

And there’s a very interesting sleep apnea hack trending these days.

Claimed to eliminate sleep apnea the very first night. Completely free and easy to do.

But is it safe and effective?

To answer this question, a recent study published in JAMA Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, put this viral hack to the test.

Verdict: yes, it improves – even eliminates – snoring and sleep apnea overnight.

But only if you’re a specific type of sleeper.

The study explored how keeping the mouth closed during sleep impacts airflow in people with sleep apnea.

Researchers recruited 54 participants with diagnosed sleep apnea and used gentle pressure on their chins to keep their mouths closed while they slept (similarly to taping).

They compared their airflow with closed mouths versus open, observing differences in each person’s breathing patterns and sleep apnea severity.

The results were mixed and revealed more complexity than expected. Here’s what they found:

1. Minimal Effect for Some: For the 10 participants who already primarily breathe through their noses while sleeping, closing their mouths didn’t change airflow much.

2. Improvement for Moderate Mouth Breathers: Among the 32 participants who occasionally breathed through their mouths, keeping their mouths closed improved airflow significantly. This suggests that mouth taping helps this group breathe better during sleep.

3. Worse Outcomes for Heavy Mouth Breathers: For the 12 participants who relied heavily on mouth breathing, forcing their mouths closed actually worsened airflow. Their breathing became more restricted, likely due to severe obstructions along the nasal route, often in the soft palate area.

So why did closing the mouth work well for some but not others?

In people with nasal or throat blockages, mouth breathing provides a natural workaround. Forcing them to breathe only through their noses restricts their only open airway, making it even harder to breathe.

Before trying this method, knowing your natural breathing patterns is essential.

If you’re considering mouth taping to treat sleep apnea, have someone observe your breathing habits during sleep.

This trend could do more harm than good if you primarily breathed through your mouth.

But there’s a workaround…

I teach specific throat exercises. These exercises open your breathing passages. Open breathing passages don’t snore and don’t collapse into sleep apnea.

These exercises are effortless.

They take as little as three minutes.

You can do them anywhere.

And many people eliminate their snoring and sleep apnea the very first night.

If you’re interested, test-drive the stop-snoring and sleep apnea exercises here…