UrbanUpdate

So much suffering begins with humans opening their mouths. People part their lips and exhale germs all over you. They say things like, “I don’t think our company’s chemical waste will affect that town’s water supply,” and, “Gisele, I want to go back to work.” But one of the greatest indignities our gaping maws have inflicted upon us happens not when speaking, but when we're unconscious.

The theory is this: Sleeping with your mouth open can lead to snoring, which can disrupt the quality of your sleep, and leave you feeling exhausted even after a full eight hours in bed. Flowing air will also dry out the inside of your mouth, which over time can lead to bad breath and gum problems. Breathing through our mouths is also harder on the body than breathing through our snouts—the hairs inside our nostrils purify the air, trapping dust and allergens, and as the breath travels through the nose it’s moisturized, making it warmer and wetter and easier to absorb into the lungs. Breathe through your nose at night, the thinking goes, will leave you refreshed and energized, restored by all the high-quality, ultra-damp nose oxygen you inhaled.

But what if your body doesn’t do this naturally? What if the moment you doze off, your jaw slackens and you start breathing harsh, unmoisturized air? Fortunately, two of the most powerful forces in American society—direct-to-consumer brands and wellness influencers—have found a solution to the mouth breathing problem: tape.

Take Hostage Tape, one of a growing number of brands that suggest all you need to achieve better sleep, better health, and even better relationships is to tape your lips shut before bed. The upstart company bills itself as “the most comfortable mouth tape on the planet,” but its review section looks like a collection of stills from a proof of life video: Dozens of faces stare out from the screen, washed out by the bright glare of a camera flash or an overhead light. Their expressions vary. Most stare blankly into the camera. Some look concerned. Others seem to be attempting smiles, but who can know for sure, because everyone’s mouth is covered by a thick, black strip of tape—the kind of tape that, well, as the product’s name suggests, a hostage-taker would slap onto their victims’ mouths to prevent them from screaming. Most of the men aren’t wearing shirts.

It is a haunting gallery of images, except that below each picture is a glowing blurb about how wonderfully well the captives have been sleeping. The overall vibe is abduction as spa getaway. As one captive puts it: “I feel very oxygenated every morning.”

Perhaps you’ve heard rumblings about the benefits of nasal breathing already. Recently, the famously fit have been posting pictures and videos of themselves on social media with tape over their mouths, touting the practice’s benefits. On TikTok, videos tagged “Mouth Tape” have over 38 million views. Massively influential neuroscientist Andrew Huberman recommended mouth taping at night, and practicing nasal breathing when you exercise. And Joe Rogan, our nation’s foremost surveyors of bro wellness trends, repeatedly boosted the 2020 best-selling book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. In it, science journalist James Nestor proclaimed: “No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.”

For some of you, maybe reading that earlier paragraph about the nuances of breath was all it took to slip into a deep, dreamless sleep. Would that it were it so easy for everyone. According to the C.D.C., about 70 million Americans struggle with chronic sleep issues. And the result of all that bad sleep, they warn, is a lower quality of life, increased rates of injuries and mental and physical illness, and lower productivity.

There’s another harmful side effect that loud, chainsaw-like mouth breathing can have on your life: it can make your partner absolutely furious with you. On Hostage Tape’s website, the brand’s creator, Alex Neist, says that his mouth-breathing was so bad that it ruined his marriage. Because of his snoring, he writes, his wife started sleeping in another room, their “intimacy disappeared,” and his kids struggled in school as a result of all the turbulence at home. Eventually the couple separated. Then, he discovered mouth tape, and now: “three years after divorce, I’m now back with my wife, our kids are flourishing in school, and we sleep in the same bed again.”

My only bed partner is my dog, I don’t really snore, and I sleep as well as anyone who spends at least eight hours every day in front of the computer—but I wanted to see if I too could enjoy a more restive, oxygenated sleep by forcing my mouth shut.

Some mouth tape brands, like SomniFix or SleepStrips, are designed to be discreet. The tape is translucent, or cut into a small cross shape. Not so with Hostage Tape. Each strip is jet black, about three inches long, and feels like a slightly gentler surgical tape. Its packaging looks like Axe Body Spray smells: intensely, self-consciously masculine. More aggressive than you might expect for a product that is meant to help you drift off into the candy colored clouds of Dreamland like a sweet, sleepy little lamb.

I applied mine before bed, and no sooner had I stretched the strip across my maw than I felt the need to apply lip balm, take a sip of water, yawn, sneeze, recite a poem out loud, try to see how many grapes I could fit in my mouth at once—anything that would require me to part my now sealed lips. I calmed myself by taking a selfie with the nightmare tape and posting it to Instagram. “Are you mouth taping?” several people asked. I wondered what they would have thought if I said no.

That night, I slept well except for a weird dream, and I don’t think the tape was to blame. When I woke up, I felt as rested and as oxygenated as I had any other day. The next few days were pretty much the same, and I started to wonder what a good night’s sleep really looks like anyway.

“When you’re having good sleep, you should wake up feeling refreshed,” said Dr. Rachel Salas, a sleep specialist and professor of Neurology and Nursing at Johns Hopkins University. “I don’t care how boring a talk or a meeting is [the next morning], if you’re falling asleep, that’s a red flag.”

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But Dr. Salas was skeptical of mouth taping’s grand promises. If you’re snoring, and you’re still tired in the morning despite getting plenty of sleep, the underlying issue could be something serious that tape alone can’t fix. Like obstructive sleep apnea, a condition where one’s airways are obstructed while they sleep, sometimes closing for 10 seconds or more.

“Sleep apnea has a ton of risks,” Dr. Salas explained. “Heart attacks, stroke, arrhythmia, high blood pressure, diabetes, erectile dysfunction. You’re five times more likely to get in a car accident. So if people are defaulting to self-diagnosing, or are just focused on the snoring and not seeking medical attention, they may actually be at risk for these bigger things.”

Besides, sealing off one of your airways may not be the best idea for everyone. Dr. Salas noted that for those who have conditions like deviated septums, collapsed nostrils, or chronic sinusitis, blocking off airflow through your mouth could be potentially dangerous.

Dr. Salas recommended consulting your physician before slapping tape over your mouth each night. “I think one of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to sleep is that there’s nothing a doctor can do, or it’s not there’s nothing serious going on,” she said. “Sometimes people, especially younger people, are like, oh I’m fine, I just snore. But no. It’s serious.”

When I told Dr. Salas how popular the practice was on TikTok, she sighed wearily. “There’s a reason doctors go to medical school.”

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