The social media platform TikTok is spreading yet another one of those potentially dangerous challenges: taping your mouth shut to stop breathing through your mouth while you sleep.
“If you have obstructive sleep apnea, yes, this can be very dangerous,” said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, in an interview with CNN.
Obstructive sleep apnea, which is the complete or partial closure of the airways, is one of the most common and dangerous sleep disorders: it is believed that over 1 billion people between the ages of 30 and 69 have the condition, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Other millions remain undiagnosed, experts say.
But why have people decided to tape their mouths shut while they sleep?
In a video circulating on the social platform, a young woman explains:
“I tape my mouth shut every day. … Sleeping properly is very important for anti-aging and to look good and feel better.”
In another video, a woman couldn’t remember why she started taping her mouth at night:
“To tell the truth, I don’t know. I saw it on TikTok and I don’t remember what the benefits were. But it helps me sleep!”
As with many things “discovered” by TikTok followers, taping the mouth for sleep is not new. People have been looking for ways to close their mouths at night for years. Mouth breathing can cause snoring and excessive thirst at night, as well as dry mouth and bad breath in the morning. Over time, breathing this way can lead to gum disease and malocclusion (the upper and lower teeth do not align).
But if you breathe through your mouth and can’t sleep properly, instead of taping your mouth shut, the recommendation is to seek a specialist.
“In my opinion, taping your mouth shut will probably not help you sleep better,” concludes Dasgupta.
Source: CNN