I was wondering if I could duct-tape my lips shut at nighttime to prevent snoring. A friend of mine replied that this was dangerous and that I could die. Is this true?
(No, I haven’t actually tried it.)
I was wondering if I could duct-tape my lips shut at nighttime to prevent snoring. A friend of mine replied that this was dangerous and that I could die. Is this true?
(No, I haven’t actually tried it.)
I suppose if you develop a stuffed nose you might suffocate. I’d think you’d wake up, but I’m not about to try.
Isn’t much of the snoring sound from your nose as well? I’m pretty sure I’ve snored with my mouth shut. Furthermore, it’ll vary among people but taping my mouth shut would elevate my anxiety to a level where restful sleep would be impossible.
Bad idea. Aside from the fact that removing duct tape isn’t pleasant, it’s probably not going to solve your problem. And you most likely won’t sleep well.
Have you tried sleeping on your side? That’s a cure for many people.
I dunno, but whatever you do, don’t hold a baby’s nose shut - they don’t know how to breathe through their mouths.
Have you tried any of the over the counter nasal strips? Because that sounds a ton safer. A bit of googling also found a few chin straps that apparently try to keep the mouth closed, but don’t go to the extreme of actually taping the mouth. So I dunno about the effectiveness, but it might be worth trying.
And, of course, if your snoring is really bad, you might want to try a sleep study to make sure it’s not apnea.
A) Don’t think it would work
B) Main danger seems to be like gags someone up in general - too much spit in the mouth or someone vomits against the gag and you have “aspiration” and a dead body on your hands. This isn’t BDSM where someone is watching and hopefully takes action; this is sleep where you may only wake up as the harm is done. Doesn’t sound like a great idea in general.
Sitting upright at your computer right now? Try it, you’ll find that you can make snoring noises equally well with your mouth open or closed. Different tonal quality each way, but it’s about what’s happening between your tongue, soft palate, and throat, not about whether air’s coming in/out through your nose or mouth.
If you’re already snore-prone, taping your mouth shut may be more likely to induce apnea, and you’ll be more likely to wake up completely instead of partially.
Aspiration of vomitus seems unlikely: if you’re nauseous enough to be on the edge of barfing, you’ll probably be awake and interested in removing the tape yourself before you actually vomit.
Bottom line, I don’t think it’s dangerous, but I also don’t think it’s likely to reduce your snoring.
This sounds like urban legend. Got a cite?
That mus be why babies always die when they catch a cold!
Oh wait.
Sadly, this will not help your snoring.
As someone who makes use of CPAP and is constantly fighting it, I can say that the human body is remarkably good at waking up when something is amiss. Unless you are heavily sedated or drunk you don’t need to worry about having your mouth taped shut.
Obviously it’s not recommended because you might run afoul of liquor or drugs.
Before I moved to a full face mask, I had to tape my mouth shut to keep my airway pressurized. Chin straps and other devices were ineffective in my case. Good ol’ 3M surgical tape did the trick, and was weak enough such that I could open my mouth if an emergency arose.
Hey, just so you know - I’m not actually stupid enough to try taping my mouth shut. I was just wondering if it was harmful, if someone was stupid enough to try it.
Also, the reason I snore is probably because I wear a nightguard on my teeth, which can sometimes force my mouth open slightly.
LOL.
As long as you weren’t incapacitated in some manner, you’d just wake up if you couldn’t breath.
That’s what sleep apnea is - you stop breathing in your sleep, you rouse out of that sleep cycle and start breathing again, and go back to sleep. Over and over and over and over and over all night long. Which is why untreated apnea tends to produce tired people.
It would make an effective alarm, though. Just have your bed mate rip the tape off at the appropriate time. I don’t think even I could sleep through that.
If the guy on the other side of the floor doesn’t stop whistling show tunes on the way to the floor, he’ll find out whether it’s bad/dangerous to have your lips stapled shut.
There is this case about a man who died when his girlfriend put tampons up his nose to prevent him from snoring. He had drunk wine and taken sleeping pills, which may have contributed. While it might not normally be dangerous to tape your lips shut, you don’t want to be the one person who has something go wrong and ends up in the tabloids.
Ah yes, I remember that guy.
Luckily, I don’t currently sleep in a room with anyone else (lucky for the other person, I suppose. )
And yes, I do realize it’s possible to snore through your nose, as I learned on a long train trip to NYC.
Egad, yes. I was nursing my son once and he started squirming and shaking his head - turned out his nose had gotten a bit squashed into the food dispenser - and he didn’t let go and try to breathe through his mouth.
Re taping lips to stop snoring: that won’t work. It’s possible you might be making noise by exhaling and flapping the lips, but that’s not real snoring. Real snoring happens further back.
For what it’s worth, I have heard of people using tape to keep their lips closed when using CPAP machines (if they have a nose-only headpiece). I’ve been tempted to try this myself. I would assume you’d use hypoallergenic medical tape for the purpose.
All in all, lip-taping is NOT something that’s likely to be useful for you.
nm
(sorry 'bout the above empty post–my cat stepped on the return key too soon )
I have a related question about snoring:
Would it be possible to reduce snoring by wearing an elastic “helmet” with a chin strap that keeps the mouth closed?
I’m imagining a head-to-chin strap made of tight elastic. There would be, say, 3 straps crossing over your hair , joining into one strap that fits under the chin. (Or maybe even a full head-covering cap like the rubber bathing caps that women used to wear in swimming pools, but with a tight chin strap.)
The elastic would be tight enough that the act of opening your mouth would require making a conscious effort to use the chin muscles. So while relaxed and sleeping, your mouth would tend to stay closed . Velcro on the straps could adjust for comfort and tightness. On the maximum tightness, your chin would be pulled upwards with enough force that your upper and lower teeth would touch, and your lips would probably stay closed too.
Would this work?