I really doubt it (the chinstrap idea). If you try to make a snoring sound yourself, you’ll realize that the sound comes from further back in the mouth. The sound of snoring seems to be more nasal / back of throat, than related just to air escaping from the front of the mouth. It’s air forcing its way past floppy throat tissue. If your mouth is closed, you’ll exhale through your nose - and generally still make noise.
If you make sounds just from the front of the mouth, then I can see a chinstrap maybe helping a bit. Say, if the issue is exhaling and you’re making a noise because of your tongue flapping against the roof of your mouth. This sometimes happens with me when I’m sleeping with the CPAP (nasal mask only; relies on a closed mouth to work).
CPAP suppliers actually sell chinstraps for this purpose. One example.
My first post!
Answering EmilyG first - I’ve been taping my mouth when sleeping on and off for more than 10 years. I’m still alive and I love it.
I’ll try to keep this short. I’m 45 now and about 15 stone. Between ages 18 and 28, I played elite level sport and was about 18.5 stone (and busted my nose a few times too). I also had minor but not trivial exercise induced asthma. I didn’t lose the weight very quickly after I stopped playing serious sport and, in my early 30s, started snoring to the point where it bugged my wife a bit. So I, like others above, wondered whether taping up my mouth at night would help. It was then that I read a bit about the Butekyo stuff (google it) and the general “badness” of mouth breathing. I tried it and I once I got used to it(it takes a while), I found it helped with my asthma. I should say, more accurately, my asthma (and hayfever) started to improve around the time I started taping my mouth to sleep - I’m not claiming any causality. I travel a fair bit for work so lots of sleeping in hotels (and forced aircon). I found that taping my mouth massively improved how well I slept in hotels.
Jump forward to today. I’m still taping my mouth at night. I don’t do it all the time - it is a bit weird, even if you’re like me and happily married for 15 years…although the kids fiind it funny! But I do definitely find that I feel fresher in the morning when I’ve slept with my mouth taped. In reality, I prefer to do it given the choice. I also nose breath noticeably more during the day which, I understand, is more healthy. It’s like I’ve trained my body to do it. I haven’t had any incidence of asthma for more than 10 years and no hayfever (of note) for 5 years. I still snore.
To be clear, I’m no doctor. I’m also exceptionally fit and at 6’7", my weight is not a problem. I think that, for me, taping my mouth shut at night has had positive benefits (and my 14yo son has started doing it too - without any encouragement from me- as he’s a “mouth breather”). But it may not be good for everyone.
From my reading on the web etc, snoring is much more to do with lifestyle factors - in my case, red wine!. But that’s a whole different question…and when somebody works it out, could they please let me know?
Hope this works as I’m a computer illiterate newcomer. I have made such an apparatus to work with one of those thingys you stick in your mouth to hold the lowerr jaw forward to stop apnea. The latter works, and the former prevents spitting the latter out, but it’s primary result is headaches.
Cheers
Hey, way to make a newcomer feel welcome dude! I mean, it’s not like they had any actual experience directly relevant to the topic at hand, or any new information to contribute! :rolleyes:
Wow! Not one post on this topic for two years.Maybe all the original posters died of suffocation. Only kidding. I have been successfully taping my mouth at bedtime for more than two years using a gentle trauma tape made by Nexus. But the reason for this strange habit is not snoring, but simply to prevent mouth breathing while I sleep. I have this great Tempurpedic bed that goes from flat to an “S” shape where the head of the bed is higher than the foot. Inevitably, I must sleep on my back in this “S” position, but I get by far the best, most comfortable sleep I have ever had. Nightime nasal congestion, aggravated by gravity when one is laying down, disappears. Leg pain is relieved because the legs are raise slightly higher than the hips, preventing blood from pooling overnight. BUT the one flaw is that sleeping on your back in such a raised position allows the chin to drop when sleep takes over. Then the mouth opens and the rest is history. Within an hour or two, you wake up with severe dry mouth, which is annoying to say the least, and apparently quite harmful (see spa 509’s thread here referring to Butekyo). It is not unusual to wake up like this four or five times in one night. Chin straps help, but they still allow the mouth to open some, and also they pull the jaw back, which hurts over time. BUT, a little vaseline on the lips, some of the right tape, and voila! Good sleep is yours!
A lot of replies from people who don’t know what they are talking about.
My wife complained about my snoring and I have been using duct tape to keep my mouth closed for quite a while.
Yes, it does work. Snoring typically occurs when people lay back with their mouths wide open - have you ever tried making a snoring noise through your nose with your mouth closed? Not easy. My wife says I now sleep quietly and she can also get a decent night’s sleep.
No, you won’t die. It’s not at all hard to remove a small piece of duct tape from your mouth should the need arise (though perhaps if you have no fingers it might not be a good idea.)
No, saliva etc won’t build up in your mouth and drown you - where do people get these ridiculous notions?
It does not hurt to remove duct tape. One problem I have is that it tends to get moist in the night and fall off, so I have to replace it.
While its not entirely comfortable, I have become used to it and sleep perfectly well. I have enough consideration for my wife to accept a minor change in my sleeping habits so that she doesn’t have her sleep ruined sleeping next to a chainsaw.
