Stop mouth breathing at night by treating congestion, sleeping on your side or with your head elevated, mouth taping, or doing breathing exercises. Good sleep hygiene, such as avoiding eating and drinking alcohol before bed, will also help.
There are two primary reasons for mouth-breathing during sleep. The first is that there may be an issue with or blockage in your nasal airway, such as a deviated septum and congestion. The second is simply due to bad habits.
Treatment options can include: Breathing retraining and proper tongue posture. Management of allergies or infections that may be causing nasal blockages. Surgery to remove the physical obstruction like a deviated septum, or enlarged adenoids or tonsils.
If you find yourself breathing through your mouth, close your mouth and try to consciously breathe through your nose. Elevate your head during sleep. Before you go to sleep, put an extra pillow below your head. Raising the height of your head while you sleep may help keep your mouth from opening.
If treated early in life, more ideal facial growth and development can be promoted, along with improved overall health. As an adult, the growth and development has already happened but it's not too late–there are MANY health benefits to breathing through your nose instead of your mouth at any age!
Mouth breathing (MB) is a pathological disorder characterized by varying degrees of upper airway blockage and can affect orofacial development, speech, nutrition, and body posture.
Long term mouth breathing can lead to a myriad of oral issues including crowded teeth, cracked lips, caries (or cavities), gum disease and more. But the issues don't stop at the mouth. Mouth breathers are also more likely to experience digestive issues, chronic fatigue, morning headaches and sore throat.
Mouth breathing through the night can lead to diminished sleep quality, snoring and elevated stress.
What causes nasal obstruction at night? Throughout the day, gravity is helping your body drain the mucus out of your nasal cavities. So, when you lay down in bed at night, it's harder for your mucus to drain properly and it accumulates. This leads to nasal congestion and that “blocked nose” feeling.
Some people breathe through their mouths almost exclusively, while others may have a medical condition (like sleep apnea) where they breathe through their mouths mostly at night. Occasional mouth breathing can be due to a temporary illness like a cold or other illness that has blocked the nasal passages.
Constantly breathing through the mouth, especially while sleeping, can be a sign that you can't get enough oxygen through your nose. Chronic mouth breathing is also associated with oral health issues like dry mouth, gum disease, and increased cavities.
Breathing through your mouth
When you engage in a strenuous workout, you may also breathe through your mouth as it allows for a faster flow of oxygen to the muscles. However, if you constantly breathe through your mouth instead of your nose, you may experience gum disease or bad breath.
It can impact energy levels and concentration and can even cause bad breath. Research shows that when we breathe through our mouths, there is an increase in oxygen in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This part of the brain affects personality expression, decision making and social behaviour.
Yes, you can train yourself to stop mouth breathing at night if this is simply a bad habit for you. Try breathing exercises that decongest your nose and encourage nasal breathing, sleeping on your side or with your head elevated, mouth taping, or devices like chin straps that keep your mouth closed while you sleep.
According to Dr. Leann Poston of Invigor Medical, “Elevating your head before bed can increase drainage and decrease congestion.” That's why the best position to sleep with a stuffy nose is on your back with different types of pillows elevating your head and neck.
Mouth breathing is surprisingly more common than you think. In a Sleep Review study, 61% of adults surveyed identified themselves as a mouth breather. That's an awful lot of adults struggling to get a breath through their nose.
People who breathe through their mouth and not their nose are more likely to develop sleep disorders, including sleep apnea. Children who have mouth breathing are more likely to have dental problems like malocclusion and facial differences.
According to the survey data, 71% of beds across America are host to a mouth breather. The most common signs of mouth breathing reported were being awoken by nighttime nasal congestion (75%) waking up with a dry mouth (61%), and snoring (37%).
Conclusion: All subjects with mouth-breathing habit exhibited a significant increase in lower incisor proclination, lip incompetency and convex facial profile. The presence of adenoids accentuated the facial convexity and mentolabial sulcus depth.
Some patients report that their nose blocks when they lie on their side in bed, thus lying on the right is associated with right nasal block and the opposite when they lie on their left. Topical sprays which administer a low dose of steroid to the nose or surgery to the turbinates inside the nose can often help.