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sleep

Mouth taping — placing a strip of tape over the lips at night to enforce nasal breathing — has become one of the most searched sleep interventions of the past two years. The physiological rationale is genuine. The clinical evidence supporting the practice is small, low quality and largely limited to people who have already been screened for the conditions that make it hazardous.

• Small trials in patients with mild obstructive sleep apnoea have found modest reductions in apnoea-hypopnoea index and snoring.
• Sample sizes are typically well under a hundred, with short follow-up and no blinding — a design that reliably overstates effects.
• Participants in these trials were screened first, and those with nasal obstruction or moderate-to-severe apnoea were excluded.
• There is no good evidence for benefit in people who do not have a diagnosed breathing disorder.