Experiment in Taping My Mouth Shut When I Sleep!!

I've been reading the book Breath - an interesting read about health problems that can be caused by breathing through one's mouth rather than one's nose... I started reading it after months of feeling more congested than normal - since last November, in fact, when I had my last cold.

Apparently nose breathing is beneficial all the time - even when exercising  (running or cycling, for example). And, of course, while sleeping.

But how to make sure you are breathing through your nose or your mouth when you are asleep?

Some people tape their mouths shut to avoid mouth breathing at night. I'm not sure if this is something they do for a while - or if they continue permanently.

I decided to give it a try - and it isn't as awful as it sounds! The key, for me, was to use a small (postage-sized) piece of medical bandage tape in the middle of my lips, so that I can still breath through my mouth if needed, though it does prevent me opening my mouth wide.

(Of course, mouth-taping should be tried only by adults who know that the urge to cough will wake them up and who won't be so disorientated if they wake up with tape on their mouths: they'll know how to quickly remove it...) Fortunately I'm a very light sleeper.

After a week of taping my mouth shut, I was less congested in the mornings. Regarding coughing, when I needed to cough, I woke up, lifted up one end of the tape, coughed, then stuck the tape down again!

What am I hoping to gain? If any of the anecdotal evidence in the book works for me, I may start sleeping through the night - instead of waking up every two hours. I'm also hoping that my blood pressure will go down. Apparently mouth-breathing can raise a person's blood pressure.

I plan to try it for a few weeks, to see what happens.