UVA doctor warns of social media sleep trend

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR)— Some people on social media are promoting taping your mouth to help with sleep.

An expert at UVA Health says it may not be as beneficial as it’s made out to be.

“One of my biggest concerns about it is that it’s being used without all this diagnostic testing nor the confirmation that someone has sleep apnea,” Doctor Eric Davis said.

Dr. Davis is Director of Sleep Disorders at UVA Health.

He says recently many of his patients say they’ve tried mouth-taping to help with snoring or sleep apnea.

“What that entails is taking a hypoallergenic tape and covering one’s mouth to promote breathing simply through your nose during sleep,” Dr. Davis said.

Davis says there have been a few tests done to see if this is actually effective but there hasn’t been any solid data that proves it.

“The short answer is there’s a heterogeneous response to this intervention and a lack of data demonstrating clear benefit with little harm,” Dr. Davis said.

Davis says there are more effective ways to improve sleep that have been tested.

“If healthy weight loss is appropriate that is a very effective treatment to improve snoring,” Dr. Davis said. “We also look at ways to avoid triggers that can worsen snoring such as smoking. Alcohol use before bedtime relaxes some of the muscles in the throat which can worsen snoring. And then snoring tends to be positional.”

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