Why shouldn’t we sleep with our mouth open?

Sleeping with your mouth open is the subject of jokes and laughter. More than one person has had a photo taken when, in the middle of their nap and lying on the couch, they end up with this striking gesture. Now, the truth is that doctors are not very happy about it. In fact, it is common for them to recommend that we ensure that younger children do not fall into this habit.

Nighttime mouth breathing has a great impact on our health. Let’s think, for example, that sleep apnea is characterized precisely by that characteristic. Leaving our mouth ajar leads in many cases to snoring, and to those failures in breathing and oxygen supply to the brain, which translate into exhaustion, headaches and more serious alterations.

Far from being something anecdotal and even the subject of ironic comments between us and our partners, friends or family, We are facing a serious indicator that we must pay attention to. Once again, we must remember the well-known recommendation of “breathing well is living better.” We analyze it.

As the jaws open wider, the tongue sinks back, obstructing the airways.

Be careful with sleeping with your mouth open: this is what can happen to us

More than one may know the medical treatise of the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum. This is a book written within the scope of the Salernitana Medical School in the 12th and 13th centuries. Well, this old work already warned of the inconveniences of sleeping with your mouth open. It is not healthy, they indicated, it is better to avoid it, they insisted.

Now the truth is that When we fall asleep we are not aware that we open our mouth. What we can perceive, if this is a recurring gesture, is that we wake up more exhausted and with a dull head. This is what journalist James Nestor noticed when he underwent an experiment.

Scientists at Stanford University covered his nostrils with silicone and surgical tape to analyze the effects of breathing through his mouth for 10 days. That experience and that research helped him write his book Breathe: The New Science of a Forgotten Art (2021). In this work he reveals exactly the causes and effects of nocturnal mouth breathing.

Increased risk of cavities

We may not find a connection right away, but the studies are there. Also the warnings from oral health experts. Research from the University of Otago demonstrates this fact. Sleeping with your mouth open alters our pH, The accumulation of germs increases and, therefore, we can suffer more cavities, as well as halitosis.

Pharyngitis, that annoying itchy throat

Have you ever woken up with a dry throat? For sure yes. This is usually an obvious sign that you have spent several hours breathing through your mouth and not your nose. It is the latter that has the task of heating the air we breathe and humidifying it to take it to the lungs.

If you breathe through your mouth, it is the throat that has to moisten that oxygen and this ends up drying out the mucosa. and often leads to chronic pharyngitis.

Your lungs are not ventilated properly

As we well know, the healthiest breathing is the one we breathe through the nose, never through the mouth. If we spend between 7 and 10 hours sleeping, it is essential that this breathing is not through the mouth. Let us think that at breathe through the nose, the inspired air is filled with nitric oxide, which favors gas exchange for correct lung ventilation.

This process allows us to purge viruses and bacteria from our body. However, sleeping through the mouth for years has a serious effect on our health because the lungs are not ventilated properly.

lNocturnal mouth breathing sustained for years can lead to pulmonary hypertension

Sleeping with your mouth open will cause you to snore (and may suffer from sleep apnea)

When sleeping with the mouth open, the tongue sinks backwards, obstructing the airways. With the obvious consequences of what this means: less oxygen supply for our body. Now, if this were not enough, we also snore. And snoring is not only annoying, but it has a negative effect on our health.

By not breathing well, these air pressures collapse the pharynx and snoring occurs. Snoring can lead to dangerous sleep apnea in many cases.. Research from the University of British Columbia highlights something important.

There is a very significant relationship between people who sleep with their mouth open and obstructive sleep apnea. This is something that we must take into account. If this condition is not treated, We can lead to chronic fatigue, risk of suffering from depressive disorders and coronary heart disease and stroke.

Whenever we notice or are told that we snore at night (or sleep with our mouth open) we should talk to our doctor.

How to avoid night mouth breathing?

Breathing through the mouth is unhealthy. If you have been suffering from this involuntary gesture at night for a long time, do not hesitate to consult with your doctor. It will always be decisive to rule out possible respiratory problems and, of course, the presence of sleep apnea.

Likewise, and as a curiosity, it is interesting to know that There are simple strategies to avoid sleeping with your mouth open. They are the following:

Nasal irrigation with saline solution is a good strategy.Nasal strips that open the nose are another option, as are dilators.There are people who “train” their jaw to close at night. It consists of putting a hypoallergenic tape in the center of your lips at night. Just a small piece. The moment we open our mouths we will notice it and, little by little, we will correct that tendency.Another recurring strategy is to sleep with a tennis ball on your back.. This will prevent us from sleeping on our backs and snoring.

To conclude, whatever the case, it is best to always consult with sleep hygiene experts. Let’s think that nothing is as important as breathing well, and if it is through the nose, much better.

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