How to stop mouth breathing during the day

To stop mouth breathing during the day, make sure your nose can carry the load, then retrain your resting position: lips together, tongue up against the roof of your mouth. Most daytime mouth breathing starts with a nose that doesn't let enough air through, and some of it is simply a habit that stuck around after the nose cleared.

Why do people mouth breathe during the day?

Most people mouth breathe because they can't get enough air in through the nose. Cleveland Clinic lists the common causes as a deviated septum, swollen turbinates from allergies or irritation, enlarged adenoids or tonsils, congestion from allergies, colds or sinusitis, nasal polyps and sleep apnea.

Mouth breathing is common. A 2026 systematic review in The Laryngoscope estimates that up to 30% of people are habitual mouth breathers. Cleveland Clinic says mouth breathing in adults isn't a serious health issue, but it's linked with dry mouth, bad breath, snoring and feeling tired, and the 2022 mouth tape study notes that the nose heats, humidifies and filters the air you breathe.

Habit plays a part too. If your nose was blocked for weeks during a bad allergy season or a long cold, your mouth can stay slightly open out of habit even after the congestion has gone.

How can you tell if you mouth breathe during the day?

Catching yourself is the first step. Common signs include noticing your lips are apart while you read, scroll or concentrate, a dry mouth or chapped lips by the afternoon, and feeling that breathing through your nose with your mouth closed is uncomfortable or takes effort.

A 2018 study in BMC Oral Health built a screening questionnaire for habitual mouth breathing. Among the features that set mouth breathers apart were an open mouth at rest, discomfort when breathing with the lips closed, and extra tension in the chin muscles when closing the lips. You can check the last one in a mirror: if your chin puckers or wrinkles when you close your lips, your lips may not be used to resting together.

Cleveland Clinic describes simple tests a provider may use, including a lip seal test that checks whether you can breathe with your mouth closed and a water test where you hold water in your mouth so you have to breathe through your nose. You can try a version at home: close your lips and breathe gently through your nose for two or three minutes. If you feel short of air, focus on your nose before anything else.

What's the right mouth and tongue position at rest?

The right resting position is lips together, tongue up. Cleveland Clinic says your lips should normally come together to form a seal at rest, and your tongue should be lightly suctioned to the roof of your mouth. When the mouth stays slightly open, the tongue tends to rest on the floor of the mouth instead.

To find the position, close your lips gently without pressing them. Place the tip of your tongue just behind your upper front teeth, then let the rest of your tongue rise to the roof of your mouth. Breathe slowly through your nose. It should feel relaxed, not effortful. Our guide to tongue posture and nasal breathing goes into more detail.

How do you clear your nose so it's easier to breathe through?

Clearing your nose makes the lips-together habit far easier. A saline rinse can flush out mucus and allergens. The FDA says neti pots and other rinse devices are usually safe and effective when used and cleaned properly, but you should rinse only with distilled, sterile or previously boiled water, because tap water isn't adequately filtered or treated for use in the nose. Our guide on how to use a saline rinse walks through it.

For allergies, Cleveland Clinic lists antihistamines or steroid nasal sprays as treatments a provider may recommend, and antihistamines and decongestants for a cold. If you use a decongestant spray, read our guide to decongestant spray rebound first. A nasal strip can also make the nose feel more open while you practice.

Do screens and posture make mouth breathing worse?

Posture may play a part, though the evidence is weak. The 2026 Laryngoscope review found that adult mouth breathers tended to adopt a head-forward posture and had more jaw joint problems than nose breathers. It rated the certainty of the evidence as very low, and it's not clear whether mouth breathing changes posture or the other way round. Our article on mouth breathing and posture covers the studies.

No study has tested whether screen habits cause daytime mouth breathing. Still, long stretches hunched over a phone or laptop are when many people notice their mouth hanging open. Raising your screen, sitting back in your chair and taking a short break every so often gives you natural moments to check your lips and tongue.

How do you build a nose-breathing habit?

Repetition in the same situations is what builds the habit. Pick a few moments that happen every day, such as sitting down at your desk, stopping at a red light, waiting for the kettle or opening your phone, and use each one as a cue to check: lips together, tongue up, breathe through the nose.

A phone reminder every hour helps at first. Some people put a small sticker on their monitor or steering wheel as a visual prompt. Don't worry about missing a few check-ins. The goal is for lips-together to become the default without thinking about it, and that takes weeks, not days. Our guide on whether you can train yourself to nose breathe lays out a longer plan.

Some people also practice by wearing mouth tape for 20 to 30 minutes while awake, reading or watching TV. Our daytime mouth taping guide explains how. Only do this if you breathe comfortably through your nose, and take it off straight away if you feel short of breath or anxious.

Should you breathe through your nose when exercising?

Nose breathing during easy exercise is a good way to practice. A 2022 review in Frontiers in Physiology notes that people generally switch from the nose to the mouth once breathing volume rises above about 40 litres a minute. So walking, easy cycling or a gentle jog are where nose breathing is easiest to keep up.

You can push it further than you might think. In a 1995 study of 20 healthy, active adults, everyone could exercise hard enough to get an aerobic training effect while breathing only through the nose, even though maximal oxygen uptake was a bit lower. For hard efforts, breathing through both nose and mouth is fine. Our guide to nasal breathing during exercise covers how to build up.

What about mouth breathing at night?

Daytime habits don't automatically carry over to sleep, because you can't consciously close your mouth while you're asleep. If you wake with a dry mouth or snore with your mouth open, our step-by-step guide on how to stop mouth breathing at night covers sleep position, humidity, nasal strips and mouth tape.

Mouth tape suits adults who breathe easily through the nose and have no signs of sleep apnea. Cleveland Clinic lists redness, irritation, anxiety and difficulty breathing as possible side effects and says not to use tape with nasal obstruction, congestion, chronic allergies, sinus infections, enlarged tonsils or a deviated septum. We don't recommend mouth tape for children.

When should you see an ENT or dentist?

See a doctor if your nose is blocked most of the time, if one side never clears, or if allergy and cold treatments don't help. Cleveland Clinic says a provider will look inside your nose and throat, and may suggest treatments such as allergy medicines, antibiotics for a sinus infection lasting more than 10 days, or surgery such as septoplasty for a deviated septum or turbinate reduction.

See a doctor too if you snore loudly, gasp or choke at night, or feel very tired during the day. The NHS lists these among the signs of sleep apnoea. A dentist or orthodontist is worth a visit if your bite or jaw position makes it hard to close your lips comfortably. Cleveland Clinic describes myofunctional therapy, which trains the muscles of the mouth and face through guided exercises, as an option for problems such as an open mouth posture.

Our pick (paid partner): Titan Sleep System

For carrying nose breathing into the night, our pick is the Titan Sleep System. We haven't tested or ranked these products ourselves; this is our recommendation.

Titan says the system pairs its TitanAir Nasal Strips with its mouth tape as one nightly routine. Titan describes the strips as drug-free external nasal dilators with flexible spring-loaded bands, placed on the soft part of the nose just above the nostril flare. It says the bamboo silk mouth tape is soft, breathable and moisture-wicking, and suggests 20 to 30 minutes of daytime practice before the first night, which fits well with the daytime habits above. Titan says every batch is third-party tested and certified PFAS-free.

Read next

• How to stop mouth breathing at night
• Daytime mouth taping: how to practice while awake
• Can you train yourself to nose breathe?

* This content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or health condition. Talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your health.