7 things athletes should know about mouth taping at night

Mouth taping at night is a sleep habit, not a performance aid: it keeps your lips closed so you breathe through your nose, mostly to cut snoring and morning dry mouth. For athletes, that's still worth something, because sleep is part of recovery. Here are seven things to know before you try it, including what the evidence covers and how to fit tape around late sessions.

What mouth tape can and can't do for athletes

The best evidence for tape is on snoring. A small 2022 study of mouth breathers with mild sleep apnea found snoring roughly halved after a week of taping (the research), though mouth tape isn't a treatment for sleep apnea. A 2025 review in PLOS One found 10 studies of mouth taping, all in people with mouth breathing, sleep-disordered breathing or sleep apnea, and rated them as poor quality. So the research is early, and none of it looks at athletes.

The practical side is more reassuring. In a 2009 study in Respiratory Medicine, 50 adults taped their mouths at night for four weeks and managed it on a median of 26 of 28 nights. That suggests tape is something most people can build into a nightly routine without much fuss, which matters if you're adding it to a schedule that's already full of training, meals and recovery.

What should athletes know about mouth tape?

Sleep is part of training

A 2021 expert consensus in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says elite athletes are particularly prone to short sleep, under seven hours a night, and poor sleep quality, such as broken sleep. It says athletic performance drops after a night or more without sleep, and that in the wider population, habitually sleeping under seven hours makes people more susceptible to respiratory infections. Anything that makes your nights quieter and more comfortable is worth a look.

Tape is for sleep, not for your next personal best

The mouth taping studies in the 2025 review were all in people with mouth breathing, snoring problems or sleep apnea, and we haven't found any that test whether taping at night improves speed, strength or endurance. The closest research is on nasal strips during exercise: a 2021 meta-analysis found they didn't change VO2max, heart rate or perceived effort in healthy people. That doesn't make tape pointless. It means the reasons to try it are the sleep ones, like a partner who hears less snoring or waking without a dry mouth.

Active people can breathe through the nose at training effort

In a 1995 study, 20 regularly active adults could all reach an intensity high enough for an aerobic training effect while breathing only through the nose, and the authors note that nose breathing warms and humidifies the air you breathe in. Daytime nose breathing is a separate topic, covered in nasal breathing during exercise.

A clear nose comes first

Tape only works if you can breathe comfortably through your nose. A clinical trial of silicone mouth tape (NCT06587256) only accepts people who can breathe through their nose with the tape on for at least 3 minutes, and our nose test uses the same idea. Sleep Foundation advises against taping when your nose is blocked by allergies, a cold or structural issues, and Cleveland Clinic adds sinus infections and a deviated septum. In cold season or during a heavy training block, check every night and skip it when you're stuffed up. See mouth tape with a cold.

Asthma means checking with a doctor

Sleep Foundation lists asthma and other respiratory conditions as reasons not to tape unless a doctor advises it. In a 2009 study in Respiratory Medicine, 50 adults with asthma taped their mouths for four weeks. Most found it acceptable, with 36 calling it very or fairly acceptable, but it made no difference to their asthma control. If you have exercise-induced or any other asthma, talk to your doctor first, and read mouth tape and asthma.

Hard evening sessions need a buffer

Evening training is usually fine for sleep. A 2019 review in Sports Medicine found that evening exercise doesn't harm sleep overall, though vigorous exercise ending within an hour of bedtime might make it harder to fall and stay asleep. A 2021 review found high-intensity exercise finishing two to four hours before bed didn't disrupt sleep in healthy adults. The same review found that hard sessions ending between half an hour and four hours before bed slightly reduced REM sleep, while nothing else it measured changed. Give yourself time to cool down before you tape up and turn in.

Alcohol and tape don't mix well

Sleep Foundation says alcohol relaxes the tongue and throat muscles and raises resistance in the nasal passages, which can make snoring worse, and suggests avoiding it in the three to four hours before bed. On nights you've had a few, skip the tape.

How do you fit tape into a training week?

The 2021 consensus says athlete sleep is shaped by sport factors, like training, travel and competition, and by non-sport factors, like stress and anxiety. It recommends an individual approach rather than one rule for everyone. Tape fits into that as one small part of a wind-down routine, alongside the timing of hard sessions and drinks.

Start on an easy week rather than the night before a big event. Sleep Foundation suggests testing the tape during the day first to make sure you can breathe easily through your nose, so wear it while you stretch, read or watch film for 20 minutes. Then try it at night and give it about a week, since that's how long the 2022 study ran before measuring snoring again. Ask a partner or teammate whether you snore less, or use a recording app, and note how your mouth feels when you wake. If it feels wrong at any point, take it off.

Who should skip mouth tape?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine lists loud snoring, choking or gasping during sleep and daytime sleepiness as warning signs of sleep apnea. Mouth tape isn't a treatment for sleep apnea, so see a doctor if those sound familiar. Mouth taping isn't for children either. Sleep Foundation says it hasn't been studied in children and shouldn't be tried, which matters for youth teams. For the full list, see our safety page.

Our pick (paid partner)

Our pick for athletes is Titan Bamboo Silk Mouth Tape. We haven't tested, compared or ranked mouth tapes ourselves, so this is our recommendation based on Titan's own description of its tape.

Titan says the strip is bamboo silk rather than kinesiology tape, and describes it as soft, breathable and moisture-wicking. Sleep Foundation notes that tape can pull on facial hair, and Titan says its SilkSeal adhesive is made to grip through stubble and full beards without tugging hair or leaving residue. It's one oval size, 76 by 38 mm, worn horizontally across the lips, with no printed logo or ink on the side that touches skin, according to Titan.

Titan suggests 20 to 30 minutes of daytime practice before the first night. It says every batch is third-party tested and certified PFAS-free, and its 30-night guarantee refunds you if your sleep isn't better after 30 nights. Titan sells 30, 90, 180 and 360-night supplies, which helps if you're taping while traveling for competitions.

For more on how to start, see the mouth tape guide.

Read next

• Do nasal strips help during exercise?
• Exercise and sleep: does timing matter?
• The best mouth tape for beginners

* 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.