Do nasal strips help sleep apnea? What the research shows

Nasal strips don't help sleep apnea in the sense that matters most: they don't reduce the breathing pauses that define it. Studies going back to the 1990s, and two meta-analyses, find that sleep apnea measures stay about the same with a strip on. Where a clearer nose may still play a part is in making CPAP, the main treatment, easier to live with, and that's a conversation for your sleep doctor. If you think you might have sleep apnea, the first step is a test, not a strip.

Do nasal strips help sleep apnea?

Nasal strips don't treat obstructive sleep apnea, and that's one of the more consistent findings in the research on nasal dilators. Strips can make breathing through your nose feel easier, which is real and worth something, but the number of breathing pauses and shallow breaths per hour barely moves.

A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis in Pulmonary Medicine pooled 14 studies of internal and external nasal dilators. In the 147 people whose apnea-hypopnea index (AHI, the count of pauses and shallow breaths per hour) was reported, it went from an average of 28.7 to 27.4 events an hour, which wasn't a significant change. Lowest oxygen levels and snoring index didn't change significantly either. The authors wrote that dilators should not be thought of as curative for sleep apnea, and should be seen as adjuncts to treatment instead.

A larger 2026 meta-analysis in Cureus pooled 17 studies with 496 people. It found no significant differences in AHI, snoring index, sleep time, sleep architecture or oxygen saturation between people using nasal dilators and controls. Its conclusion was that dilators can't be recommended as a standalone treatment for sleep-disordered breathing, though they may help as an add-on for some people with mild symptoms or nasal congestion.

For the head-to-head trials of strips against CPAP, see our guide to nasal strips vs CPAP. This article sticks to the question most people are asking, and to the part of the research that's more encouraging: the nose's role in making treatment work.

What happens when people with sleep apnea try strips?

The early studies tested strips directly in people with sleep apnea, and the pattern was clear: people felt their noses open up, but their sleep breathing didn't change.

A 1997 study in the German journal Pneumologie gave external nasal strips to 30 people with obstructive sleep apnea and 20 people who snored without it. Breathing measures recorded overnight, including the apnea index and oxygen drops, weren't different with the strip. In the snoring group, snoring frequency didn't change. Yet people in both groups scored their nose breathing as better, and 10 of the 30 with sleep apnea said their sleep quality improved. Nine in ten said their daytime sleepiness was unchanged. The authors concluded strips couldn't be considered a treatment for either condition.

A 2005 trial in the European Respiratory Journal went further. It treated 10 people who had both severe nasal obstruction and sleep apnea with a decongestant spray plus an external strip, compared against placebo and sham treatment. Nasal resistance dropped sharply, and the share of breathing done through the mouth during sleep fell by about 30 percentage points. AHI fell modestly, by about 12 events an hour on average. The authors' summary was that treating the nose reduced sleep apnea severity but did not effectively alleviate it.

This table sums up the studies covered in this article.

Why doesn't opening the nose fix sleep apnea?

Opening the nose doesn't fix sleep apnea because the collapse usually happens farther back, in the throat. A strip lifts the sides of the nose and widens the passage at the front. That lowers resistance at the nasal valve, the narrowest part of the nose, which is why breathing can feel easier. Our explainer on how nasal strips work goes through the mechanics.

The 2026 review describes obstructive sleep apnea as breathing interruptions caused by total or partial collapse of the upper airway during sleep. A wider nostril doesn't hold that airway open. The 2005 trial shows the nose can contribute, since easing a badly blocked nose did trim the AHI a little, but even a large drop in nasal resistance left people with sleep apnea.

That gap between feeling and measurement is the main thing to understand. In the 1997 study, people's noses felt better while their breathing pauses carried on. A strip that makes a night feel easier, or makes snoring a bit quieter, isn't evidence that sleep apnea has gone. Our guide to snoring vs sleep apnea covers the differences between the two.

Can a clearer nose help with CPAP?

A clearer nose may help with CPAP, and this is where nasal dilators have their most promising sleep apnea research, though the studies are small. CPAP pushes air through your airway to keep it open, and if the nose is narrow, more pressure may be needed to get air through.

In a 2003 randomized crossover trial in Respiratory Medicine, 38 people with sleep apnea slept on auto-adjusting CPAP for two nights, one of them with an internal nasal valve dilator. The median pressure needed fell from 8.6 to 8.0 cm H2O. The effect was larger in the 20 people who needed more than 9 cm H2O, whose median fell from 10.3 to 9.1, and half of that group had a pressure drop of at least 1 cm H2O. The authors called for more research to find out who benefits.

A 2019 study in Acta Biomedica tested a different internal nasal dilator in 19 people with severe sleep apnea on auto-CPAP, comparing one night without it and one night with it. The CPAP pressure needed fell from 11.4 to 10.8. There was no control group, and it lasted only two nights.

The 2016 meta-analysis authors pointed to the 2003 trial and noted that lower CPAP pressures often improve CPAP use. They wrote that it is possible dilators may also improve CPAP use, which is a hypothesis rather than a result.

A 2023 study in PLOS One adds support for the idea that the nose matters for CPAP. Researchers measured nasal resistance in 260 people newly diagnosed with sleep apnea. Higher resistance was linked to lower CPAP use, and people who used CPAP less had worse nasal measurements before they started. Among those with high resistance at the start, the 16 whose readings improved used CPAP for longer at one and three months than the 12 whose readings didn't.

Two cautions apply. Both dilator studies used devices worn inside the nostrils, not external strips, and we didn't find a trial testing external strips as a CPAP add-on. Also, none of these studies show that a dilator replaces CPAP. If your nose feels blocked on CPAP, raise it with your provider; our guide to getting used to CPAP covers common comfort problems.

Do nasal strips help mild sleep apnea?

Nasal strips haven't been shown to treat mild sleep apnea either. The 2026 meta-analysis found no significant improvement in AHI across the studies it pooled, and its authors described a possible role for dilators only as an add-on for some people with mild symptoms or congestion.

One trial looked at milder cases directly. In a 1998 randomized trial in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 111 people aged 25 to 65 with mild sleep-disordered breathing and without subjective pathological sleepiness were assigned to CPAP or to conservative therapy, which the 2026 review summarizes as nasal dilation therapy. Of the 97 followed up after eight weeks, 49% on CPAP had an improved outcome in mood, energy and day-to-day functioning, compared with 26% on conservative therapy. The authors suggested that middle-aged snorers with fairly low levels of sleep-disordered breathing may benefit more from CPAP than from less specific therapy.

Mild sleep apnea still deserves a proper plan. Our guide to mild sleep apnea explains what the label means and the options doctors discuss.

How do you find out if you have sleep apnea?

You find out if you have sleep apnea by talking to a healthcare provider and, usually, having a sleep study. NHLBI says your provider will ask about your symptoms, risk factors and family history, and will ask you to see a sleep specialist or go to a center for a sleep study. Sleep studies can show which type of sleep apnea you have and how serious it is. NHLBI also suggests a sleep diary to track how long and how well you sleep and how sleepy you feel in the day.

Our guides to the home sleep apnea test and what happens at a sleep study explain both routes.

When should you see a doctor?

See a doctor if your snoring comes with breathing that stops and starts, or with gasping for air. NHLBI lists those, along with frequent loud snoring, as sleep apnea symptoms you may only learn about when someone tells you. It also lists daytime sleepiness and tiredness, dry mouth, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, sexual problems and waking often at night to urinate. Our list of sleep apnea warning signs has more detail.

See a doctor too if your nose is blocked most nights, since a strip can't reach the cause of a long-term blockage. If you're pregnant and snoring or struggling to breathe at night, ask your clinician before trying anything new. And if you already have sleep apnea, don't swap or skip your prescribed treatment for strips. Talk to your sleep doctor about anything that makes treatment hard to stick with.

This article is general information, not medical advice.

Read next

• Nasal strips vs CPAP: can nasal strips help sleep apnea?
• The nasal strip studies worth knowing
• Snoring vs sleep apnea: how to tell the difference

* 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.