Dave Asprey discovered nasal breathing and mouth taping after reading about a Russian doctor's advice to breathe less. He saw dramatic improvements: better sleep, reduced snoring, and warmer hands. Patrick McKeown explains how mouth breathing affects sleep quality and sexual function, with 50% of adults waking with dry mouth.
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A state of high performance. Growing up, I had asthma. I had a stuffy nose. And if you have a stuffy nose, your sleep is really impacted. So I. Fatigue, poor concentration. And I was always kind of, you know, yeah, feeling that something was not quite right, but you're not quite putting your. Your hand on it, you know. So I came across a newspaper article in 97 and it spoke about the. The work of a Russian doctor. And he said two things. He said, breathe through your nose, and he said, breathe less air. Now, this was news to me because I'll give you an example. I was at a university in Dublin and I was going. I can remember going into an exam hall in my finals and I was quite anxious going in. This was back in 96, 1995. And I took a walk for three minutes before going into the exam hall and I took these full, big breaths because that's what I was led to believe was the best right thing to do. And I walked into the exam hall totally spaced out. And for me, it was entirely the wrong thing to do. So when I came across the importance of nose breathing, I started using the nose and blocking exercise. It worked, so I knew there was something in it. I started breathing less air and the temperature of my hands increased, so I knew there was something in it. And then I taped my mouth that night and I used read Right strips as well to keep my nose open the first morning. I don't remember much out of it the first morning. Was it good or bad? I don't know. But I kept sticking with nasal breathing during that day. And I taped my mouth closed again the second night and I woke up the second morning and it was the best night's sleep that I had in 15 years. Now, that is enough for me.
You. So you did that a long time ago. I've got to say you've had a meaningful impact on my marriage because it was after our first interview that was maybe episode 434 and 34, I think, and we're above 800, so this is a while ago, but I started taping my mouth and my marriage immediately improved. But I don't know if that was from breathing or just because I was talking less. Have you ever considered that?
Well, there's a relationship between, you know, I think with snoring and with sleep. 50% of the adult population wake up at a dry mouth in the morning. And if you wake up with a dry mouth, you are not waking up feeling refreshed. And there's another thing as well. For men. Men should wake up in an erection in the morning and if they don't, it's not a great sign and it's more likely to happen when they have lousy sleep. So I think it's something for the men to, to pay attention to and maybe the females as well.
I have been taping my mouth for a couple years now because of that interview and it really does improve sleep. It measurably reduces snoring. And my daughter has been taping her mouth for probably a year and a half. I got her the strips that are kind of flexible and after a while she said, no, I just like the normal tape. So every night when she goes to bed, she does it and it's made a noticeable difference. You wake up feeling better. So if a 13 year old will do it of her own accord, there's something to it. And you don't wake up with a bad tasting mouth. So that has been meaningful for me. And as someone who was called me a mouth breather, I had chronic sinusitis for 15 years. So how is this possible?
Well, it is possible.
So I really, truly have to thank you for that and for anyone listening. Yeah, it sounds weird. Tape your mouth at night. I don't know if Victoria's Secret makes mouth tape or not. It doesn't matter. You will really like how you feel in the morning, so it's worth it. And I wanted to just give you a shout out, say you're the guy who turned me onto that and you're the reason we sent out your tape in the Dave Asprey subscription box.
