Nasal breathing, and what to know about mouth taping
Why Huberman favors breathing through the nose, a daytime habit anyone can try, and the cautions you should read before you consider taping your mouth at night.
TimeDaytime practice is free and safe to try. Mouth taping is optional and not for everyone.
Safety first
- Do not tape your mouth if your nose is blocked or often congested, or if you have a deviated septum or nasal polyps. Forcing nose breathing in that case can cause distress.
- Never tape your mouth if you use CPAP for sleep apnea, and never use tape in place of a doctor. If you snore loudly, gasp or stop breathing at night, or wake unrefreshed, see a health professional.
- Never tape your mouth if you have been drinking alcohol or taking anything that makes you drowsy, or for children.
- The tape must come off easily, any time. Take it off if you feel anxious or find it hard to breathe.
- This is a wellness idea. It does not diagnose or treat anything, and the evidence for tape itself is thin.
Never do breath holds or fast breathing in or near water, or while driving. Stop if you feel dizzy.
How to do it
- Start in the day. On an easy walk or easy jog, keep your mouth closed and breathe only through your nose. Slow down until that feels comfortable.
- Do not push through hard efforts. Nose-only breathing is meant for easy exercise, not for sprints or heavy lifting.
- Notice your mouth when you are not exercising, at your desk, for example. Let your lips rest closed and breathe through your nose.
- Only if you have read the safety notes below and still want to try mouth taping: apply a small strip of gentle medical tape across the middle of your closed lips, lightly, so you can open your mouth at any moment. Take it off at once if you feel any distress.
Why the nose
Huberman points to a few things the nose does that the mouth does not. It warms the air on its way in, which is gentler on the lungs. It makes nitric oxide, a gas that helps relax and widen blood vessels. And it slows your breathing a little, which fits his point about carbon dioxide: see box breathing.
Make it a daytime habit first
His protocol has two parts. The first one is the one we like. During easy exercise, breathe only through your nose. The idea is that this builds nasal breathing as your default, so it feels natural when you are not thinking about it. There is a built-in limit: at harder intensities the nose cannot keep up, so slow down rather than force it.
What about mouth taping?
In his sleep toolkit episode, Huberman recommends putting a little medical tape over the lips at night as a way to train nose breathing during sleep. We include it because people ask about it, not because the Club advises it. He frames it as a training tool, not a medical treatment, and the evidence for tape on its own is not deep.
The cautions are real. Tape does nothing for a blocked nose, and it is not a substitute for care if you might have sleep apnea. If you decide to try it, read every safety note on this page first, keep the tape light, and stop if anything feels wrong.
You do not need tape to belong to the Club. Most people will get what they came for from the daytime habit and from the other three techniques.