'Mouth tape' is the wellness practice of taping one's mouth shut at night to encourage nasal breathing during sleep, claimed by proponents to improve sleep quality, jawline definition, and reduce snoring. Some sleep doctors caution that it can be dangerous for people with undiagnosed sleep apnoea. If your teen wants to try mouth tape, encourage them to check with a doctor first. The trend is hugely popular on TikTok.
mouth tape
A small strip of tape across the lips at bedtime, meant to force nasal breathing overnight.
maʊθ teɪpCoined ~20202020sGen AlphatrendingFading174 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026＋ Add a definition
Etymology timeline
Born ~2020 · 2 years of recorded useSeen in the wild
Firecrawl: The Best Mouth Tape (2026) - WIREDAug 2025
However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https://www.wired.com/about/affiliate-link-policy/) I can’t tell you where I first saw mouth tape.
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Firecrawl: 'Just tape your mouth shut!' Can I unlearn the breathing habits of a ...Sep 2022
I stayed at a number of houses this week, bringing my wretched mouth tape with me. “It’s disgusting,” said my brother as I was leaving the next day. “I bet I find heaps of tape with slobber all over it under the bed.”…
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Firecrawl: The surprising power of breathing through your nose - BBC
But across the internet, health and wellness influencers are raving about a controversial remedy for this problem: mouth tape.
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Definitions
Global
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#1·Apr 24, 2026Global
A small strip of tape across the lips at bedtime, meant to force nasal breathing overnight. Claims: better sleep, less snoring, stronger jawline over years. Evidence: mixed. Adoption: shocking. Your cousin definitely has a drawer full.
Origin: Wellness / productivity TikTok vocabulary, 2020–2025.
For parents
'Mouth tape' is the wellness practice of taping one's mouth shut at night to encourage nasal breathing during sleep, claimed by proponents to improve sleep quality, jawline definition, and reduce snoring. Some sleep doctors caution that it can be dangerous for people with undiagnosed sleep apnoea. If your teen wants to try mouth tape, encourage them to check with a doctor first. The trend is hugely popular on TikTok.
For ESL learners
'Mouth tape' refers to the wellness practice of applying a hypoallergenic adhesive strip across the lips during sleep to enforce nasal breathing, claimed to improve sleep quality, reduce snoring and enhance jawline development. Proponents include the breathwork community; sleep-medicine specialists caution it can be hazardous for people with undiagnosed sleep apnoea. Register: informal in wellness journalism; semi-formal in medical contexts. In formal writing introduce with gloss and note the medical debate. A common learner mistake is to assume it is medically endorsed; current evidence is mixed.
Cluster: surprising
Heard in the wild
“However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https://www.wired.com/about/affiliate-link-policy/) I can’t tell you where I first saw mouth tape.”
— Firecrawl: The Best Mouth Tape (2026) - WIRED· Aug 2025“I stayed at a number of houses this week, bringing my wretched mouth tape with me. “It’s disgusting,” said my brother as I was leaving the next day. “I bet I find heaps of tape with slobber all over it under the bed.” It was true.”
“But across the internet, health and wellness influencers are raving about a controversial remedy for this problem: mouth tape.”
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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Related terms
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Semantically related
- 56%
Pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth, allegedly to sharpen the jawline. Became a meme after TikTokers mimed the "finger-to-lips" silence gesture to avoid answering questions.
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(British, Australia) adhesive tape.
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The aesthetic of removing multiple overnight beauty products — chin strap, mouth tape, face mask, silk bonnet — revealing the final morning face underneath.
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The deliberate, hyper-focused state of maintaining perfect tongue-to-palate contact at all times — eating, sleeping, scrolling TikTok, enduring awkward family dinners. When someone is in mewing mode they become suspiciously quiet, jaw set, tongue pressed firm, radiating the silent intensity of someone who genuinely believes their face is being restructured in real time. Side effects include talking less, eating slower, and growing insufferable at the dinner table.
- 54%
Tape with an adhesive film on one side, used to attach materials to something.