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Comment by MichaelRo | Hacker News Reader

What the?! Who's sleeping with their mouth open?

I specifically hate going to sleep with my mouth open, which only happens when I have a cold or something and my nose is stuffed, which means I HAVE to breathe through the mouth. Which is fine at first but my throat will dry very fast and starts to hurt. During the day I can moisturize it by drinking liquids but at night it's horror time if I can't close my mouth and divert respiration through where God intended: the nose.

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some of us have very "stuffy noses". I frequently get blocked nasal passages, and only by religiously using a steroidal nasal spray can I breath through my nose. I've had to travel to another city just to get my nasal spray on two occasions, when there is literally zero stock in my city (just prior to hay fever season), so access to this is not a given.

Obviously yes, mouth breathing sucks for a variety of reasons, but if you can't breath through your nose it is significantly preferable to the alternative.

It's a self reinforcing cycle, the more you breath through your mouth the harder it is to go back to normal breathing.

It's like saying being fat makes it hard to exercise so you don't exercise, which makes you more prone to stay fat, which makes it harder to exercise, &c.

I highly recommend https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/breath-james-nestor/1134986...

It's unlikely you wouldn't have noticed this if it were the case but my nose tends to block too by some reason if I lay on my back. What I observed though is that if I lay on a side, there's some mysterious movement about where the sinuses are and one nostril gets unblocked, I think the one facing up (not touching the pillow). If I switch sides, the blocked and unblocked nostrils switch places. So oftentimes I breathe though just one nostril but still beats breathing through the mouth.

Not a medicine doctor, but your overuse of steroidal nasal spray is the probable cause of your stuffy nose.

That is entirely dependent on the type of steroidal nosespray. There are types that don't cause dependence or stuffy nose when not used.

Probably not. Steroid sprays are not the same as the OTC nasal congestion sprays that often lead to stuffy nose as soon as you stop taking them.

"Stuffy nose" tends to go away too once you start breathing through it all the time. This, of course, doesn't apply if you have allergies or are sick with a cold or something - those are legit reasons to have a "stuffy nose".

No, not true. I exclusively breathe through my nose all day (unless panting from a workout). The moment I lay down, something changes and my nose stuffs up. This has only gotten worse over time. If I were to, say, tape my mouth shut, I would absolutely suffocate in short order.

You might want to really clean your bed (pillow, sheets etc) and surroundings from potential allergens like dust mites, mold, pollen etc. Ideally with one of these mattress vacuum cleaners. Window sills (even outside, if the window doesn’t seal hermetically) might leak mold spores or other particles into your bedroom. A really good air filter next to the bed might also help.

>>"something changes" When you lay down, blood shifts to your head which can cause your nasal passages to become engorged with blood, causing a stuffy sensation.

>What the?! Who's sleeping with their mouth open?

People with apnea. Ever heard people snoring? Think they do it because they like the sound?

>I specifically hate going to sleep with my mouth open

Which is irrelevent, as once asleep you don't control it. And if you have sleep apnea issues, you can't just will it.

I assume you are not aware of it, because of being asleep. Maybe it happens in deeper sleep?

Could be but I'm only talking of what I can consciously control. I do know I snore if I sleep on my back, that's probably sleeping with the mouth open.

The tongue and jaw muscles slack and relax when you fall asleep, like much of the rest of your body. For many, this causes apnea and heavy snoring.

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