Mouth-taping: The latest ‘wellness hack’ inhaling social-media airtime

SPOTLIGHT / Tape measures

There’s no end of wacky “wellness” hacks on social media, too often touted by “mom coaches” with as much medical training as my labrador. Some, like mewing – holding your tongue against the roof of your mouth for prolonged periods to improve your jawline – are harmless. Others, like dry-scooping – consuming your pre-workout protein powder sans water – are potentially dangerous. But what about mouth-taping, placing non-toxic tape over your mouth prior to sleep to promote nose-breathing? Proponents say it helps with everything from cavities and bad breath to snoring and sleep apnoea.

The first thing to note is that breathing through our noses is optimal, according to Dr Linda Schachter, a respiratory and sleep physician. “It promotes humidification and warming of air and filtration of allergens.”

So breathing through our noses, rather than our mouths, while we sleep is good for us – and one of the reasons mouth-taping is supposedly beneficial for those with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), who are mouth-breathers. But, warns Schachter, “The danger with mouth-taping is potentially making you breathe through a partially or completely obstructed nose; you may not be getting enough air.”

While some studies indicate that the practice benefits those with mild OSA, Schachter, and most medicos, remain unconvinced. “It may potentially exacerbate sleep apnoea severity or asthma,” she says. “It may also trigger anxiety or claustrophobia.”

Still keen to try it? First, lie down and check that you can breathe through your nose easily, using medical-grade tape that’s simple to remove. Deborah Cooke

READ / Short and sweet

I only wish I could read Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell again for the first time! The American Wife, Rodham and Romantic Comedy author’s short-story collection ($35) is characteristically smart, funny and tender. Each is a bite-sized delight, but themes of celebrity, friendship and romantic relationships ripple through the stories. The genius of Sittenfeld’s characters is that they resist being put in a box. They’re gloriously complex – flawed, unpredictable, sometimes unknowable. There’s something enormously comforting in the way her stories allow space for the complexity of human emotions and relationships. The final story – more a novella – is a sequel to Sittenfeld’s 2005 boarding-school novel, Prep. It’s no easy feat to revisit the debut that made you a bestselling author, but Sittenfeld does it masterfully. Melanie Kembrey

LISTEN / All in your mind

They were all upper-class, creative English women in their early 20s. And they were all clients of a self-styled personal development coach, Anne Craig. As we find out in an emotional roller-coaster of a podcast, Dangerous Memories, Craig’s methods were unorthodox, to say the least. She allegedly planted false childhood memories, convincing them that they’d been sexually abused by family members and that this was the root of their problems. The result? Many cut off contact with family and became totally reliant on Craig for years. Although charges against Craig were dropped, many of these women lost years of their lives. This podcast raises questions about how someone might take control of another person’s mind and alter their entire personal narrative. Barry Divola

WEAR / Connect four

The humble grey cardigan – that staple of the Coastal Grandma trend, thanks to countless Diane Keaton movies – has received a youthful twist with some asymmetric button action that demands a second look (Bassike “Crossover” cardigan, $360). Layer over a T-shirt – or not; just as you like. It’s cashmere, after all. Damien Woolnough

SEE / Live chat

Benjamin Law is not only fabulous at Good Weekend’s weekly back-page interview, Dicey Topics, he’s also an accomplished live interviewer. The two merge at this year’s Newcastle Writers Festival, where Law will bring Dicey Topics to life via an interview with one of GW’s favourite 2024 cover stars, Gina Chick (pictured), writer and winner of the first series of SBS’s Alone Australia. Dicey Topics with Gina Chick and Benjamin Law will open the festival on Friday, April 4 (newcastlewritersfestival.org.au; 7.30pm, tickets $50). More immediately, Chick will also take to the stage at Adelaide Writers’ Week on March 1, where she will be in conversation with David Leser, the writer who penned that 2024 cover story.

DREAM / London calling

Is there anything more glamorous than an old travel route remastered for 21st-century enjoyment? The latest has us coming over all windswept and Amelia Earhart in anticipation. Next year, Aussie company Captain’s Choice will launch an experience that pays homage to Qantas’s first flight path from Sydney to London, its 1947 Kangaroo Route, which took four days and seven “hops”. The modern-day, two-week round trip ($49,950 pp), aboard a privately chartered Qantas A330-300, follows an almost identical route, departing Sydney on February 3, 2026, and stopping in Darwin, Singapore, Kolkata, Colombo, Cairo, Rome, Toulouse and, finally, London.

This time around, passengers will be treated to a once-in-a-lifetime experience in each destination: dinner at the Sri Lankan PM’s residence in Colombo; a private, guided tour of the newly inaugurated Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo; a hands-on cooking class in Rome. Someone call a doctor: our wanderlust just went through the roof. Sharon Bradley

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