I was originally looking at ways to stop mouth breathing because winter time was coming and that is the worst time to be a mouth breather because of breathing cold air and i was just sick and tired(literally) of waking up with dry mouth and headaches every single morning. I was aware that mouth breathing was bad for me but i didnt realize how bad until i started researching about 2 years ago(im 22 right now). I first researched how to nose breathe because i couldnt breathe through my nose at all when starting my journey. I read a lot about allergies/nasal sprays/inflammatory foods, so during that time i started to use a nasal saline spray to deconjest and i went vegan(still am) because of the anti inflammatory aspects of it. i was starting to breathe through my nose during the day really well, but noticed that if i ate certain foods, particularly gluten containing products and foods with high amounts of added sugar, i could literally feel the insulin spikes i would get after a meal and my nose would congest soon after. at this point about a few months into nose breathing i could still not breathe thru the nose subconsciously during sleep. So i was determined and motivated by the success i already had and delved into more resesrch. I first came across myofunctional therapy and it completely blew my mind. I had all of the side effects of mouth breathing but i had no idea that they were linked. Forward head posture, no cheekbones, long nose, narrow palate, and i had thought i just got these traits from my parents because they have them too. At this time i became super angry because i realized that i could have developed properly as a child if only my parents or i knew about this early on. I honestly felt betrayed by society at first, and ive learned that self knowledge and research is the most important skill to develop to help your own health. i kept researching and noticed that nose breathing wasnt all there was to it, i also needed to place my tounge on the roof of my mouth? I had not been doing this during my time nose breathing so far. Initially it was very uncomfortable for me and i was doubting its truth so i started to ask some of my nose breathing friends and they confirmed that the tongue belonged on the roof of the mouth. in the next few days i did more research and stumbled upon the gold mine of Dr. Mews youtube channel. I say its gold mine because mew had the first cases of people who he was restoring back to normal functioning humans that i had seen. He has given me so much hope as to having a better life, but i still have a little doubt because i started so late at 21ish years old. I have been mewing for 10 months now and have been changing things here and there based on anecdotes from this forum and more i read online. I have done a poor job documenting my progress but am going to start(not sure if ill post though). My intermolar width is 40mm and im pretty sure that is not what i started with, although i cant say with certainty because i didnt take measurments early on(dope!). i have also noticed the most change in my lips and increased strenght of my masseters. I cant say that ive seen a substantle movement of my maxilla either up or forward but i havnt really compared past pictures yet. I dabbled in falim gum chewing for a few weeks but i had seen very beautiful people with very large masseters who dont chew gum everyday for 3 hours so i didnt think it would help much. I had a feeling that everything was in the posture, a feeling which i still have. i still am unable to breathe through the nose when sleeping but i have been taping my mouth every night for 10 months with micropore tape. I am so excited for the day that i can do it without the tape but im still working on the posture. since the post on hard mewing i read about a week ago i have started to mckenzie chin tuck. I can really tell the difference! It puts so much pressure on the maxilla especially the posterior third of the tongue. I also read the book, "shut your mouth" by george catlin( highly suggest as it pertains to this topic) and am now trying to sleep how the native americans do described in the book. It puts a lot of strain in the middle of my back, i think from unused muscles that are tight, and i will slowly strengthen them. So yeah this is where im at right now. I do hope this forum continues to grow and more and more people find success in this method because it has been a major inspiration. I will try to do my part and keep updating my progress from this point as well. thanks and that is my story for anybody interested.
I also read the book, "shut your mouth" by george catlin( highly suggest as it pertains to this topic) and am now trying to sleep how the native americans do described in the book. It puts a lot of strain in the middle of my back, i think from unused muscles that are tight, and i will slowly strengthen them.
Thanks for sharing your story @maxamillion! Can you elaborate on this sleeping posture you mentioned?
i've attached a picture taken from the book. The idea is to sleep on your back and have something placed under your head proping it up and forcing a mckenzie chin tuck. I suggest to buy the book as it is only about 5 dollars on amazon kindle store and about a 1-1.5 hour read.
i've attached a picture taken from the book. The idea is to sleep on your back and have something placed under your head proping it up and forcing a mckenzie chin tuck. I suggest to buy the book as it is only about 5 dollars on amazon kindle store and about a 1-1.5 hour read.
Thanks! I'll check it out. The same images are used in this Weston A. Price Foundation Article, which is also worth a read:
I think either no pillow or a very light cushion is best. A pillow mimics a sort of forward head posture while laying flat against the floor allows you to have very good head posture. I think you might be interested in reading this https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/notes-from-yesteryear/100-years-before-weston-price/
Title: 100 Years Before Weston Price
It talks about the practices of Native Americans in relation to their posture, how they sleep, nose/mouth breathing. etc. Very interesting.
I think there are far better options than curving your spine and neck like that just to prevent your mouth from opening during sleep. Why not wrap something like a sleeping mask around your face in a fashion where it keeps your jaw shut?
I did try that but i found myself waking up in the morning with it off. I was taking it off in my sleep
I think there are far better options than curving your spine and neck like that just to prevent your mouth from opening during sleep. Why not wrap something like a sleeping mask around your face in a fashion where it keeps your jaw shut?
These kinds of masks are not advised because they exert a backward force which could encourage retrusion over time. I think the position depicted in the diagram is exaggerated, but propping up the occiput, perhaps on the edge of a pillow, does seem to help maintain correct oral posture during sleep. @greensmoothies is a guru on this topic:
Something I've been doing lately is using a baby blanket that's knitted with baby yarn as a pillow. I think it's great because I can bunch it up in to any shape I like. I bunch it up on both sides of my head, and then create another bunch on the occipital bone to keep it raised up. It helps me keep my skull totally straight and thus my tongue straight and pressing on my palate throughout the night.
I can do it, but I need to be in a Mackenzie chin tuck. Back of the neck is tall and stretched, and sometimes I use the edge of a pillow, my pony tail and a hand to hold it all together and help with feeling comfortable. For me, all this makes it not a conscious mewing effort so much as positioning is doing the work. Since I wake up in this position (when I manage to fall asleep this way) and can feel the pressure that was on my skull, my belief is I was mewin' all night long.
It's probably one of the harder mewing-related things to do, at least seems that way to me. You'll still make progress without doing this but I believe it helps significantly to mew while sleeping. I've been mewing several years and didn't do any sleep mewing until I read about it a year ago, still progressed prior to starting this practice but it was just slower. Not doing sleep mewing shouldn't cause progress to revert, I'd think just certain medical events or ceasing to mew through the day would do that.
Btw look at infants and how they sleep (when supine). Chin is on the chest, arms may be up as well.
I started sleeping on my back without a pillow 1 month ago and is doing wonders for me, I seem to have gotten larger but I suppose is related to posture which has improved significantly. I have long hair, so when I nap in the afternoon I sleep on my back with a high ponytail, this makes my head tilt slightly downwards and makes pressure on the back of it, I mew hard until I fall sleep, maybe some of you can mimic the ponytail with a rolled small towel or something..
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