What Sleep Hacks Actually Work?

Dr. Sujay Kansagra spends enough time on social media to have opinions about even the most obscure sleep hacks. Often, said Dr. Kangsagra, who is a sleep physician at Duke Health, they aren’t backed by strong scientific evidence.

This is especially true for trends or techniques that promise instant results, he said. If you see a video claiming that listening to soothing tapping sounds or pressing trigger points on your wrist, for example, can help you fall asleep in seconds, it’s probably not true. Still, there are some sleep strategies that do draw from legitimate science, Dr. Kansagra said.

We asked him, and four other sleep experts, if some of the sleep hacks we’ve seen on social media can really help you fall and stay asleep. Here’s what they said to try, and what to skip.

1. Pass on the mouth tape.

Some on social media claim that mouth taping, which involves sealing your lips shut with a piece of skin-friendly adhesive, can prevent snoring and improve sleep by forcing you to breathe through your nose.

While it’s true that breathing through your nose can help reduce snoring, there’s no strong evidence that mouth taping improves sleep quality, said Dr. Akinbolaji Akingbola, a sleep medicine physician at the University of Minnesota.

Regular snoring can be a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, a condition marked by potentially dangerous pauses in breathing during sleep. If you use mouth tape to stymie snores instead of seeing a doctor, you might miss the chance of diagnosing a real medical condition and receiving proper treatment, Dr. Kansagra said.

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