If you’ve been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, you’re probably very familiar with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices. CPAP devices use air pressure to keep your airway from collapsing while you sleep, in turn preventing apneas from occurring. When starting out with CPAP therapy, doctors and other users may recommend the use of a chin strap to help boost the effectiveness of your therapy. But what exactly is a CPAP chin strap? How does it work? And will it actually make a significant difference? We’ll explore all three of these topics in this article.
What exactly is a CPAP chin strap?
A CPAP chin strap is a piece of headgear that tucks under the chin and then wraps around the top and back of the head. Its purpose is to hold the jaw closed throughout the night in order to prevent mouth breathing and mouth leaks. Why prevent mouth breathing and mouth leaks?
Well, although it may not seem like a big deal, mouth breathing while sleeping can be harmful to your health, leading to open mouth snoring and a variety of short and long-term health issues. Whether you’re a CPAP user or not, you should do everything you can to avoid mouth breathing at night. In addition, for CPAP users specifically, preventing mouth leaks is paramount to achieving high CPAP Compliance and effective CPAP therapy. When air leaks through open lips, the pressure within the CPAP system drops significantly, rendering the machine ineffective. This allows apneas to happen and often wakes the user - and the user’s partner - with a loud popping sound.
How do CPAP chin straps work?
CPAP chin straps aim to prevent mouth breathing by keeping the jaw closed throughout the night. The bottom half of the jaw is held up by elastic material that is secured around the top of the head. The logic is that if the chin strap can keep your jaw closed throughout the night, then this makes mouth breathing impossible, while also inhibiting mouth leaks. But how well does that actually work in practice? We’ll dive into this shortly.
Don’t mouth breathe...nose breathe!
As mentioned, the purpose of a chin strap is to prevent mouth breathing at night. This will help eliminate mouth snoring, boost the effectiveness of your CPAP therapy, prevent dry mouth, and avoid other mouth breathing related issues. On top of this, you’ll also benefit from the many advantages of nose breathing. Among other things, nose breathing has been shown to:
- Supporting superior oral health
- Activation of the parasympathetic response leading to more restorative & relaxing sleep
- Improved cognitive and physical function
- Prevention of morning dry mouth, and
- Protection of the lungs and airways
Clearly, nose breathing is far superior to mouth breathing. For this reason, we should make a conscious effort to eliminate mouth breathing during sleep.
Are CPAP chin straps actually effective?
If you struggle with snoring or mouth breathing while you sleep, then you could be a candidate for a CPAP chin strap. That said, chin straps are not 100% effective. Not anywhere near it, in fact.
By keeping the jaw closed, CPAP chin straps can be effective in preventing mouth breathing and eliminating mouth snoring. However, chin straps do very little to secure your lips. This means that air can still leak in and out through your lips, dropping the pressure within the CPAP system and rendering it ineffective. In addition, many people find CPAP chin straps to be cumbersome, hot, itchy, and uncomfortable. Some people even find that they induce claustrophobic feelings. As a result, it can be incredibly difficult to fall asleep while wearing a chin strap. Thankfully, there’s a superior solution to stopping mouth breathing and mouth leaks in their tracks.
There’s a better CPAP solution for mouth leaks
So how can you eliminate mouth leaks, without compromising your comfort or sleep quality? SomniFix Strips are the answer! SomniFix Strips use a gentle, skin-safe adhesive to keep your lips sealed while you sleep. This inhibits mouth breathing and mouth leaks, without causing any of the discomfort, itchiness, or claustrophobia caused by CPAP chin straps. This leads to numerous benefits, including unrivaled CPAP Compliance, all-night comfort, and no more mouth breathing.
Unrivaled CPAP Compliance
By eliminating mouth leaks, SomniFix Strips help you eliminate the number one enemy of CPAP Compliance: mouth leaks. This will help you easily achieve the minimum CPAP Compliance level required for medical insurance coverage. Plus, it will help you get more hours of highly effective CPAP therapy, resulting in higher energy levels during the day and better overall health.
All-night Comfort
Don’t put up with cumbersome, irritating, uncomfortable chin straps. Instead, rely on SomniFix Strips...the adhesive is so gentle, you won’t even know it’s there! Plus, by preventing mouth leaks you’ll wake up fewer times in the night, eliminating sleep fragmentation and increasing the quality of your rest.
No More Mouth Breathing
On top of all this, you’ll protect yourself from the many health issues related to mouth breathing. Instead, take advantage of the many benefits of nose breathing that will lead to more restorative sleep, lower blood pressure, and better overall health!
SomniFix + CPAP: The sleep apnea power couple
Finally, it’s possible to get a great night’s sleep with a CPAP device. Use a SomniFix Strip in combination with a nasal mask or nasal pillow to level up your sleep. Tens of thousands of CPAP users have made the switch already. Many of them now get better sleep than they ever have!
If you are currently using a CPAP chin strap, try introducing SomniFix into your nightly routine. Use the chin strap simultaneously with your CPAP device and a SomniFix Strip. In all likelihood, you’ll reduce the number of times you wake up throughout the night, be done with morning dry mouth, and boost your CPAP Compliance Score.
From there, see if you can ditch the chin strap. Try sleeping with just SomniFix and your CPAP device. If this works for you, kick that chin strap to the curb and experience more restful, relaxing nights, without the added discomfort of a chin strap.
We’re confident that SomniFix will drastically improve your sleeping experience with a CPAP device. But we understand you may be skeptical. Thankfully, we’re offering a risk-free 7-night offer. If you don’t love your sleep after a week of using SomniFix with your CPAP device, we’ll refund your order. No questions asked. Click here to learn more about SomniFix for CPAP Users and how you can (finally) get a great night’s sleep.
