'I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve been taping my mouth shut. These are 4 ways it’s helped me.'

We're breathing wrong, apparently. At least, that's what the wellness space is saying.

"Apparently we're breathing too much a minute," said Jessie Stephens on Mamamia's Out Loud podcast.

"Someone told me once that you are meant to breathe 12 times a minute. I reckon I'm breathing 42 times a minute.

"We've evolved. And it's to do with the fact that we eat softer foods, and a bunch of other things, where our jaws are just wired differently, and our airways have gotten smaller.

"Ancient civilisations knew the importance of breathing for stress, for relaxation, for all of the things. We've lost the art, so we need to be retrained in breathing."

Enter, mouth taping. It's the latest trend in wellness. People everywhere, including Goop founder Gwenyth Paltrow, swear by it.

You simply tape your mouth shut overnight to transfer your breathing to your nose. Come morning, they say, you will have had your most restful sleep yet.

Watch: Dr Golly solves a sleep dilemma. Post continues after video.

But, does mouth taping actually work?

When Sally Obermeder first read about mouth taping, she was sceptical. But the 52-year-old decided to give it a go.

"I never thought I'd say this… but taping my mouth shut has made me feel amazing," she wrote on Instagram.

Speaking to Mamamia, Sally added that she will "generally try anything in wellness".

"I always tend to try stuff and see what the hype is and if there's anything to it," she told us. "I also read a lot of stuff saying how great it is and how you wake up better. And anything to wake up better, I'm always interested in trying."

The co-founder of wellness brand SWIISH was also curious to hop on the trend as she "pants a lot at night", which leaves her with a dry mouth.

"I know that I'm a mouth breather, and I also grind my teeth, so I wear a mouth guard. I thought if mouth taping is going to help that, I'm just gonna give it a go," she said.

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from it, which is why I was so surprised when it was so good."

The first time she tried it, with nasal strips on her nose, Sally confessed it felt a bit "weird".

"It's a little odd, but I fell asleep really easily. I was like, 'Oh wow, it wasn't actually as difficult as I thought it might be'," she said.

While some suggest that mouth taping could lead to difficulty breathing, this hasn't been the case for the Real Housewifes of Sydney star.

"It's not that you can't breathe, if anything, you're actually breathing through your nose, and so that tends to slow your breathing down," she said.

While it took a few nights for all the benefits to materialise, Sally noticed she instantly "felt calmer" the first morning after trying it.

"My nervous system just benefited from it," she said. After a few more nights, the wellness guru noticed that her jaw tension had eased.

"As somebody who grinds at night, I use a heated jaw pad. Sometimes I wear a mouth-guard because I grind and clench a lot," she explained.

"What I really noticed was that I just had way less jaw tension. I don't know why. Maybe it was because I was breathing slower. And I definitely noticed no dry mouth."

Listen to the full episode of Mamamia Out Loud below. Post continues afterwards.

Interestingly, Sally realised that her dreams became more vivid when she donned the tape.

"I didn't really know why that would be, so I did the research and, it turns out, the better your REM sleep, then you have more vivid dreams. So that was really interesting," Sally said.

As a self-confessed yapper, Sally also found the silence before bed surprisingly beneficial.

"I ended up having kind of 10 to 15 to 20 minutes before bed where I wasn't speaking. The quiet was very, also very calming," she said.

And that calmness extends into her mornings.

"I did notice, even just immediately the next morning, I felt like I woke up a little better," she said.

With all of her doubts gone, Sally said she would 100 per cent be staying on the mouth taping train.

"I'm doing it basically almost every night; I'm about to go to London and I'm gonna take it on the plane," she said.

For anyone hesitant to try mouth taping, Sally suggested "the idea of it sounds worse than it is".

"I do recommend that people put a little bit of a lip mask on beforehand, because I do think the tape is drying," she said.

So, what do the experts say?

While mouth taping has been beneficial for Sally, it's important to note that it's not a one-size-fits-all solution, as explained by sleep specialist Dr Linda Schachter from the Sleep Health Foundation.

"The way our upper airway is set up is that we breathe through our noses, if we can," Dr Schachter explained to Mamamia.

"So, when we sleep, the fact that people are opening their mouths is usually because they're not getting enough air in through their nose. That may be due to nasal problems such as nasal congestion, hay-fever, allergies, etc, or it may be due to sleep apnea and things like that."

The doctor goes on to say that mouth taping, in some cases, "may actually improve some of the symptoms" by transferring the breathing to the nose. However, if we force ourselves to breathe through a nose that is "partially or completely obstructed", there is the risk of making matters worse.

"So, should you take your mouth, realistically? What I say to people is, ideally, if you have a nose problem, you should try and deal with the nose problem so you can breathe better through your nose," she said.

As a precaution, Dr Schachter suggests trying mouth taping while you're awake before committing to it overnight.

"If you can't breathe through your nose when you're lying down awake, then you should never tape your nose overnight. So try it when you're awake. If it doesn't feel comfortable, you shouldn't be forcing yourself to do it," she said.

"And if someone continues to wake (up) tired, it is probably important for them to see their doctor and discuss it with them."

Sally agrees that mouth taping isn't a universal trend.

"It's obviously not for anybody who feels claustrophobic about having their mouth taped," she said. "It's not uncomfortable, but if you are uncomfortable at any time, just take it off."

Feature Image: Instagram/@sallyobermeder

Always consult a medical professional for any health concerns.