Can people can breathe through their mouth during sleep?

[LaraKnowles]

There was a man named Mark Gleeson who had snoring problems caused by a nose injury. He put tampons up his nostrils to try and cure his snoring, and went to bed. He suffocated in his sleep. The coroner, Michael Burgess, said the tampons contributed to him suffocating.

If you believe that humans can breathe through their mouth during sleep, then why do you think the coroner said the tampons in his nostrils contributed to him suffocating during sleep?

He went to bed after the tampons were put up his nose, so he would've been breathing through his mouth as he drifted off to sleep.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

For some additional context, here is the story
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12117183.man-dies-in-bid-to-stop-his-snoring/

 

[BillTre]

why do you think the coroner said the tampons in his nostrils contributed to him suffocating during sleep?

Not everyone is equally able to breath through their month while asleep.
Medical issues could contribute to this happening.
Clearly some can do this.
Its not much different from doing it when awake.

 

[Mendrys]

It's too bad that the article barely mentions that he also drank alcohol while taking sleeping pills as well as using tampons to block his nasal passages. That is something that should always be avoided and probably contributed just as much to his death as their desperate plan to treat his untreated medical condition.

 

[Vanadium 50]

he also drank alcohol while taking sleeping pills a

And what could possibly go wrong with that?

 

[LaraKnowles]

Turns out that scientists and doctors have proven that the Mark Gleeson story has been made up. Humans breathe through their mouths if they can't breathe through their nose. Nobody's died from a blocked nose. There's not a single case of it reported on NIH or in medical journals.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9498581/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9498537/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4593528/

https://www.kaplansinusrelief.com/blog/stuffy-nose-cant-breathe/

https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/mouth-breathing

 

[fresh_42]

Seems we equipped this subject with a lot of references. The reflex to breathe is one of our strongest and most difficult to shut down.

This thread will be closed with my personal comment:
Do not experiment with breathing!