Medical Can people can breathe through their mouth during sleep?

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Mark Gleeson, who suffered from snoring due to a nose injury, attempted to alleviate his condition by inserting tampons into his nostrils, which ultimately led to his suffocation during sleep. Coroner Michael Burgess indicated that the tampons contributed to his death, raising questions about the ability to breathe through the mouth while sleeping. Some participants in the discussion noted that not everyone can effectively breathe through their mouth during sleep due to various medical issues. Additionally, it was highlighted that Gleeson consumed alcohol and took sleeping pills, which likely exacerbated the situation. However, some contributors disputed the validity of the incident, claiming that no documented cases exist of suffocation due to nasal blockage, emphasizing that humans typically breathe through their mouths if nasal breathing is obstructed. The thread concluded with a caution against experimenting with breathing methods.
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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.
 
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LaraKnowles said:
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.
 
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.
 
Mendrys said:
he also drank alcohol while taking sleeping pills a
And what could possibly go wrong with that?
 
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
 
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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!
 
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