Do Nasal Strips Work for Snoring? How to Test Strips and Dilators

At a glance

What are the three types, and what does the evidence say?

The one study that compared strips and dilators for snoring found they worked about the same [8].

Do nasal strips work for snoring?

Yes, when your nose is part of the problem. Most snoring comes from the soft palate, the soft back part of the roof of your mouth [12]. A strip widens the front of your nose, so it helps most when that’s where the narrow spot is.

Results vary with why people snore. One trial in people with long-term stuffy noses found a clear drop; studies of snorers in general found a small average change.

What did the snoring trials find?

Who nasal strips help, and who they won’t

The nose has to be part of the problem.

Nasal strips or mouth tape: which do you need?

Strips help when your nose is the narrow spot. Tape helps when your mouth falls open and your nose is clear. Three checks, done while you’re awake, point you to one or the other.

1. Breathe through your nose. Close your mouth and breathe through your nose for a minute or two. If that feels hard, your nose is part of the problem. The app’s Mouth Taping guide asks for the same check before you tape.
2. Pull your cheek. Gently pull the cheek beside your nose outward and breathe in. Clinicians use this to find a narrow nasal valve [13]. If breathing gets much easier, a strip is likely to help.
3. Try to snore with your mouth closed. Make a snoring sound with your mouth open, then try it with your mouth shut. If you can only snore with your mouth open, mouth breathing is part of it. This is a rough check of my own, not a diagnosis.

Which should you try first?

Your own nights give the final answer. Record 3 nights with strips and 3 without, and Snore Timeline compares them. If strips help but you still snore, keep them on and test tape next, as my mouth tape guide describes.

Are nasal strips safe?

Most people get mild side effects or none [14].

• Skin: redness, itching and an urge to sneeze [14]. Skip sores and sunburn, and wash with warm water before you peel it off [15].
• Latex: Breathe Right’s packaging contains latex [15]; with an allergy, buy latex-free [14].
• Internal dilators: irritation and poor fit made people quit [7]. One case report describes a dilator that slipped into the nose during sleep [17].
• Magnets: Intake’s homepage lists no pacemaker warning [16]. With an implant, I’d ask your cardiologist first; that’s my caution, and I found no published risk.

See a doctor instead if

• Your snoring comes with gasps, pauses someone has seen, or daytime sleepiness. A strip can quiet snoring and leave apnea in place.
• Your nose stays blocked on one side. The app’s Nasal Strips guide calls that worth an ENT visit.

How to test nasal strips on yourself

One night swings too much to judge, so compare several nights with strips against several without.

1. Check the red flags. If any apply, see a doctor instead.
2. Get the fit right first. Place the strip just above where your nostrils flare, below the hard bone, on clean, dry skin [15].
3. Record 5 to 7 nights without strips. Phone 1 to 2 feet from your head, plugged in.
4. Tag what else happened. Mark Congestion, Cold/Flu, Alcohol or Slept on Back when they apply.
5. Wear strips for 7 to 14 nights. Each morning, open the night’s summary, tap Tag Sleep Factors and pick Nasal Strips.
6. Tag the nights the strip stayed on. If it peeled off at 2 a.m., leave the tag off. Skip Repeat nightly.
7. Change nothing else. No new spray, tape or pillow; the app’s Allergies guide says a steroid spray can take two weeks to work.

The app needs 5 recorded nights, at least 3 tagged and 3 untagged, within 8 weeks. Its Nasal Strips guide suggests 1 to 2 weeks of nightly use and counts toward a 7-night trial. The baseline week is my suggestion; alternating nights also works. The remedy testing guide covers the screens.

Testing an internal dilator or magnetic strip

1. Sort out the size first. Those nights don’t count.
2. Create a custom factor under Health, such as Nasal Dilator. The app has no built-in one. Magnetic strips get their own.
3. Run it as its own block, on nights without an adhesive strip.
4. Give it 7 tagged nights. Custom factors have no trial length, so I mirror the strip’s.

What to compare

The What Affected Your Sleep card in the Weekly Summary gives Nasal Strips a verdict. Tap the row for each metric.

• Events per Hour first. In the positive trial, the strip changed how often people snored; loudness stayed the same [3].
• Snore Time, then Peak Volume in dB if loudness wakes your partner.
• Disruptions. Quieter nights with the same breathing disruptions still belong in front of a doctor.
• Breathing rate and HRV appear when a watch or ring writes to Apple Health. Treat a change as a hint.

Then play a few strip-night episodes on the timeline. “No clear effect” is the result most trials found, and it counts as an answer.

Nasal strips not working? Check these

• It sits too high. On the bony bridge it can’t lift the nostrils.
• Wrong size. Breathe Right makes two sizes [15]. The app’s guide says try another size or an internal dilator.
• Oily skin. Wash and dry your nose before bed, and skip lotion there.
• Congested nights. Swelling sits further back than a strip reaches [9]. Tag Congestion and ask a pharmacist about the swelling.
• Throat snoring. Snoring with a clear nose and closed mouth starts further back. Side sleeping or a mouthpiece aims there.

Which apps can compare strip and no-strip nights?

Snore Timeline does it with no subscription, no trial, nothing locked. SnoreLab’s Snore Score is built to measure remedies, but its free version can’t run 2 days in a row after 5 sessions [18].

For a full feature comparison, see Snore Timeline vs SnoreLab.

Frequently asked questions