DIY Sleep Apnea Fix Update: What We’ve Learned
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN people mention it as where they first heard of mouth taping and DIY CPAP-style fixes for sleep apnea.
What it is
Essential Craftsman follows up on his earlier video about a DIY approach to sleep apnea. It centers on forcing nose breathing during sleep with mouth taping and nasal strips, and says to seek medical guidance.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2023 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends ghostbrainalpha · 2023-01 · on “Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety”
You can actually cut a little slit in the mouth tape, so that you won't panic. Breathing a straw sized amount of air through the mouth if you need to, will prevent suffocation anxiety, but also limit your mouth breathing enough that your nose does most of the work. Watch this guys two videos on a DIY CPAP. [this video]
Cites Ralo · 2023-02 · on “Poor Sleep Drove Me Insane, and My Long Path to Recovery”
I started getting sleep issues during the beginning of university and during a bodybuilding phase but I treated it as "that's what life is, you don't sleep. Welcome to adulthood." after growing up with an over weight and extreme snorer father who was very much on the stance of "shut up and be tired, that's what life is" By this point I was already getting to where it clearly wasn't normal and it's extremely affecting my life but I was so weak and exhausted that daily chores felt like I was carrying 20lbs weights on my arms. After years of broken sleep, it completely shipwrecked my schooling and gym routines. This lasted 3-4 years I thought it was backpain ruining my sleep, since I would wake
Cites linsomniac · 2023-09 · on “Mouth Taping”
Essential Craftsman on Youtube is where I first heard about mouth taping, he just uses a "GrifGrips Sports Tape", which I was interested to try until I realized it's not really compatible with my beard... I sleep only "ok", been trying a lot of things to improve it. I have borderline apnea (5.2 events per hour, they start treating at 5), and my Garmin watch puts my SpO2 average around 90, which is maybe a little low for sleeping, but my doctor isn't worried about that. I was hoping the tape would up my "sleep score" a little, but again I haven't tried it. Essential Craftsman did say he tried the nasal strips and they increased his SpO2 a couple percent. I've tried them over the last week and
Cites linsomniac · 2025-05 · on “Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial”
Has anyone tried the "hostage tape" or similar to force breathing through your nose like Essential Craftsman discussed in his series of videos [this video]