Are you a teeth grinder or jaw clencher? Try these natural solutions.

For the last year or so, whenever I get stressed I have been waking up with a sore jaw from clenching during the night.

I first heard about this tactic from my nutritional therapy friends for mouth breathing, and I wondered if it would work for my jaw clenching. And I can now say it has definitely improved my sleep quality over the past couple of weeks (the Fitbit tells all) and I haven’t woken up with an achey jaw since.

What I’m talking about here is taping your mouth shut at night.

While it might just work wonders for your grinding and clenching, it’s also a surefire way to surprise (that's a serious understatement) your significant other, family members and housemates.

Besides the fact that taping your mouth may stop you from waking up with an achey jaw or damaging your teeth from grinding, there are a few other benefits to nasal breathing.

When you breathe through your nose, the cilia and mucus in the nasal passage removes dust and pathogens from the air, and warms and humidifies it for easier breathing. Mouth breathing is said to be less effective at cleaning the air, along with potentially affecting oral health.

So, how do you do it?

Using Micropore (which you can easily find at your local chemist), tape your mouth comfortably closed right before you go to sleep.

You might have to try a few times before you can relax enough to go to sleep. Once you have made it through the a full night’s sleep a few times, you will be able to see whether this is working for you.

While this may resolve the problem, remember to address the root cause!

Grinding and clenching may be occurring as a result of a mineral deficiency. Stress, which can include anything from the daily commute to heavy exercise, depletes the body’s mineral stores.

Make sure you regularly consume plenty of mineral-rich foods like good quality salt and bone broth. You may also need additional support from targeted supplementation. Find out about magnesium here.