Tongue Posture and Nasal Breathing: Why Where Your Tongue Sits Matters

Right now, without changing anything — where is your tongue? If it's resting on the floor of your mouth, you're in the majority. You're also, according to a growing body of research, in the wrong position.

Tongue posture is one of the least talked-about factors in breathing, airway health, and even facial development. Yet the way your tongue rests in your mouth when you're not speaking or eating has real, measurable effects on how well you breathe — particularly whether you breathe through your nose or your mouth.

What Is Correct Tongue Posture?

Correct resting tongue posture — sometimes called "mewing" after orthodontist Dr. John Mew, who popularised the concept — involves placing the entire tongue flat against the roof of the mouth (the palate). This includes:

• The tip of the tongue resting just behind the upper front teeth (not touching them)
• The middle and back of the tongue pressing gently but firmly against the hard palate
• The mouth closed, with teeth lightly together or slightly apart
• Breathing through the nose

This is how humans — and our ancestors — were designed to rest. It's not a trend. It's anatomy.

The Tongue-Airway Connection

The tongue is a large, muscular organ. When it rests on the floor of the mouth rather than the roof, it can fall backward toward the throat — especially during sleep. This is a major contributing factor to snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Research published in Sleep and Chest journals has consistently shown that tongue and oropharyngeal muscle tone plays a central role in maintaining airway patency. A 2015 study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that oropharyngeal exercises — which target the tongue and surrounding muscles — reduced the severity of obstructive sleep apnea by up to 39%, and reduced snoring frequency by 36%.

The mechanism is straightforward: a tongue that habitually rests high against the palate maintains better muscle tone and is less likely to collapse backward at night. A chronically low-resting tongue contributes to a narrower upper airway and a greater propensity for mouth breathing.

Tongue Posture and Nasal Breathing: A Two-Way Street

Correct tongue posture and nasal breathing reinforce each other. Here's why:

1. Structural Support

The tongue pressing against the palate acts as a natural scaffolding for the upper jaw (maxilla). Over time — particularly during childhood development — this upward and forward pressure encourages broader, more forward facial growth, which creates more room for the nasal passages and airway. Less room in the nasal passage means more resistance, which pushes people toward mouth breathing.

2. Lip Seal and Nasal Flow

When the tongue is in correct position, the lips naturally close and breathing defaults to the nose. When the tongue rests low, the mouth tends to open, bypassing the nose entirely. This creates a feedback loop: mouth breathing further weakens the nasal passages through disuse, making nasal breathing feel harder, which reinforces mouth breathing.

3. Nitric Oxide Production

Nasal breathing — enabled by correct tongue posture — produces nitric oxide (NO) in the nasal sinuses. NO is a potent vasodilator and antimicrobial agent that improves oxygen delivery to the blood, enhances immune defence, and supports cardiovascular health. Mouth breathers largely miss out on this benefit. A 1999 study in the European Respiratory Journal confirmed that nasal NO production is virtually absent when breathing through the mouth.

What the "Mewing" Trend Gets Right (and Wrong)

The term "mewing" — popularised by YouTube communities — has attracted both genuine interest and significant scepticism. The viral version often promises dramatic facial bone remodelling in adults. The science here is nuanced.

What's well-supported:

• In children and adolescents, correct tongue posture during development does influence palatal width and facial structure. This is established in orthodontic science.
• At any age, proper tongue posture supports better nasal breathing, improved airway tone, and reduced risk of mouth breathing-related problems.
• Myofunctional therapy — which includes tongue posture retraining — is clinically validated for improving breathing and reducing sleep-disordered breathing.

What's less supported:

• Dramatic adult jaw remodelling purely from tongue posture is not well-evidenced. Adult bone remodelling is slow and limited.
• Many "before and after" transformation claims online involve lighting, camera angles, and weight changes rather than structural bone change.

The takeaway: tongue posture matters enormously for breathing and airway health at any age. As a cosmetic intervention for adult facial reshaping, the evidence is weak. Don't let that stop you from fixing your tongue posture — the breathing benefits alone are worth it.

How to Retrain Your Tongue Posture

Like any postural habit, tongue posture can be retrained with consistent practice. It takes awareness and repetition, but most people notice it becoming automatic within weeks.

Step 1: Find the Correct Position

Say the letter "N" and hold the position. Notice where your tongue goes — it presses against the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. That's approximately the right position for the tip. Now try to get the entire body of the tongue to suction gently against the palate.

Step 2: Practice Suction Hold

Press your entire tongue to the roof of your mouth, create a suction, and hold. Start with 30 seconds and build up. This exercise is also used in myofunctional therapy and has clinical backing for reducing sleep apnea severity.

Step 3: Add Nasal Breathing

Consciously close your mouth and breathe through your nose throughout the day. Use nasal breathing during light exercise, walking, and especially at rest. The combination of correct tongue posture and closed-mouth nasal breathing reinforces both habits simultaneously.

Step 4: Address Nasal Obstruction

If your nose is consistently blocked, fixing tongue posture alone won't overcome the obstruction. Address the root cause: allergies, a deviated septum, or chronic congestion. A nasal saline rinse, antihistamine, or referral to an ENT may be necessary.

Step 5: Consider Myofunctional Therapy

A certified orofacial myofunctional therapist (OMT) can design a structured programme to retrain tongue posture, correct swallowing patterns, and restore nasal breathing. This is particularly valuable for children and for adults with sleep-disordered breathing.

Signs Your Tongue Posture Needs Work

• You snore or have been diagnosed with sleep apnea
• You wake up with a dry mouth
• Your lips are chronically chapped or dry
• You have a scalloped tongue (teeth indentations on the edges)
• You habitually breathe through your mouth
• You have a long, narrow face or crowded teeth
• You experience daytime fatigue despite adequate sleep

Any combination of these symptoms warrants a closer look at your breathing habits — and your tongue's resting position is a logical starting point.

The Bottom Line

Tongue posture isn't vanity. It's physiology. Where your tongue rests determines your default breathing mode, your airway tone during sleep, and — especially during development — the architecture of your face and jaw. Correcting it is free, requires no equipment, and has downstream benefits that touch sleep quality, energy, focus, and cardiovascular health.

The habit is simple: tongue on the roof, lips closed, breathe through your nose. Do it now. Do it consistently. The science is clear that it matters.