Peter’s story

Peter wasn’t always a snorer, but over the years the problem got worse and so did his sleep. He would wake up feeling more tired than when he went to bed and describe a persistent brain fog that made it hard to focus or remember things. He would often tell me, “I don’t know what changed, but I feel like I just can’t sleep anymore and I’m always running on fumes.”

My husband is an active guy and not overweight, so that wasn’t the issue. We tried a few different pillows to keep his neck in better alignment and finally found one that helped a little, but still not enough.

Next, I treated him with Invisalign. Peter had a collapsed bite and when he bit down, you couldn’t see his bottom teeth at all. The functional dentist in me knew that with his mouth closed that much, his tongue was resting too far back at night, disrupting his breathing and hurting his sleep. Twelve months of Invisalign later, his bite was dramatically improved, his sleep got better and he was snoring less, but it wasn’t enough. We were still missing one piece of the puzzle.

The main culprit

Peter has a deviated septum. It was never a problem before, but something I know now that I didn’t then, is that a deviated septum can get worse over time. Cartilage can weaken or shift as you get older, injuries can make things worse, and even mild allergies can cause inflammation that makes nasal breathing at night nearly impossible.

We looked into what could be done, and the definitive treatment was surgery, but Peter wasn’t ready for that yet, so we started exploring other options.

Breathe Right nasal strips helped a little but not enough.
We tried nasal dilators, but Peter found them impossible to wear. He said, “It feels like a giant booger and my nose will not stop dripping.”

The solution

I shared an ad I saw on Instagram for a magnetic nasal strip called Intake Breathing. Peter said it looked like an overpriced Breathe Right strip and just more junk being peddled by social media influencers. I thought that was the end of it. Then he came home from motorcycle racing and said another rider was wearing them and told him it was like a supercharger for his nose. Even better, his helmet stopped fogging up because he was no longer mouth breathing. Peter ordered it right away.

When it arrived, he tested it out and immediately said, “This is amazing. Is this what breathing feels like for normal people?”

After a month we ran another sleep analysis and his results were amazing.

Before Intake Breathing: Moderate sleep apnea, nightly snoring, shallow sleep, morning exhaustion.

After Intake Breathing: zero apnea and the first deep sleep he had experienced in years.

For forty dollars!