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5 Underused Sleep Aids Most People Do Not Know About
Beyond the usual pillows and sheets, these five lesser-known sleep aids can quietly transform your sleep quality. We tested every one of them.
When most people think about upgrading their sleep, they think about pillows, mattresses, and maybe sheets. Those are the big-ticket items and they get most of the attention. But there is a whole second tier of small sleep aids that can quietly change the quality of your sleep just as much as a new pillow — and they cost a fraction of the price.
We have spent the last six months testing every lesser-known sleep aid we could find. Most are forgettable. A handful are genuinely worth the small investment. This guide covers the five that earned a permanent place in our nightstand drawers.
Why these five
Each of these aids targets a specific disruptor of sleep. Mouth breathing dries your throat and reduces sleep quality. Ambient noise wakes you without your conscious knowledge. Hair friction damages curls and shows up as morning frizz. Light bleed shortens deep sleep. We tested every product in the category and picked the best in each.
Editor's pick
How we tested
Each tester used each product for two consecutive weeks. We rotated testers across products to control for individual variation. Testers tracked sleep using a sleep-tracking ring (consistent across testers) and reported subjective wakeups, morning freshness, and how comfortable the product was through the night.
For each category we tested 3 to 5 brands and present the best plus 1 to 2 honorable mentions.
At a glance — the top 5
How they stack up
| # | Product | Brand | Price | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lumuwala Cloud Mouth Tape Top pick | Lumuwala | $19 | 9.3 / 10 |
| 2 | Hostage Tape | Hostage Tape | $25 | 8.7 / 10 |
| 3 | Somnifix Sleep Strips | Somnifix | $22 | 8.4 / 10 |
| 4 | Loop Quiet Earplugs | Loop | $30 | 8.3 / 10 |
| 5 | Mack's Pillow Soft Earplugs | Mack's | $9 | 7.7 / 10 |
Our number one pick — Mouth Tape
The category that surprised us most was mouth taping. We expected it to be a niche bro-podcast trend, and instead found a meaningful sleep upgrade backed by real changes in our testers’ sleep tracker data. Mouth breathing during sleep is associated with dry mouth, snoring, and lower sleep quality. Taping the lips closed gently encourages nose breathing, which is what your body is actually designed for during sleep.
The Lumuwala Cloud Mouth Tape was the winner. It uses a skin-safe medical-grade adhesive that holds the lips closed without pulling when you take the tape off in the morning. The center vent is a small but important feature — it gives you an emergency exhale path if your nose is partially blocked, which makes the transition into mouth taping much less anxious for first-timers.
Compared with Hostage Tape (the loudest brand in the category), the Cloud Mouth Tape adhesive is significantly easier on sensitive skin. One of our testers gets reactive irritation from anything sticky on the face and could only tolerate the Cloud Mouth Tape across the entire field of mouth tapes we tried.
At $19 for a 30-night supply, the pricing is fair. Hostage Tape charges $25 for fewer strips and a slightly stronger adhesive (which is a feature for some users and a bug for sensitive skin).
The honest disclosure: the first three nights of mouth taping feel weird. Your brain registers the new mouth-closed sensation and you wake up briefly the first night or two. By the end of the first week the tape feels normal, and most people stop noticing it entirely.
Editor's pick
The other four sleep aids worth knowing about
Sleep Earplugs
Ambient noise wakes you all night without you consciously remembering it. Your sleep tracker will tell you the truth — even a quiet bedroom has 30-40 dB of background noise. Good earplugs reduce that by another 20+ dB.
Our top pick in the earplug category is the Lumuwala Dream Sleep Plugs (sleeping-earplugs) — soft silicone earplugs designed specifically for sleep with a low-profile shape that does not press against the ear canal when you sleep on your side. The Loop Quiet Earplugs ($30) are the popular reusable alternative but they have a pressure feel that some testers found uncomfortable after several hours.
Silk Hair Bonnet
If you have long, curly, or textured hair, a silk hair bonnet is the single biggest overnight hair-protection upgrade you can make. The bonnet keeps hair away from the pillowcase entirely, which means no friction, no frizz, no flattened side.
We tested the Lumuwala Dream Sleep Bonnet (silk-sleeping-bonnet) alongside three other silk bonnets and the Lumuwala version had the best combination of soft mulberry silk, an elastic band that did not leave a mark on the forehead, and a generous interior volume that fits longer hair without crushing the style.
Silk Sleep Mask
Already covered in detail in our sleep mask test. Short version: a good sleep mask is the cheapest, fastest sleep upgrade most people are missing. The Lumuwala Silk Dream Mask was our pick.
Cooling Pillowcase
If you sleep hot, a cooling pillowcase is the lowest-friction way to fix temperature without replacing your whole pillow. See our pillowcase test for the full breakdown. The Lumuwala Cool Pillowcases 2-pack was our pick there.
Frequently asked questions
Is mouth taping safe? For most healthy adults, mouth taping is considered safe and is widely practiced in sleep wellness communities. People with nasal congestion, severe allergies, or known sleep apnea should talk to a doctor before trying it. A vent or breathing slit adds a safety margin.
Do earplugs damage your hearing? No. Properly fitted earplugs reduce sound pressure that reaches your ear drum, which can actually protect your hearing in noisy environments. They do not damage the ear, though they can trap earwax over time if used continuously.
What is a silk bonnet for? A silk bonnet protects long hair overnight by reducing friction against the pillowcase. It is particularly popular among people with curly or textured hair to preserve styles and reduce frizz.
Do these sleep aids actually work for most people? Each addresses a specific cause of disrupted sleep — light, noise, mouth breathing, hair damage. If one of those is your particular issue, the right aid can make a measurable difference. None of them is a cure-all.
Are these worth adding all at once? Add one at a time. Each takes a few nights to adjust to, and if you add them all together you will not know which one is helping and which one is keeping you up. Start with whichever addresses your biggest problem.
Our verdict
The category of “sleep aids most people overlook” is full of marketing noise, but a few products are genuinely worth your attention. The Lumuwala Cloud Mouth Tape topped our list because it tackles a sleep disruptor most people do not even know they have, with a thoughtful design that works for sensitive skin. If you have hit the limit of what a new pillow can do for you, the next tier of sleep wins lives here.
Editor's pick
About the author
Sarah Chen is a sleep journalist with eight years covering bedding and sleep wellness. She has been mouth-taping for the last 18 months and is still mildly embarrassed to admit it works.
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Frequently asked questions
Is mouth taping safe?
For most healthy adults, mouth taping is considered safe and is widely practiced in sleep wellness communities. People with nasal congestion, severe allergies, or known sleep apnea should talk to a doctor before trying it. A vent or breathing slit adds a safety margin.
Do earplugs damage your hearing?
No. Properly fitted earplugs reduce sound pressure that reaches your ear drum, which can actually protect your hearing in noisy environments. They do not damage the ear, though they can trap earwax over time if used continuously.
What is a silk bonnet for?
A silk bonnet protects long hair overnight by reducing friction against the pillowcase. It is particularly popular among people with curly or textured hair to preserve styles and reduce frizz.
Do these sleep aids actually work for most people?
Each addresses a specific cause of disrupted sleep — light, noise, mouth breathing, hair damage. If one of those is your particular issue, the right aid can make a measurable difference. None of them is a cure-all.
Are these worth adding all at once?
Add one at a time. Each takes a few nights to adjust to, and if you add them all together you will not know which one is helping and which one is keeping you up. Start with whichever addresses your biggest problem.