Best Nasal Strips: What the Research Actually Supports (and What It Doesn’t)
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways: Best Nasal Strips
- The best nasal strips depend on what you want them for. Breathe Right has the strongest direct connection to the research discussed in this article, but that does not mean every use case is well supported.
- For nasal congestion and sleep quality, the evidence is mixed. Some studies found subjective benefits, while larger placebo-controlled trials did not consistently show an advantage over placebo.
- For snoring, results are inconsistent. Some people may notice a practical benefit, but nasal strips do not reliably improve objective snoring or sleep-disordered-breathing measures.
- Nasal strips should not be relied on as a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. They do not replace proper evaluation or established treatment.
- For athletic performance, the overall evidence does not show a reliable general benefit. A newer study found positive results in a specific athlete population, but this does not establish a broad performance advantage.
- The most realistic reason to use the best nasal strips is subjective benefit. If you like the feeling of easier nasal breathing and the strip is well tolerated, that may be enough reason to keep using it — just keep expectations realistic.
Introdution: Best Nasal Strips
Nasal strips are everywhere on social media. They are promoted for snoring, a blocked nose, better sleep, and sometimes even sleep apnea, and many influencers describe them as part of their nightly routine. The claims are easy to understand: if a small strip can mechanically open the nose and make breathing feel easier, it is tempting to assume that it must also improve sleep or breathing-related problems. But those are not necessarily the same thing clinically.
That is what interested me about this topic. Nasal strips such as Breathe Right have actually been studied in several randomized trials and meta-analyses, so we do not have to rely entirely on marketing claims or social-media experience. At the same time, the research is not nearly as straightforward as the advertising can make it sound. The results vary substantially depending on what the strips are being used for, and some studies point in different directions.
I wrote this article to separate those questions rather than treat nasal strips as one simple yes-or-no intervention. I will look at what has actually been studied, whether the evidence supports their use for nasal congestion, snoring, sleep-disordered breathing, or athletic performance, and which product has the strongest direct connection to the available research. As we will see, one of these use cases receives a fairly clear non-recommendation, while the other two have a much more mixed evidence base.
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Best Nasal Strip for Nasal Congestion and Sleep Quality: Breathe Right Extra Strength Nasal Strips
This is the only category where I recommend a product outright — with nuance.
Breathe Right Extra Strength Nasal Strips, Clear, 44 ct
This is the same brand (BRNS clear) used directly in the key randomized controlled trial cited for this category — a stronger evidence link than a generic category match. Note: the evidence for this category is genuinely mixed, not one-sided — see below.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Users commonly describe an immediate sensation of greater nasal openness after application | Adhesive can irritate sensitive skin, especially the tan version |
| Study: A small 2018 exploratory trial found significant improvements vs. placebo on some subjective measures — sleep satisfaction and morning symptoms — at day 7 [1] | Study: Two much larger 2019 placebo-controlled trials by the same manufacturer (270 participants combined) found no significant difference from placebo on either prespecified co-primary sleep-related endpoint [10] |
| Extra Strength Clear is marketed for sensitive skin, and the review author who tested it found it gentler | Adhesion weakens on oily/sweaty skin |
| Packaging is labeled as containing natural rubber latex, per product-review reporting — worth noting for those with latex allergies, though this refers to the packaging rather than a confirmed claim about the strip material itself [3] | Its mechanical dilating effect is temporary and present mainly while the strip is being worn |
What buyers say about the Breathe Right Extra Strength Nasal Strips: Reviews on Amazon repeat the same split. Many users describe clear, immediate relief in breathing and better sleep quality, and the product is a popular, well-known nasal-strip brand on Amazon (ratings in the tens of thousands, averaging roughly 4.2/5 — exact figures fluctuate by listing and over time, and “top seller” status for this specific SKU should be checked at the time of publishing) [2]. A recurring negative theme, though, is the adhesive failing overnight on oily skin, and skin redness on removal, especially with the tan version — the review author who tested both found the clear version gentler but with slightly weaker staying power [3]. A strip cannot correct a structural abnormality such as a deviated septum, although some reviewers report temporary airflow relief even in that case.
Research evidence: This is the category where it matters most to get the full picture, because two relevant controlled trial reports point in different directions. A small 2018 exploratory trial (Schenkel et al., 61 randomized, 59 in the intent-to-treat analysis) found statistically significant improvements versus placebo on some — not all — subjective measures: sleep satisfaction at day 7, and morning symptoms/sleep-problem ratings on a nasal-specific quality-of-life questionnaire [1]. A separate congestion-specific questionnaire in the same trial showed no difference between groups [1]. The study’s own authors state that a high placebo response — most outcomes improved significantly from baseline in the placebo group too — precludes drawing definite conclusions, and no formal power analysis was performed [1].
The more important piece of evidence, though, is one this article originally missed: the same manufacturer ran two much larger, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled pivotal trials (140 and 130 participants, 270 combined), with sample sizes explicitly calculated using results from the earlier exploratory study [10]. These pivotal trials were conducted from October 2010 to February 2011 — after the 2009-2010 exploratory trial that was later published by Schenkel et al. in 2018 — but the pivotal trials themselves weren’t published until 2019, roughly eight years after they were run [10]. The active treatment was a commercially available Breathe Right nasal strip registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as “Breathe Right Tan,” compared against an asymmetric butterfly placebo strip — not necessarily the same clear formulation as the 2018 trial or the Extra Strength Clear product recommended in this article, which is worth keeping in mind [10]. Neither trial found a significant difference between the nasal strip and placebo on either prespecified co-primary endpoint (the “Sleep Problems” domain and the “Feel Tired and Unrefreshed” item of a validated quality-of-life questionnaire, at both day 7 and day 14) [10]. Both arms improved by similar, statistically significant amounts from baseline – consistent with the strong placebo response the smaller exploratory trial had already flagged as a concern.
Important funding disclosure: All three of these trials — the small positive 2018 one and the two larger negative ones — were sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare, which owned the Breathe Right brand at the time [1][10]. The brand has since changed hands twice — GSK sold it to Foundation Consumer Healthcare in 2020 [11], which sold it to Prestige Consumer Healthcare in 2026 [12]. That the larger, pre-powered, placebo-controlled pivotal trials from the same manufacturer came back negative — after their sample sizes had been calculated using results from the smaller exploratory trial — is, if anything, a point in favor of taking the negative result seriously rather than a reason to discount it. As a separate, smaller data point: a 2006 trial by a different research group (Krakow et al., 42 treatment vs. 38 control) found large improvements in insomnia severity and sleep quality when nasal strip use was combined with brief sleep-disordered-breathing education, compared against a control group that received only general sleep education [4]. This is weaker-design evidence, though: there was no sham/placebo strip in the control arm, so the strip’s own contribution can’t be separated from the education component, and the study’s own authors state that replication with placebo controls and objectively confirmed sleep-disordered breathing is still needed [4].
Bottom line for this category: the honest summary is that congestion/sleep-quality evidence for Breathe Right is mixed, and the larger, pre-powered pivotal trials — conducted after, and using the sample-size math from, the smaller exploratory trial — failed to meet either of their prespecified co-primary endpoints. This strip is generally well tolerated in the trials cited here and is a relatively inexpensive OTC product to try, but “the evidence supports it” would be overstating what the research actually shows.
At the same time, I would not dismiss a perceived benefit simply because part of the controlled evidence did not separate from placebo. In sleep medicine, placebo and expectancy effects can still matter to how a person experiences sleep. From a clinical perspective, if a non-drug intervention feels helpful to a patient, is well tolerated, and is not causing an obvious problem, that perceived benefit can still be meaningful even when the specific mechanism or treatment effect is uncertain. I would just keep the distinction clear: a patient feeling that something helps is not the same as proving that the product has a specific effect beyond placebo.
Best Nasal Strip for Mild Snoring (Not Apnea): Breathe Right Extra Strength Nasal Strips
Breathe Right Extra Strength Nasal Strips, Clear, 44 ct
The same product repeats here deliberately — it’s specifically the brand several of the cited studies in this category have used, so the evidence link takes priority over product variety.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Study: A small polysomnography study (n=12) in chronic rhinitis patients found a significant reduction in snoring frequency versus placebo — but no significant effect on snoring loudness, sleep quality, arousal index, or AHI [5] | Study: A larger 2026 meta-analysis (17 studies, n=496, literature search through Jan 2024; pooling internal and external dilators together) found no significant difference in snoring index, AHI, or other objective PSG measures between nasal dilators and control groups [6] |
| Drug-free and non-invasive | Not recommended as monotherapy for sleep apnea — pooled studies found no significant improvement in AHI or oxygen saturation [6] |
| Individual responses vary — some users benefit clearly, others not at all, and controlled evidence is inconsistent | Doesn’t address throat- or tongue-level sources of snoring |
What buyers say about the Breathe Right Extra Strength Nasal Strips: Same review pattern as above — users whose snoring is linked to nasal congestion often report clear relief for themselves and their partners, while those whose snoring stems from throat/tongue position report little change [7].
Research evidence: It’s worth being precise about exactly what the evidence says here — the wording matters more than usual in this category. A small, older polysomnography study in chronic rhinitis patients (Pevernagie et al. 2000, n=12) found a statistically significant reduction in snoring frequency with the dilator versus placebo, but the same study explicitly found no effect on snoring loudness, sleep quality, arousal index, or the apnea-hypopnea index [5]. In other words: the strip changed how often people snored, not how loud it was or how much it disrupted sleep. A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 studies and 496 participants, published in the journal Cureus (literature search conducted through January 2024) — found no significant difference in apnea-hypopnea index, snoring index, sleep architecture, or oxygen saturation between nasal dilator users and control groups, concluding that dilators cannot be recommended as a standalone treatment for sleep-disordered breathing [6]. One caveat on this meta-analysis: it pools both internal and external nasal dilators rather than assessing external strips like Breathe Right on their own — so treat “external strips specifically” as an approximation, not an exact match to what was studied. The same review notes dilators may still be useful as an adjunct in mild symptoms or nasal congestion — leaving open a possible role in selected patients, even though the pooled objective evidence is negative, and even though the mechanism doesn’t address obstruction below the nasal level.
In practice, snoring often becomes a problem not only because of how the patient sleeps, but because of how much it disturbs the person sleeping next to them. Patients sometimes tell me that their partner notices the snoring most when they sleep on their back. Positional therapy can be relevant in that situation, and suspected sleep apnea still needs to be assessed and managed appropriately rather than treated with a nasal strip alone.
But if sleep apnea is not the issue and positional strategies are not practical or do not help enough, a nasal strip can still be worth trying for its subjective benefit, even though the research evidence is mixed. From a clinical perspective, the goal does not always have to be a dramatic physiological effect. If the patient notices an improvement, the strip is well tolerated, and the snoring becomes less disruptive for the person sharing the bed, that can still be a meaningful practical benefit.
Nasal Strips for Athletic Performance — No Recommendation
The overall research picture for athletic performance is predominantly negative, but not uniform — including a newer study that complicates a flat “no” answer.
A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis (Dinardi et al., 19 studies, 168 participants for the VO2max measure) found no statistically significant difference in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), heart rate, or perceived exertion (RPE) between users of an external nasal dilator and control groups [8]. Some individual studies within that review did report favorable perceived-exertion or other exercise-related outcomes — the picture across studies is mixed rather than uniformly negative — but pooled together, none of the three main performance outcomes showed a benefit. Worth noting too: the review itself rated 18 of its 19 included studies as having high or uncertain risk of bias, with only one rated low risk — a real limitation on how much weight the underlying evidence base can bear, independent of which way the pooled result points.
A study published online in November 2025 (2026 journal issue) complicates the picture further: the same Brazilian research group behind the 2021 meta-analysis ran a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial in 63 adolescent futsal players using a ClearPassage® external nasal dilator — not a Breathe Right product — and found significant improvements in estimated VO2max, peak nasal inspiratory flow, and reduced perceived exertion versus placebo, with the VO2max benefit varying by facial type [13]. This is a specific population (adolescent athletes, one sport), a different brand than the strip recommended elsewhere in this article, and doesn’t overturn the pooled meta-analytic finding — but it means a flat “the evidence says no” for external nasal dilators as a category is an overstatement. The current picture is a negative pooled meta-analysis alongside at least one newer, randomized, double-blind crossover trial from the same research group, using a different specific product.
One further exception worth noting: a 2023 study of 38 endurance athletes found that an internal (not external) nasal dilator significantly improved VO2max, aerobic performance, and self-rated dyspnea and fatigue — but only in the subgroup with diagnosed nasal valve compromise (23 of the 38 athletes, assessed observationally rather than in a randomized trial); athletes with normal nasal patency saw no such effect [9]. That’s a different product category (internal dilators, not the external strips covered here) and a specific, diagnosed subpopulation — not a general athletic-performance claim.
This is the category where, in my view, social-media messaging can become most misleading. Athletes who use nasal strips may understandably assume that easier nasal airflow could translate into a meaningful performance advantage. Some people may genuinely feel that breathing is easier or more comfortable with a strip in place, and there is nothing wrong with using one for that subjective benefit.
The important distinction is between feeling that breathing is easier and actually improving athletic performance. Based on the evidence reviewed here, I would not expect a nasal strip to provide a meaningful performance advantage for most athletes. If someone likes the sensation and wants to use one, that is one thing; expecting a noticeable boost in endurance or performance is another.
Comparison Table
This table is a navigation aid, not a ranking — the categories address different use cases and can’t be directly ranked against each other.
| Use Case | Evidence Level | Product Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Nasal congestion / sleep quality | Mixed — a small trial found some subjective benefit; two larger, previously-run but later-published placebo-controlled pivotal trials by the same manufacturer found no significant benefit on either co-primary outcome | Breathe Right Extra Strength Clear |
| Mild snoring (not apnea) | Mixed — small study positive on one narrow measure (frequency, not loudness), larger meta-analysis negative on objective measures | Breathe Right Extra Strength Clear (as an adjunct, not monotherapy) |
| Athletic performance | Pooled meta-analysis (Breathe Right and similar) found no significant benefit; one newer 2025 trial using a different brand (ClearPassage) in a specific population found a benefit | No general recommendation |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do nasal strips work for sleep apnea? The evidence doesn’t support it. A large pooled analysis found no significant effect on the apnea-hypopnea index or oxygen saturation, and nasal strips should not be relied on as a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea [6].
Do nasal strips improve running or cycling performance? The pooled evidence says no: a 2021 meta-analysis found no significant difference in VO2max, heart rate, or perceived exertion between users and control groups [8]. A newer 2025 randomized crossover trial in adolescent futsal players found a benefit using a different external dilator brand (ClearPassage, not Breathe Right), so “the evidence is uniformly negative for this category of device” would overstate the case, even though it doesn’t specifically support the product recommended in this article [13].
Why is the same product recommended for both congestion and snoring, if the evidence is mixed? Because it’s specifically the brand several of the cited studies have used — swapping products “for variety” would artificially weaken the evidence link. A mixed evidence picture is still a reason to be honest about what’s uncertain, not a reason to switch to an unstudied alternative.
What This Means for Buyers
- Congested nose / poor sleep quality: The evidence is genuinely mixed — a small trial found some subjective benefit, but two larger, pre-powered pivotal trials from the same manufacturer did not confirm it on either co-primary outcome. Generally well tolerated and inexpensive to try, but don’t expect it to reliably outperform a placebo.
- Mild snoring: Worth trying as an adjunct, not a treatment — if snoring persists or you suspect sleep apnea, get evaluated rather than just switching products.
- Athletic performance: The pooled evidence doesn’t establish a reliable general performance benefit, so I wouldn’t buy strips solely for this purpose — though a newer trial in one specific population leaves this less settled than the older meta-analysis alone would suggest.
Summa summarum: if nasal congestion is something that bothers you, a nasal strip may be worth trying — but I would think of it more as a product you may or may not personally like than as something with a predictable clinical effect. The evidence for congestion and sleep-related benefit is mixed, and individual experience seems to matter a great deal. Some people like the feeling of a more open nose and continue using strips; others try them and find that the benefit is too small to bother with.
What I would not expect is a meaningful improvement in athletic performance, and the effect on snoring is far from guaranteed. Nasal strips also should not be relied on as a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. So, in my view, this is a fairly simple product category: if you enjoy the sensation and feel that it helps your nasal breathing or sleep, that subjective benefit may be enough reason to keep using it. Just keep expectations realistic. Some users swear by nasal strips, while for others they quickly end up forgotten in a bathroom drawer.
References
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6109978/
- https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Sleeping-Disorder-Nasal-Strips/zgbs/hpc/3764371
- https://liveworksleep.com/breathe-right-strips-review/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16496118/
- https://publications.ersnet.org/content/erj/15/6/996
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12761343/
- https://sleepandsinuscenters.com/blog/best-breathe-right-strips-what-actually-works
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32683573/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196070923002739
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31209698/
- https://foundationch.com/press-release/2020-10-01/
- https://ir.prestigebrands.com/news-releases/news-release-details/prestige-consumer-healthcare-inc-completes-acquisition-breathe
- https://www.apunts.org/en-effects-external-nasal-dilator-according-articulo-S2666506925000288
