Författare: Adam Taylor Professor and Director of the Clinical Anatomy L

The social media platform TikTok has become a cultural phenomenon, influencing the behaviour and taste of its users in almost every area of life. From dance trends to skincare and make-up products, health hacks to fad diets, TikTok recommendations can go viral within minutes – and so can its health advice.

Some of the most searched educational videos on TikTok are on diet, exercise and sexual health.

“Fitspiration” is a popular social media hashtag aimed at motivating users to lead healthier lifestyles. “Fitspo” posts often include before and after images and or “aspirational” of photos of influencers with ideal body types. But numerous studies have found that many of these social media posts [can have a negative impact] on users’ mental health and promote or compound their body insecurities.

Social media has its upsides. For example it allows users to share their experiences of health issues. One study showed that 80% of cancer patients use social media to engage peers. But it can also help spread health misinformation.

For example, a 2023 survey conducted by Dublin City University found that 57% of Gen-Z and Millennial TikTok users are influenced by, or regularly adopt, nutrition trends from the platform. The same research also found that only 2.1% of the analysed nutrition content on TikTok proved to be accurate when compared to public health guidelines.

But this could be about to change. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a year-long partnership with TikTok to provide users with reliable, science-based evidence.

Healthcare professionals are already trying to raise levels of health literacy on social media, however. Doctors and specialists are publishing videos to educate users about melanoma and darker skin tones, for instance. These resources are much needed because, although melanoma is rarer in people with black skin, the five-year survival rate is only 66%, compared to 90% in non-Hispanic whites. This is because melanoma is often diagnosed much later in people with darker skin.

Other cancer topics, such as laryngeal cancer, stomach cancer, thyroid cancer and breast cancer also show increased interaction from users. But while there are plenty of patient perspectives, there are far fewer and lower-quality resources from healthcare professionals.

A 2022 study found that of the most popular articles posted on social media in 2018 and 2019, on the four most common cancers, one in every three contained false, inaccurate or misleading information. And most of that misinformation about cancer was potentially harmful. For example, by promoting unproven treatments.

Stories shared by patients writing on social media about their cancer journeys can be powerful, particularly for users going through similar experiences. But they can also be scary – and are occasionally untrue.

Difficult subjects

Content about potentially embarrassing or intimate health issues have become popular on social media, which is often the first port of call when experiencing symptoms or after initial diagnosis.

Videos about anal fissures have attracted a significant number of views, while posts sharing experiences of intrauterine contraceptive devices have highlighted common side-effects that can help inform the contraceptive decisions of other users.

IVF is a valuable and growing discussion topic on social media, but more engagement is needed from experts to ensure the medical accuracy of advice and guidance.

Creating a force for good

Similarly, social media information on neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism and ADHD, have seen a huge increase in viewer traffic. Celebrities, in particular, have used social media platforms to talk about their own diagnoses and urge or inspire others to seek help. For example, Tom Stoltman, the current reigning and three times World’s Strongest Man, has spoken openly about his autism diagnosis and how it can be a superpower.

The growing challenges around mental health diagnoses are a double-edged sword on social media. The availability of information can help understanding of conditions – but it can also fuel self-diagnoses, which are increasing and can cause strain on healthcare systems and potential harm to patients.

Various studies highlight the issue of health misinformation on social media. One study showed that X (formerly Twitter) had the highest level of misinformation. Many of the studies assessing social media health content show that less than 30% is medically accurate.

So, while social media health posts can be beneficial for those looking for patient perspectives, it’s important that users are also able to access high-quality, medically accurate resources from qualified professionals.

Hopefully, the WHO and TikTok collaboration will help to facilitate and promote more engagement from healthcare professionals on social media. Läs mer…

An unhealthy diet and an indolent life are well known causes of heart disease and stroke. But sleep apnoea – where people temporarily stop breathing while asleep because their airway collapses – is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

While the solutions for an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise are clear, the solutions for sleep apnoea are less clear. There are expensive and hard-to-cope-with Cpap (continuous positive airway pressure) machines that help you to breathe while you sleep. And there are “mandibular advancement devices” that fit in your mouth and push your jaw and tongue forward to keep your airway open while sleeping. Both of these have their downsides.

Mandibular advancement devices, which look a bit like a gumshield, help to hold your airway open and are effective at reducing or getting rid of sleep apnoea symptoms, such as daytime sleepiness. However, they can be uncomfortable in the first few weeks of use, causing drooling, dry mouth and jaw, teeth and gum pain. And they need to be monitored in the long term as they can cause bite changes, which may require orthodontic treatment.

The devices work well for people with mild or moderate sleep apnoea, but less well for older people, people with obesity and those with more severe sleep apnoea.

Cpap is the gold standard treatment and has been in use for over 40 years. The user straps a mask to their mouth or nose through which air is pumped. However, few people are able to put up with this treatment in the long term. One study found that within three years around half of patients prescribed these machines had stopped using them.

It is hardly surprising that people are on the lookout for cheaper, less invasive, less bulky solutions to this problem. Fans of “mouth taping” claim that they have the solution.

Mouth taping is exactly what it sounds like. You tape your mouth shut, thereby forcing you to breathe through your nose, reducing the likelihood of airway collapse. Proponents of mouth taping usually recommend using special breathable tape, such as medical tape – rather than, say, Sellotape, masking tape or gaffer tape. And the tape is usually applied vertically, so it doesn’t cover the entire mouth.

Within three years, about half of Cpap users have given up on the machines.
Kateryna Mostova / Alamy Stock Photo

Not the miracle cure people had hoped for

A recent study showed that mouth taping, as mimicked by closing the mouth in people with sleep apnoea, may not be the cure-all that many had hoped for. Although it increased airflow in some participants, it reduced it in others. So mouth taping is certainly not a one-size-fits-all solution.

A few other studies on mouth taping have shown that it can offer some benefit. However, these, like the more recent study, usually contain few participants and tend to only include those with mild sleep apnoea.

Another problem with mouth taping is that some people end up exhaling out the side of their mouth where there is no tape – so-called “mouth puffing”. This can lead to insufficient oxygen in the blood and potentially too much carbon dioxide, which can cause the body to go into a stressed state.

There is also evidence that sleep apnoea symptoms, such as snoring and reduced airway diameter, get worse in about a third of people who tape their mouths.

Wearing tape around your mouth is also likely to cause irritation. The skin around the mouth is some of the most sensitive in the body – hence being an erogenous zone. The lips contain about 46,000 nerve fibres. (Finger tips, by comparison, have just 3,000 each.)

The skin irritation can also progress to dermatitis. There is also the risk of folliculitis where the hair follicles around the lips become inflamed or infected.

If you’re really unlucky, you may also get stripping, where layers of skin come off, leaving fresher underlying layers more exposed, further increasing your likelihood of infection as well as being very sore. (Even a few of those 46,000 nerve fibres being irritated will be agony.)

More importantly, though, mouth taping can be dangerous if you have other respiratory infections or conditions that are already narrowing your trachea, as it can further reduce your oxygen intake and the removal of carbon dioxide.

Taping your mouth shut if you have had a night on the tiles or norovirus (“winter vomiting bug”), say, could even be deadly. If you vomit and have taped your mouth shut, you risk aspiration (vomit in the lungs), which can cause aspiration pneumonia or death.

In short, mouth taping is not to be recommended. Läs mer…