When it comes to mewing, younger people get the best results. So, are there age requirements for mewing?
There is no specific age you should be to start mewing. However, it is ideal to start mewing as young as possible, like 4-10 years old. Mewing gets harder in your teens, and then much harder as an adult. As an adult, seeing changes takes years.
Mewing for Children
The age you can benefit most from mewing is when you are still a child. People who are 12 years old and younger can see the most significant changes from mewing.
The bone remodeling process is most active when you are young (Levine et al., 2012). So, mewing when you are a child is the best time.
Take a look at this photo as an example.
Since bones are very malleable when you are young, children can see speedy results. Most children can see visible results in as quickly as a few months.
Children should not do hard mewing or press with any force on their palates at all. Soft mewing and/or suction-hold-based mewing is ideal for children.
Mewing can benefit everyone, but it helps children avoid tons of future problems. For instance, mewing expands the palate. Children can expand their palates quickly from mewing since their bones and tissues are much softer.
When you expand the palate, you decrease your chances of having crowded teeth. You can also help treat certain respiratory issues like sinusitis because the airway is bigger.
Additionally, mewing is a great tool to help treat sleep apnea and snoring. Mewing helps expand the airway, which decreases the likelihood of snoring.
Additionally, mewing discourages mouth breathing. Studies show that mouth breathing can cause or worsen obstructive sleep apnea (Seung et al., 2007). Therefore, mewing can help treat and prevent sleep apnea because it encourages you to breathe from your nose.
Mewing for Teenagers
While mewing is most effective when you are a child, teenagers have a high chance of seeing fantastic results. Teenagers are going through puberty. Therefore, their bodies are still changing.
Even if teenagers seem like they are done with puberty, their bones will still grow and change. While the growth may not be as fast, the bones are still a bit malleable and can benefit a lot from mewing.
Most teenagers can be lucky and see results in as fast as six months. However, most teenagers will see changes in about a year.
Mewing for 20-25-Year-Olds
At this age, most people are entirely done with puberty. You are an adult, and most of your bone growth slows down. Despite this, there is still some growth, so it is still possible to mew and see good results at this age.
Most adults say that they see visible changes after a few years of consistent mewing.
Mewing for 25 Years Old and Above
Even if the majority of your bone growth stops at this age, you can still try mewing. Bones change shape to facilitate their mechanical functions (Boskey et al., 1989). Therefore, the bones never stop changing.
You can check out this image of an aging skull to see how the bones change over time.:
You can guide your bones as they change with mewing. Plus, if an 18-year old who finished most of their bone development can mew, anyone 25 years old and above can mew.
Dr. Mike Mew himself states that he started to mew when he was an adult. He says that he saw results despite his age, so it is worth a shot.
Plus, as mentioned earlier, mewing has tons of other benefits other than enhancing your appearance. Palatal expansion can be beneficial for any age. It can potentially help your teeth crowding, decrease snoring, and more.
What About Soft Mewing Vs. Hard Mewing?
Soft mewing is standard mewing, which is what we see when Dr. Mike talks about mewing. When you try “soft mewing,” you keep your tongue rested on your palate with a comfortable and light force.
On the other hand, hard mewing is similar, but with more force. You use as much force as possible to keep your tongue on your palate.
The theory is that hard mewing will speed up your results because you apply more pressure. The more pressure you use, the faster your midface will move up and forward.
However, Dr. Mike cannot confirm with any certainty that hard mewing will give better and faster results, or that it’s safe. He did not create the idea of hard mewing; it came from people in the mewing community.
If you try hard mewing the right way, you should not experience any side effects. Hard mewing would be fine as long as you do not feel pain.
If you can mew consistently and correctly, you can hard mew. However, you should not try hard mewing if you are 18 years old and younger. Your bones are soft and easy to move so that soft mewing will be more than enough.
For more info on hard mewing, check out our article.
So, which one should you do? Anyone can try soft mewing at any age, and you should only try soft mewing if you are under 18 years old. You can enhance soft mewing by adding a suction hold.
A suction hold is an advanced mewing technique, but you can add it to see good soft mewing results. Click here to learn more about the suction hold for mewing.
What Should I Know About Mewing as an Adult?
If you want to see faster results, you need to mew consistently and correctly. For instance, you need to make sure that you apply pressure to your palate evenly. Additionally, you need to engage the back third of your tongue and not the tip of your tongue.
To learn more about what mewing mistakes you should avoid, click here. Visit our Ultimate Mewing Guide for more information about mewing.
