Many have talked about how mewing seems to be less effective the older you get, but does mewing work at all in adults, after puberty?
The simple answer is yes. Although mewing is much more likely to create noticeable results in younger individuals, it can still have a profound effect on the health and appearance of teenagers and adults alike.
How Age Affects Mewing Progress
Before we dive into the idea of mewing at all different ages, let’s start with some of the facts. Proper oral posture, also known as mewing, is supposed to play a big role in your facial development.
The key word in that sentence is development. While your face is still developing, it’s remarkably easy to make noticeable changes to your facial appearance over small periods of time. This is mostly because your skull is more malleable during development than after it.
So, back to mewing. If you start mewing while your face is developing — i.e. while you’re still young — the light pressure exerted by your tongue onto the palate is enough to guide facial growth in a positive way.
However, if you get started with mewing later on in life (as your facial development slows down, bones harden, and sutures close) you can imagine that it’s a lot harder to guide facial growth. This is why a lot of adults wonder whether they should even bother with mewing after puberty.
Mewing after Puberty
Although it’s best to start mewing at a young age, the truth is that you can start mewing — and see a noticeable change in your facial shape — at almost any age.
This is because our skulls are far more malleable than we give them credit for. Connected by sutures, the many bones of our skull do not fully fuse together until decades after we finish puberty. Sure, bones harden and sutures close with time, but it’s not like that happens all at once when you hit age 18.
So yes, there is hope for mewing after puberty: you will see slow but steady changes. This does not mean that you will achieve the fullest extent of the mewing benefits possible, but there is indeed hope.
There’s one other, really important point to note. Even if mewing can’t give you a magical face lift after puberty, it’s still considered to be the proper oral posture for a healthy human. As such, you may experience other, non-cosmetic benefits associated with mewing, such as decreased mouth breathing, regardless of your age.
Success Stories: Mewing for Adults
One of my favorite mewing success stories is this woman’s transformation from adopting a proper tongue posture when she was 23. In just a few years time, she saw significant cosmetic benefits. Her chin and jawline became noticeably more aligned.
Another piece of evidence which has been cited before on our site is a study conducted in South Korea. A 19 year old was able to correct his recessed profile by adopting a proper tongue posture with the help of an appliance. The end result was a better appearance which was confirmed 10 years after the initial treatment. Amazing!
Both of these documented cases happened after puberty. That being said, mewing has been responsible for countless transformations, manly of which have been posted on /r/orthotropics. In fact, most of the mewing success stories have been adults. That’s because adulthood is when most of us find out about proper tongue posture for the first time, if at all.
So, don’t fret if you feel as though you’ve discovered mewing too late. By mewing, you can cut back on mouth breathing, pull your entire profile forward, and significantly expand your palate all the same.
The benefits will still be noticeable, but most likely not be as extreme as in younger mewers.
Why Not Start Mewing in Your 20s?
As has already been mentioned, most of the mewing success stories we’ve come across have been by people in their 20s. Therefore, you should not be discouraged if you are older and want to start mewing. Correcting your tongue posture leads to lifelong benefits regardless of age.
If you feel that the results are not noticeable enough, however, there are always other methods to compliment mewing. These can produce more drastic results for you if you feel that the benefits of mewing are moving too slowly or negligible due to age.
For example, chewing gum is a popular way to strengthen the masseter muscles — the muscles most responsible for mastication. These muscles, when strengthened, will give your jawline further definition. Mewing and chewing gum can be compounded to intensify gains. Other products, like Jawzrsize, are also useful tools to use to give yourself a chiseled jawline. This kind of definition is possible to achieve, but will require some more commitment on your part.
For starters, you should try mewing and chewing gum if you are an adult who wants faster results.
Remember: What Matters Is Not Your Age, But Whether You’re Mewing Correctly
When it comes down to it, all that really matters is not when you start mewing, but making sure you are mewing correctly. Sure, you can lament the fact that you didn’t start earlier, but you should instead be happy you’re finally starting at all. So many people have not even heard of proper tongue posture. Regardless of your age, you shouldn’t be discouraged.
By keeping your entire tongue on the roof of your mouth, you will apply pressure to your palate which will produce noticeable changes over time. Beyond just appearance, mewing also clears up your sinuses, lessens mouth breathing, and correctly your body’s entire posture.
Hence, the importance of mewing cannot be understated: it will help you put your entire face back in balance.
If you feel you are “too old to mew,” then consider this fact: Dr. Mew himself only starting correcting his tongue posture well into his 30s. And, as you can see from his videos, has achieved desirable results. Take that as a simple lesson that anyone can start mewing and see benefits. All you have to make sure of is that you’re mewing correctly!