Nose Breathing

Breathing through the nose has many more benefits. Breathing through the mouth, many negatives.

Always better whenever possible. Nose breathing 24 hours a day is extremely important for those who desire a long and healthy life.

1. The lungs are a primary control of our energy level. They extract oxygen from the air we breathe primarily on the exhale. Because the nostrils are smaller then the mouth, air exhaled through the nose creates back pressure when one exhales. It slows the air escape so the lungs have more time to extract oxygen from them. When there is proper oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange, the blood will maintain a balanced pH. If carbon dioxide is lost too quickly, as in mouth breathing, oxygen absorption is decreased.

2. Afferent stimuli from the nerves that regulate breathing are in the nasal passages. The inhaled air passing through the nasal mucosa carries the stimuli to the reflex nerves that control breathing. Mouth breathing bypasses the nasal mucosa and makes regular breathing difficult. During sleep, it predisposes one to loud snoring and irregular breathing and can lead to a serious condition called sleep apnea and heart conditions.

3. Also, when mouth breathing, the brain thinks carbon dioxide is being lost too quickly and sensing this, will stimulate the goblet cells to produce mucous, slow the breathing and cause constriction of blood vessels. Breathing through the nose also limits air intake and forces one to SLOW down. Proper nose breathing reduces hypertension and stress for most people. Kind of like a speed control (governor) on a car engine.

4. The nostrils and sinuses filter and warm the air going into the lungs. The mouth breather bypasses this. The sinuses produce nitric oxide (NO) which is a pollutant but harmful to bacteria in small doses.

5. Each nostril is innervated by five cranial nerves from a different side of the brain. Each nostril functions independently and synergistically in filtering, warming, moisturizing, dehumidifying, and smelling the air.

6. Maintaining a keen sense of smell is very important for enjoying life and for safety and social acceptance. Think of all the beautiful smells we enjoy with our nose.

7. Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome, the new medical description for what most of us call snoring, is a problem for about 90 million Americans everyday. Socially unacceptable snoring occurs when other people complain about the noise. They are irritated by the snoring noise because they were unable to sleep well in the same room and in some cases the same building. Snoring is a major social problem. It can also lead to major medical problems if snoring and mouth breathing combine to cause irregular breathing during sleep.

8. We should all make sure we are not mouth breathing during sleep If you know of anyone who mouth breathes during sleep you may want to have him or her try the hospital tested Chin-Up Strips. Hospital sleep studies have clearly established that Chin-Up Strips work. They provide an external support that keeps the lower lip and chin in the UP position during sleep. Hospital studies have also established that nocturnal mouth breathing is a primary cause of loud snoring.

9. Chin-Up Strips are safe, inexpensive and easy to use. In fact, if you mouth breathe during waking hours you will want to: USE THEM during the Exercises in the Optimal Breathing Improvement Program AS WELL AS SLEEPING. They are by now in many drug stores in the U.S. Ask your druggist for them. We include a sample in our #179P Sleep Program.

10. Training yourself to nose breathe while waking can help the way you breathe while sleeping. Chin-Up Strips can help.

11. COLDS Lessening of the common cold is another good reason for nose breathing. The mucous (white blood cells that kill germs) membrane lining the nose extends all the way from the inner linings of the nostrils down the trachea to the bronchi the directly enters the lungs. Germs get caught and die in the mucous.

    Click here. #191 Secrets of Optimal Natural Breathing manual for specific exercises, ergonomics, and techniques to develop or aid nose breathing.

12. SINUS blockage and difficulty nose breathing.
    • Colds and the flu
    • Sinus congestion
    • Post-nasal drip
    • Allergies
    • Sinus headaches
    • Bad breath
    • Eye and ear problems
    • Deviated septum
    "People with chronic sinus conditions should use a sinus rinse daily as it promotes drainage of the sinuses and speeds healing of inflamed tissues..."

    -- Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D.
    Self-Healing

    The above can be aided by nasal cleansing.

13. SLEEPING ON YOUR BACK Sleeping on one's back is helpful as it helps maintain a consistent body position and allows gravity to assist the mucous to drain into the throat and not getting built up in the sinuses and nose. Our Sleep Program has several exercises to train one to go to sleep on one's back and stay there throughout the night. Some may find that sleeping on the back makes them snore more. This does not mean that sleeping on the back is bad only that snoring is even more important issue and should be addressed in several ways that we address in our #179P Sleep Program.

14. Sex drive. You can't kiss someone and breathe through your mouth.

15. Deviated Septa.
    1. Breathe Right. A special band aid purchased at your drugstore.

    2. Rolphing. Painful but has worked.

    3. Surgery. WEDNESDAY, Aug. 14. Nasal blockages caused by a deviated septum can be treated with a new laser procedure, says new research. Laser-generated heat softens cartilage abnormalities in the nose, letting doctors flatten or shape those abnormalities to clear the nasal passages. The outpatient procedure takes six to eight minutes, and requires only a local anesthetic. The report on the procedure appears in the July-September issue of the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.

       The traditional approach is to use a scalpel to cut cartilage inside the nose and reshape it manually. The surgical wounds have to be closed with stitches. This method is costly, and the patient may need to take time off work during their recovery and it the septum often reverts back to where it was. In this study, researchers at Moscow State University used the laser procedure on 110 people between the ages of 11 and 66, and followed their results for an average of 18 months.

       The study found that 84 (76 percent) of the people treated with the laser had a reduction of symptoms associated with nasal blockages. In 27 (24 percent) of the people, the nasal abnormalities returned to their original shape.

    4. Dietary or bad air to eliminate any swelling from food or environment.

    5. Breathing development to reduce any anxiety, adrenaline, histamine reactions that swell up the membranes.

Sivasankar M, Fisher KV.
J Voice 2002 Jun;16(2):172-81
Related Article

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
kim-fisher@northwestern.edu

Oral breathing superficially dehydrates the airway lumen by decreasing the depth of the sol layer in humans and animals. Conversely, nasal breathing can increase the humidity of inspired air. We compared the effects of short-term oral and nasal breathing on Pth and perceived vocal effort in 20 female subjects randomly assigned to two groups: oral breathing (N = 10, age 21-32 years); nasal breathing (N = 10, age 20-36 years). We hypothesized that short-term oral breathing, but not nasal breathing, would increase Pth, and that subjects would perceive this change as an increase in vocal effort. Following 15 minutes of oral breathing, Pth increased at comfortable and low pitch (p < 0.01) with 6 of 10 subjects reporting increased vocal effort. Nasal breathing reduced Pth at all three pitches (p < 0.01), and 7 of 10 subjects reported decreased vocal effort. Over all subjects, 49% of the variance in treatment-induced change in Pth was accounted for by change in vocal effort (R = 0.70). We posit that obligatory oral breathing places healthy subjects at risk for symptoms of increased vocal effort. The facilitatory role of superficial hydration on vocal fold oscillation should be considered in biomechanical models of phonation and in the clinical prevention of laryngeal dryness.