Mouth breathing vs Nasal breathing

reading time 2 min 56 secs

Mouth breather anyone?

Mouth breathing

Generally breathing in & out through the mouth & nose is absolutely normal. Find out which is better & why you should do either or, to get the full benefits of breathing optimally for your well being. While you rest, breathing through the nose is generally normal, but not mouth breathing. When you unconsciously breath through your mouth throughout the day when you're not doing any form of strenuous activity, it's assumed that you have yourself either a blocked nose, lips don't seal at rest due to discrepancy of size, or forced habitual, & some cases of pregnancy, it may cause a blockage that may lead to nasal obstruction and mouth breathing, or you are wanting to lose oxygen. Yes you read it right, you lose oxygen and dehydrate yourself faster if you breathe through the mouth(seal those lips and start breathing through the nose). In the article, you will learn basic benefits & risks associated with either mouth or nasal breathing and we will show you 3 simple techniques to help you achieve better well being. 

Possible causes of mouth breathing

• nasal congestion caused by allergies, a cold, or a sinus infection
• enlarged adenoids

• enlarged tonsils
• deviated septum
• nasal polyps, or benign growths of tissue in the lining of your nose
• the shape of the nose
• the shape & size of the jaw
• shape & size of the upper/ lower lip
• prolonged forced habit 

Risk factors associated with mouth breathing

While intermittent mouth breathing is generally normal, prolonged mouth breathing may increase or lead to  certain conditions which may include: 

• chronic allergies
• hay fever
• chronic or recurring sinus infections
• asthma
• chronic stress and anxiety
• dehydration 
• frequent dizziness 

"According to experts, most people breathe at 10-20 percent of their full capacity"

Benefits of nasal breathing

Benefits of nose breathing

• Regulates the temperature of air being inhaled(cold to warm, hot to warm, dry air to moist)
• Produces NO(nitric oxide) a gas that helps in boosting immunity & rids of bacteria in airborne particles
• Increases/ encourages para-sympathetic nervous system & lowers stress levels
• Maintain PH or alkalinity of blood
• Increases oxygenation in body
• Helping with recovery
• Increases focus by providing higher rate of oxygen to both body & brain
• Better visceral organs functions
• Increase / improve venous returns
• Increased diaphragm activation
• Improve / increase lymph flow
• Reduces dry mouth & nasal decongestion
• Improves quality of sleep
• Increases awareness
• Practise stillness
• Tones your vagus nerve

1. How to encourage / improve nasal breathing

Keeping it simple to understand what our body parts are made to do, the skin are for sensory feedback, the eyes to help keep balance, the mouth to taste & eat, the nose to breathe. You can simply do a few things daily to keep it going for just a short few moment(from 60 seconds to 5 minutes) to help you improve & get the nose to do what it's made to do by doing alternate nostril breathing. Start your practise:

How to do it: 

1. Close your left nostril
2. Breathe into the right
3. Close the right nostril & open the left
4. Exhale out from the left
5. Inhale now from the left nostril
6. Close the left nostril 
7. Exhale through the right
8. Repeat step 1

Practise the alternate nostril breathing for 1-3 minutes & observe how you feel afterwards. When you feel you have a little bit more time to engage in the practise of alternate nostril breathing, simply increase it by 30 seconds to 60 seconds each time, allowing you to adapt progressively. The shouldn't be any tension whilst practising it. 

Practising the alternate nostril breathing allows you to work the left & right hemispheres of the brain as well, when you close the right and breathe in through the left, your right hemisphere will fire & closing the left whilst breathing in from the right activates the left hemisphere. We breathe differently throughout the day & switch nostrils to distribute the workload between them, try & cover one nostril in different timings and check to see when you can actually breathe through both nostrils. There will be a small window that they will have little to no tension while breathing on both nostrils! 

2. Breath cycle

1. Sit down

Optional: Eyes closed to help with increasing of your own body or eyes open. 

1. Start by exhaling slightly more forceful in through the nose(you should be able to see your ribs close in & your shoulder drop down towards your hips)
2. Inhale slightly forceful out through the nose(you should be able to observe & feel your breath from the nostrils, & a slight increase in the circumference of the belly & a slight lift of the chest.  
3. Do this for anywhere from 60 seconds to 2 minutes & slowly increase as you feel comfortable. 

NOTE: It is absolutely normal to feel giddy or "high" upon starting this practise, if you do feel giddy after a few breaths, simply adjust the rate of your inhale / exhale. 

1:3 breath

The 1:3 breath practise gets you to slow down the physical body, the mind and your heart rate quick. You will find stillness in both mind & body immediately after practising it. Here's how you can do it: 

1. Take a deep inhale through the nose
2. Exhale slower & longer than your inhale

Increase the ratio of the exhale to a point that the difference is obvious with time upon exhaling. Remember that the whole time is spent inhaling & exhaling through the nose. 

When should i practise the breathing techniques

Start by having short practise to make it a regular habit that you can soon remind yourself amongst all the things in your life that is happening to take a small window of time for yourself. You can alternatively use it when you find yourself in a stressful time or environment which can help clear your mind and the body will follow how the activity is. For those who finds it hard to sleep, set a time to sleep & place all electronics away, turn off all lights & practise it lying down comfortably with the back of your head flat. To start the best day you will have, sit up & take 2 minutes to practise it then start your day. 

How long will i be able to feel & see benefits of nasal breathing? 

As all of us are different from anatomy, physiology, conditioning and habits, people have reported an instant improvement in stress levels and decrease of pain within a day's practise of a few minutes. A general timeline is at least 3-5 days, provided that you practise it frequent enough(3-5 times daily), anywhere from a short 60 seconds to 5 minutes. Breathing practise is safe enough for everyone to do as long as you don't hold your breath(as this will increase your blood pressure). 

Let us know how you find this practise! 

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