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Nose Breathing

Breathing through the nose has many benefits. Breathing through the mouth, many negatives. There are some researchers who believe that mouth breathing and associated hyperventilation causes or exacerbates asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other medical problems.

Always better whenever possible (deviated septum and small nostrils may make it impractical but still nose breathing 24 hours a day is extremely important for those who desire the longest and most healthy life. 
 
1. The lungs are a primary source 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. Nitric (not nitrous) oxide is one of the very important chemical parts of sexual arousal. It vaso-dilates (engorgement) and plays a part in maintaining erection.

 

 

 

 

Mouth breathing also accelerates water loss increasing possible dehydration.

 
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. Smell influences our behavior, our memories, and many autonomic nervous system functions which are below the level of conscious awareness. This is because the receptors in the nose, known as olfactory bulbs, are direct extensions of a part of the brain known as  the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus, also known as the Brain's brain, is responsible for many functions in our bodies, particularly those that we consider automatic: heartbeat, blood pressure, thirst, appetite, and of course, the cycles of sleeping a waking. The hypothalamus is also responsible for generating chemicals that influence memory and emotion.   
 
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. What you do during waking hours carries over into sleep. Any opportunity for mouth breathing inhaling  or exhaling will increase the chances of mouth breathing during sleep. Hospital studies have  established that nocturnal mouth breathing is a primary cause of loud snoring. Snoring is a precursor to sleep apnea and apnea a precursor to heart attacks and dying in one's sleep. 

9. Nose breathing imposes approximately 50 percent more resistance to the air stream in normal  individuals than does mouth breathing, resulting in 10-20 percent more O2 uptake. (Cottle, 1972:Rohrer, 1915)  There must be adequate nasal resistance to maintain adequate elasticity of the lungs. (Cottle 1980)  

10. Breathing through the mouth with the nose obstructed usually imposes too little resistance and can lead to micro-areas of poor ventilation in the lungs (atelactasis).  Many years of breathing against excessive resistance as with nasal obstruction, may cause micro areas of poor ventilation (emphysema).  Barelli (Behavioral and Pshchological Approaches to Breathing Disorders.p.50 )

 
11. Body temperature may be influenced by the temperature of expired air (Scott, 1954; Weiner, 1954)

12. Work of lung movement doubled when nose breathing creating mild resistance training.

13. 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 DURING SLEEPING. They may also assist reducing the number of colds for reasons not yet certain. 

They are by now in many drug stores in the US. Ask your druggist for them.  We include a sample in our Sleep program.

14. Training yourself to nose breathe while waking can help the way you breathe while sleeping.

15. 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.

16. SINUS blockage and difficulty nose breathing.  What would make spinal fluid leak out of your nose? Dr. Hanson: In patients who’ve had a head injury, their dura, which is the leathery material that surrounds the brain and encloses it, can tear and they can have cerebral spinal fluid leaking through the dura into the nose. They can also have the same problem after sinus surgery. In both cases, there’s a potential for bacteria to get into the lining of the brain, which is obviously a bad thing.

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

17. 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 sleep program.

18. SEX. You can't kiss someone and breathe through your mouth. 

19. Deviated Septums.

1. Breathe Right. A special band aid purchased at your drugstore.
2. Rolfing. Painful but has worked when repeated over time. 
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.

Related Articles
Oral breathing increases pH and vocal effort by superficial drying of vocal fold mucosa.

Sivasankar M, Fisher KV.

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.
See smelling to diagnose infection and disease 
 
Hey Mike, I just read
some of your subscribers questions and noticed one about having narrow nasal passages.  The guy was considering surgery.  As relates to that problem, I have noticed that when I shift to diaphragm breathing and progress to where my intestines are pushed all the way down and simultaneously my chest is expanded, all of a sudden there is a physiological shift in my neck and jaw and my sinuses and nostrils pop fully open. 
It is a wonderful feeling of totality, and it is sustainable if I keep breathing in this way.  At this stage of my development, it takes a very conscious and persistent effort to get to this place, but I am looking forward to the day when it is my normal modus operandi.
I just thought that subscriber might benefit from hearing this before diving under the surgeon's knife. Thanks, and keep up the quest.
Dan Trail

From Mike:

One of our school core faculty members advises us that there is recent research showing that when we breathe in through the nose we produce nitrous oxide. This nitrous oxide works as a vaso dilator.  Mouth breathing bypasses this NO2 production. Without NO2 our breathing chemistry is compromised causing a lessening (vaso constriction) in our airways, arteries and capillaries. This reduces oxygenation to the cells. Their are as yet no studies on the outcome of this but the implications  are huge.  For example, infants and children with food allergies from dairy, grains, chocolate etc get their little nostrils stuffed up and that forces them to breathe through their mouths. This most likely reduces oxygen uptake to their developing brains and bodies. In addition, I often read about increases in snoring amongst children.  Mouth breathing during waking and sleeping hours is a contributor to snoring. Gradually, muscle tissues in the mouth and throat are stretched beyond their intended range. When this happens, snoring and the health risks associated with OSA increase. Snoring stems largely from collapsed or constricted breathing passages.  So does sleep apnea. 

I read where a 15 years ago a professor of psychology who was greatly interested in breathing had a graduate student sit in a medical doctor’s office and asked them to watch breathing patterns in the waiting room patients. The student noticed that something approximately 84 percent of the people in the waiting room had disturbed breathing patterns indicative of correlations with what I now call Undetected Dysfunctional Breathing or UDB.  Regardless of their medical problem, they seemed to have disturbed breathing.  Though some leading edge MDs are beginning to notice poor breathing probably none of those people 15 years ago were going to go to the MD and have something done about their breathing.

Several colleagues have pointed out that most children people have developed poor breathing by age 11. I lost mine TWICE by age 12.  This may be a stretch for some of you but I believe that this widespread loss stems from bad as well as well meaning sources. Bad would be stress, poor nutrition, abuse, trauma and little to no exercise.  Well meaning could be social conditioning (also potentially very stressful) and cultural mores such as preparation for "proper" social conduct. Politeness and reserve can be overdone. Add taboo and unwarranted fears causing chronic hesitancy and or inhibition when too often repeated will habitually become engrained in the tissues and cause chronic restrictions in the way one breathes.

'I am convinced improved breathing through the nasal mucosa 24/7 is a key to a long and healthy life. A life filled with energy and a great disposition which will help maintain and strengthen the relationships one needs for emotional and physical wellness."
Dale D. Miller, JD & CEO
www.chinupstrip.com      

Mouth exhaling.
I suspect that too much breathing out/exhaling from the mouth may, depending on the obesity level (tissue engorgement) and/or vocal tract strength of the person, invite excessive sleep time mouth breathing, snoring/apnea.  The nostrils for most, being the smaller hole than the mouth allow air to escape faster and reduce the time air can held in the lungs and oxygenated. This also invites dry mouth as nose breathing produces moisturizing mucous but mouth breathing does not. For some this may also invite a faster breath rate, extra stress on the nervous system because of that, noisy breathing from friction that often stems from the neck bent forward during intimate contact

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Michael Grant White, www.Breathing.com, 1820 Sunhaven Ct, Charlotte, NC, 28262 USA
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The breathing improvement techniques, practices and products outlined in this publication are extremely gentle, and should, if carried out as described, be beneficial
to your overall physical and psychological health. If you have any serious medical or psychological problem, however, such as heart disease, high blood pressure,
cancer, mental illness, or recent abdominal or chest surgery, you should consult your health professional before undertaking these practices.

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