Morning Insight - Nasal Breathing

This morning insight is about the importance of nasal breathing.

If this insight sparks curiosity, you may also enjoy the Morning Meditation: Nasal Breathing, which will help you breathe through your nose more efficiently.

Find a full playlist of morning insights and meditations on my profile playlists.

SOURCES: Inspired by the work of Researchers and authors: James Nestor, Patrick McKeown, Patricia Gerbarg, Jéssica Medeiros da Fonsêca, and Andrew Huberman.

Transcript

Good morning.

Today's morning insight is about the importance of nasal breathing.

My name is Inga and it is my mission to bring you science-based insights on health,

Yoga and meditation.

Breath work,

Although a central part of ancient practices,

Has only more recently gained increased attention from the scientific community.

And they are discovering wonderful things to add to the ancient wisdom of breath practices.

One of those discoveries is the importance of nasal breathing.

Researchers are discovering which mechanisms are responsible for the health effects of breath practices.

If you understand those mechanisms,

You're in a far better position to choose the practice that works and is optimal for you.

Today's insight is focused on the benefits of nasal breathing.

One of my favorite yoga teachers would always yell and scream throughout his classes,

Don't be a mouth breather!

I never really understood why he was so passionate about that until I started to understand the science behind it.

The nose is the main route for air entry into the respiratory system.

Nasal breathing is optimal for oxygen delivery to the cells,

For blood circulation,

Sleep quality and mental calmness.

Even though the nose is clearly and specifically designed for breathing,

Studies across the world show that depending on a wide combination of factors,

Such as age,

Gender,

Nationality of the participants,

Anywhere between 17% in Japan and 57% in Portugal habitually breathe through their mouth.

Mouth breathing alters the growth of the face,

Resulting in smaller jaws,

Smaller mouths,

Cavities,

Crooked teeth,

Altered posture,

Transformed and weakened airways and blocked noses.

Through time these transformations will induce snoring,

Sleep apnea and enhance more mouth breathing.

So how does that work?

Inhaling through the mouth decreases pressure,

Causing tissue in the back of the mouth to become looser and collapse,

Which will eventually narrow the space available for breathing.

Nasal breathing does the opposite.

It pressures the tissues in the throat,

Creating more space for breathing in the respiratory tract,

Through toning and strengthening the muscles.

Nasal breathing does lead to more nasal breathing because of enhanced space and strengthening of the breathing muscles.

Mouth breathing leads to more mouth breathing because of reduced space in the nasal cavity,

Leading to stuffy noses,

And reduced space in the back of the throat and loosening of the breathing muscles.

This is particularly important during our eight hours of pure unconscious breathing while we sleep.

When we breathe through the mouth,

Our tissues become looser and we slowly build a snoring habit,

Whereas when we breathe through our noses,

We slowly build a nasal breathing habit.

Nasal breathing is the more sustainable way of breathing across the lifespan for four main reasons.

First,

Nasal breathing is more efficient than mouth breathing in moving oxygen in and carbon dioxide out of the body at a leveled pace.

This balance between carbon dioxide and oxygen is important for efficient uptake of oxygen in the organs and muscles.

Next to carbon dioxide and oxygen balance in the blood,

Nasal breathing is slightly slower than mouth breathing,

Allowing the lungs more time to extract oxygen from one single breath,

Which puts less stress on the respiratory system.

The second reason is that the nose filters,

Heats and moisturizes air,

Protecting all areas of the respiratory system.

There are just as many tiny hairs on your nose as there are on your head.

Those hairs filter the air before entering your respiratory tract.

Like the rest of the respiratory tract leading towards the lungs,

The nose is lined with mucus glands that help to moisten the tract.

Just below these glands is a rich network of blood vessels that warm the breath as it enters the lungs.

Third,

The nose has a variety of links to brain parts that are important for regulatory processes.

The olfactory bulbs connect to the hypothalamus,

Hippocampus,

Amygdala and prefrontal cortex.

These are brain regions that all play an important role in activating and deactivating stress responses.

Fourth,

The sinuses of the nose produce nitric oxide,

Which regulates inflammation in the airways,

But also helps the immune system to battle viruses and bacteria.

Nasal breathing thus affects breathing efficiency,

Sustainability,

Stress regulation and physiological and immunological responses in the body.

All good reasons to use the nose.

Yet roughly half of us don't properly use our noses.

Why is that and what can we do about it?

There are two reasons why nasal breathing in humans has become harder with the years.

Number one is evolutionary.

Number two is behavioral.

Both have to do with food.

Throughout time our noses have become smaller.

The evolutionary explanation for that is that over the last million years we have moved from a completely raw food diet that we had to chew on for hours to a processed food diet that we can swallow without chewing.

Our raw food diet ancestors had enormous jaws,

Broad mouths,

Straight teeth and huge nasal cavities making nasal breathing easy.

Chewing kept the shape of our mouths broad and the noses wide.

With the invention of fire,

Cooking food made jaws less important and calories more abundant,

Creating an opportunity for the calorie burning brain to expand into,

You may have guessed it,

Our mouths,

Noses and airways.

Evolution increased our brain power but it decreased our breathing power.

The behavioral explanation is the same but it has a more empowering message to it because this is where you and I can make a difference.

Brain size hasn't changed in the last hundred years but lifestyle has.

In the industrial age,

Food changed dramatically and with it our facial structures changed dramatically too.

Our wide mouths shrank,

Our noses and airways became tighter and mouth breathing became a chronic disposition.

Think about it,

How many meals a day do you think you really have to give your jaws a workout?

We over prepare our food,

Even the healthy foods like soups and smoothies.

Okay,

So perhaps by now you feel guilty or anxious or angry or hopeless or skeptical or all of the above but there is good news.

The most staggering changes in our airways have happened in the past hundred years and these changes are behavioral,

Not evolutionary.

That means that there is something to be done about it because it's not yet in our genes.

I think that's an empowering message.

The solution is quite simple,

Chew and move your mouth,

Throat and face more.

This doesn't mean that you can never eat soup or mashed potatoes.

Just be mindful that on a regular basis you choose a version of your food that requires chewing.

Whole fruit over a smoothie,

Raw or whole vegetables over soup,

Whole grains over soft bread,

Nuts and seeds over pie,

You get the idea.

Last but not least,

Let your children of all ages chew as much as possible.

Chewing is exercise for their airways.

The other solution is to practice nasal breathing because the more you use your nose,

The easier nasal breathing will become.

Thank you for listening to this morning inside.

If you are motivated to work on your nasal breathing,

Check out my morning meditation nasal breathing which will help you to breathe optimally through your nose or you can join my group the breathing collective where you will find all novel events,

Audio and courses specifically about breathing.

Also check out the sources page of this meditation if you are interested in reading the books and research articles that have inspired this morning inside.

Have a lovely morning.

Reviews

Committed to nasal breathing after completing your courses in breathing and reading Breath by James Nestor. I even tape my mouth up at night so I breath through the nose and it has made a positive difference. Thank you Inge for your talks, meditations and courses , they are truly life enhancing 🙏

Excellent! The evolution of mouth and nose size was especially interesting. 🙏

Everyone should expose themselves to this valuable, lifechanging informatuon!
Thank you so very much!

Everything you do is amazing.