Are you a nasal breather or mouth breather?
Breathing in and out through the nose helps us take fuller, deeper breaths, which stimulates the lower lung to distribute greater amounts of oxygen throughout the body. -Gaiam
Below are a few more benefits of nasal breathing that I found on Gaiam blog and Dr. Google. We are designed to breathe through out nose but so many people are mouth breathers. Do we really breathe at 10-20 percent of our full capacity? Wow that is scary especially for athletes or anyone living as restricted breathing decreases our respiratory function, decreases energy levels in the body and poor detox pathways filter!
As we always talk about on my podcast interviews and my show, we are all living life as a race and need to get out of the chronic state of “running from a lion” or rather the Sympathetic Nervous System (fight or flight). Nasal breathing helps us take in more oxygen into the lower lung resulting in intaking a greater amount of oxygen throughout the body. By breathing into deeper parts of the lungs, we can help calm ourselves down by shifting to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest and repair). When we breathe more shallow, we are only getting oxygen into the upper lungs and stimulate more hyperventilation type of reaction – setting off the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight). I figured this out on my own years ago coaching athletes and personal training clients…breathing was one of the biggest challenges for clients which is strange as it should be autonomic. Shallow breathing is actually causing us to feel more stressed rather than what breathing should be doing for us at rest… calming and relaxing.
John Douillard, author of Body Mind Sport, says:
“To experience the zone in training is our birthright, and it is within the design of our human nervous system to access it. To push ourselves to exhaustion when we have the capacity to allow effortless, perfect performance to flow naturally, from the inside out, seems somehow primitive and a waste of time. I have never heard of a peak experience that was described as painful, grueling or exhausting. Rather, the descriptions always fit the original definition of exercise: rejuvenating, stress-reliving and accessing full human potential.”
One more reason to breathe properly… as you can improve your performance or workout session!
Other benefits to focus on nasal breathing from Gaiam blog post:
- The lungs actually extract oxygen from the air during exhalation, in addition to inhalation. Because the nostrils are smaller than the mouth, air exhaled through the nose creates a back flow of air (and oxygen) into the lungs. And because we exhale more slowly through the nose than we do though the mouth, the lungs have more time to extract oxygen from the air we’ve already taken in.
- When there is proper oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange during respiration, the blood will maintain a balanced pH. If carbon dioxide is lost too quickly, as in mouth breathing, oxygen absorption is decreased, which can result in dizziness or even fainting.
- Air that we inhale through the nose passes through the nasal mucosa, which stimulates the reflex nerves that control breathing. Mouth breathing bypasses the nasal mucosa and makes regular breathing difficult, which can lead to snoring, breath irregularities and sleep apnea.
- Breathing through the nose forces us to slow down until proper breath is trained; therefore, proper nose breathing reduces hypertension and stress. It also helps prevent us from overexerting ourselves during a workout.
- Our nostrils and sinuses filter and warm/cool air as it enters our bodies. Our sinuses produce nitric oxide, which, when carried into the body through the breath, combats harmful bacteria and viruses in our bodies, regulates blood pressure and boosts the immune system.
- Mouth breathing accelerates water loss, contributing to dehydration.
- The nose houses olfactory bulbs, which are direct extensions of part of the brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is responsible for many functions in our bodies, particularly those that are automatic, such as heartbeat, blood pressure, thirst, appetite and sleep cycles. The hypothalamus is also responsible for generating chemicals that influence memory and emotion.
- The increased oxygen we get through nasal breath increases energy and vitality.
The man who has done tons of research for years of the benefits for athletes to do nasal breathing is John Douillard:
https://lifespa.com/finally-research-nose-breathing-exercise/