The nose is for breathing, the mouth is for eating and speaking. It is time to give your mouth a break from breathing, and just let it do the talking!

Just as it is possible to wear stilettos while you go for your morning walk, but it is far more efficient, comfortable and enjoyable to wear your specifically designed trainers. Yes, you can breathe through your mouth and survive, but breathing through your nose is way more efficient, comfortable and enjoyable….. Once you know how!

The human nose is an incredibly complex organ, specifically engineered to carry out more than 20 functions to assist our breathing efficiency. When we breathe through our mouth, we miss all these benefits and quickly move to breathing 2-3 times as much air as we need. The effect on your body as it processes and deals with all this additional air is huge - way too much of a good thing!

It’s all about the right amount of air

If humans can survive for only a few minutes without any air, then wouldn’t more air be better?? Actually, definitely NOT. There is such a thing as too much air…. Our bodies have a basic requirement for oxygen - this is in plentiful supply in the air we breathe. Once the air passes into our lungs, the oxygen crosses over into our bloodstream and is carried away to our cells to be used. There is a limit to how much oxygen we need in each minute - once the level has been reached, any more air is a waste. And processing all that additional air puts an unnecessary strain on our lungs, heart and other organs.

Breathing through our nose is an ideal way to control and regulate the amount of airflow going to our lungs - because the nasal openings are far smaller than your mouth, and the nasal passages are narrow and twist and turn, the air flow slows right down so that the perfect amount of air (and oxygen) is delivered to your lungs. When air passes through the nose, it is also warmed and moistened, making it easier for our lungs to process the air and utilise the oxygen.

And the right amount of CLEAN air

We have all cursed the dreaded nose hairs once or twice before - if not your own, then maybe your partner’s or parent’s!! Aside from enthusiastically protruding from your nostrils, nose hair does have a very important job - to pull up the big bad guys as they come through your nose. Trapping the large foreign particles on the way in (think dust, sand, pollens and insects) ensures that your smaller nasal passages can work efficiently to filter out the smaller foreign particles (think germs, smoke etc) - this happens when the damp membranes of your nasal passages do their job. The result is A grade air reaching your lungs and this has a huge role in reducing the amount of irritation and inflammation of your lung tissue….. When you breathe through your mouth, this double filter system is bypassed, meaning that air plus a whole lot of rubbish has to be processed by an already overloaded system. Germs, pollens and dust have a free ride to block things up.

Nitric oxide - it is a 2 way street in that nose

While the hairs and the membranes are busy removing things from the air we breathe through our nose, our nasal sinuses are busy releasing Nitric Oxide into our nasal passages to be carried to the lungs with the clean air. Nitric Oxide is a powerful steriliser and further improves your resistance to airborne germs. Nitric Oxide is also a powerful bronchodilator - meaning that it relaxes and opens your airways….this seriously improves the ability of your lungs to exchange oxygen and make it available to your body. For someone with sensitive, irritated airways (asthma, hayfever, sinus sufferers) this Nitric Oxide delivery is a huge benefit to your sensitive tissues. When you breathe through your mouth, it is almost impossible for the Nitric Oxide to be delivered to your airways, so you basically miss out on this vital gas. 

The mechanics at play in your breathing

While the nose directly influences the quality of your breathing in the ways we have already mentioned, there are also some critical mechanical influences that are at play when we use our nose for its primary role - breathing. When we use our mouth for our breathing, the mechanics go awry, bringing the quality and efficiency of our breathing right down and breathing becomes a laborious chore.

The diaphragm is our very under-recognised primary breathing muscle - a tireless band of muscle that coordinates our ribs and lungs to expand and contract in perfect symmetry, delivering the ideal amount of air to our lungs, with very little energy requirement. Breathing through the nose activates the diaphragm and allows it to be the coordinator of our breathing cycle. Breathing through the mouth dials down the diaphragm and recruits a whole host of other muscles around the neck and chest to get involved and overrule the diaphragm. This really disturbs our breathing volume, pattern and rhythm.

The role of breathing in the formation of our dental arches has only really come to light in the past few decades. It’s a complicated relationship, that I will cover in a future Mint Condition Insight, but for now it may surprise you to understand that nose breathing creates a broad, upper palate that has plenty of room for all of your teeth, while chronic mouth breathing helps to create a narrow jaw that is crowded with teeth….. Could there really be an alternative to expensive orthodontics and tooth extractions??

A keen sense of smell

When you stop and think about it, it’s pretty obvious that if you spend most of your time breathing through your mouth, then you spend most of your time not engaging your sense of smell…… have you ever wondered why some people are always commenting on different smells that you would have otherwise missed?? We only have 5 senses, so there goes 20% of your sensory input when we breathe through our mouth. Smells have the power to evoke emotion and memories, inspire and motivate us and so much more, what a lot of missed opportunity. Not to mention a lot of burnt cookies when you didn’t quite realise they were cooked….. 

But my nose has been blocked for years…...

Oh yes, I have definitely heard that before….. And I am yet to work with someone whose nose we couldn’t unblock. You see, the nose is one of those things that the more you use it, the better it gets. When you stop using it though, it gets all blocked and stuffed up. But that is easy to change, and it doesn’t involve any drugs or nasty procedures….. Just some patience, the right approach and the right mindset. 

Some are pointy, some are flat, some are large and some are tiny, but they all have a really important role in our breathing. Your nose is more than just something to rest your glasses on - it is a critical element of breathing to thrive, not just to survive.

Breathing well allows your body to run efficiently and to thrive. Breathing well is a pleasure and will allow you to achieve so much more with your life.  Breathing well will allow your nose to do its job, and do it well so that you really can live your best life and turn up for those who are important to you.

If you know that your nose isn’t really doing its job, let’s talk about how we can turn that around. If you are ready to take control of your breathing and take control of your life, let’s get started!