The importance of breathing through your nose versus breathing through your mouth cannot be overrated. It’s huge!
Did you know that if you habitually breathe through your mouth, you bring in bacteria and allergens that cannot be filtrated properly? And that when you breathe through your mouth, you introduce greater inflammation into your airway and other processes- which in turn forces you to breathe your mouth even more, and can very highly lead to health conditions that make you feel tired and lousy.
It’s a vicious cycle. But it’s a cycle you can break.
Let’s talk about the day- if you know that you may unconsciously be breathing through your mouth, designate someone to remind you to close you mouth! We often develop poor breathing habits and don’t even realize it- so we start by breaking the habit.
Check your posture- if you find yourself slouching, stand upright with your hands behind your back. You would be surprised to see how much your posture can affect the opening of your airway- which in turn can make it easier to breathe through your nose.
Evaluate your breathing!
Stand in front of a mirror- and inhale a breath through your nose and see how your abdomen moves outward, and when you exhale your abdomen will move inward. Proper breathing allows us to use our lower part of the lungs which helps to expel the toxins out from our body; whereas mouth breathing only use the the upper part of our lungs- and forces our body to be in a higher state of stress because we are reducing oxygen that is being carried to or blood.
Start of your day and become aware of your breathing, and see if you can begin to incorporate small changes in your habits. One book I highly recommend is The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown – it goes into breathing techniques to help you become a better breather.
For those in town- we have a copy at our office to borrow.