Posted on 01/19/2024 11:11:47 PM PST by ConservativeMind
More than half of adults living in the U.S. label themselves as "mouth breathers"—breathing primarily through an open mouth. However, according to research, breathing through the nose leads to several benefits, including lower blood pressure and other factors that could predict heart disease risk.
Blood pressure and heart rate can be predictors of heart disease. Breathing patterns can affect these bodily functions due to the crosstalk that occurs between the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Nasal breathing has been shown to relax the airways and improve breathing efficiency.
A group of 20 young adult volunteers participated in a crossover study consisting of rest and exercise conditions. In the rest condition, the volunteers performed both nasal-only and mouth-only breathing activities in a randomized order. First, they sat quietly for five minutes and then breathed for five minutes at their own pace. Nasal breathing was performed with the lips closed; mouth breathing was done with soft nose clips to prevent nasal airflow.
The exercise condition was meant to mimic the activity of daily living of walking at a moderate pace at a slight incline. The volunteers breathed, also in a randomized order, at their own rate for seven minutes while using a recumbent stationary bike. As with the rest condition, one activity involved mouth-only breathing and the other, nasal-only breathing. The research team measured the volunteers' blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and heart rate during each condition.
The research team found that the volunteers' diastolic blood pressure was lower when they breathed through the nose and a lower perceived rate of exertion than when they breathed through the mouth in the rest condition, but not exercise condition. In addition, nasal breathing shifted the nervous system into a more parasympathetic state ("rest and digest" rather than "flight or fight") during the rest condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I agree with this hypothesis. I breathe through nose during waking hours. But during sleep I breathe through mouth.
my wife is a big nose breather. Sounds like a steam locomotive idling at a train station.
We were always taught in PE back when I was a kid: breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. I don’t know if there was science behind that back then or if it was just handed down through the ages.
When I had to do cardiac rehab years ago, they reiterated the same thing. Using BP monitoring because it was cardiac rehab, after exercise doing a ratio of 5 seconds in and 7 seconds out (or similar- the exact time was less important than keeping roughly that ratio of inhaling a little quicker and exhaling more slowly) after exercise BP dropped back to baseline in just a few minutes.
Most Alabama fans are mouth breathers
I attended a worksop at Columbia University on alternative medicine in psychiatry and two psychiatry professors (Gerbarg & Brown) presented a study that showed the following:
If the length of exhale time exceeds the length of inhale time, the body relaxes.
If the length of inhale time exceeds the length of exhale time, the body is stimulated.
Being a mouth breather has a lot to do with being around car and truck traffic. I commuted on I-75 for a very long time. Only after moving to the country did my nose breathing take over. If I get behind a diesel truck now for even a few seconds I feel my nasal passage changing.
There was a major positive change to air quality years ago after low sulfur diesel was introduced to the trucking industry.
We got in trouble for breathing “with our mouths hanging open.”
Didn’t everyone?
Inside...I do the same as you.
The usual doc question - do you snore? How the heck am I supposed to know that? I’m sleeping. Out cold. Got a heart monitor that recorded everything for five days. Lo and behold, snoring was involved. Got the headgear and air pump and things are doing just fine. Gotta keep the mouth closed. And how do I know that’s being done? I don’t. I’m sleeping. Out cold.
Boxed breathing therapy works too.
The SEALS rehearse it, probably as a diving regimine.
A SEAL nap is also effective.
The boxed breathing is a 10 minute cycle.
The nap is timed for 25 minutes with legs elevated.
I do these 3 to 4 times per week. It feels beneficial.
>> my wife is a big nose breather. Sounds like a steam locomotive idling at a train station.
“Big nose” breather eh? Just HOW big is her nose? Do her nostrils look like side by side train tunnels? :-)
bkmk
>> We got in trouble for breathing “with our mouths hanging open.”
I get in trouble for dragging my knuckles, too. I can’t catch a break.
I’ve always been a nose breather, and my nose runs a lot. So I’m always blowing my nose.
I’ve always thought that its my body’s way of stopping things like covid from getting me.
I’m so glad that I never got the covid vaxxine.
How big is her nose?
Or in my case allergies. I’m congested a lot of the time (even with meds) unless I’m taking allergy shots and even while taking allergy shots
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