hotter & smarter in 5:: the benefits of nasal breathing

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All the cool girls are mouth taping,

so let's get hotter and smarter in five

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as we chat about the benefits of nasal

breathing compared to oral breathing.

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So from a broad perspective, nasal

breathing helps with our facial oral and

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respiratory muscle function in addition

to our skeletal structure of the face.

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So when you hear about mouth

taping and nose breathing,

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helping your snatched jawline.

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This is what they're referring to.

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And in PT school, we actually

had a respiratory therapist

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come talk to us about nasal

breathing versus oral breathing.

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And he said when he's grocery

shopping, he can tell which people in

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the grocery line are mouth breathers

versus who are nasal breathers.

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Based on how their face is structured.

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And I'll try and put a picture of

what that actually looks like because

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once you see it, you can't unsee it.

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And then everyone you notice with this

pushed back jawline or this rounded

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curvature of the bottom half of their

face, you will know that they are likely

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, an oral breather or a mouth breather.

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So people who mouth, breathe or

oral breathe often get headaches.

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They often have alterations in head

position in order to clear those

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airways in order to get air through

their mouth, because that's their

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primary mode and choice for breathing.

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They are often more fatigued, drowsy.

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They have their mouth open during

sleep, which causes snoring.

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They can also have.

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Difficulty breathing at night and

nasal obstruction at night when they're

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sleeping, because , their head has to

be positioned in a certain way in order

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to clear the pathway for air to get

through the mouth rather than the nose.

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So I've broken it up

into a few categories on.

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Talking about the various benefits of

nasal breathing versus mouth breathing

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for things like sleep, respiration, brain

function, and ending on posture and pelvic

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floor health, because as y'all know,

that's where my expertise and passion

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lies when it comes to mouth breathing

versus nasal breathing, and why I try

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and promote mouth taping for everyone.

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So when it comes to sleep, nasal breathing

actually creates a lower risk for sleep

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apnea and a lower risk for upper airway

resistance during breathing, during

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sleep, which means overall less snoring.

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A lot of the brain benefits of

nasal breathing compared to mouth

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breathing come based on how much

oxygen we're able to deliver to

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very important parts of the brain.

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So evidence suggests that mouth breathing

may be associated with an increased

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risk of impaired brain function.

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Due to lower oxygen saturation,

and that's the amount of hemoglobin

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that our blood carries, that

carries those oxygen molecules to

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the necessary parts of the brain.

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So this has been further

confirmed by multiple studies.

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So there's FMRI studies that have

found that mouth breathing has led

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to impairments in working memory.

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So there was increased neural activity

during working tasks in nasal breathers

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when we're working on a tough project,

when we're needing a lot of that

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mental effort, nasal breathers showed

increased neural activity when they

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were actually working on that task

compared to mouth breathers, FMRI.

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Studies have also found, that mouth

breathing has led to impairments in smell

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memory or olfactory memory, mathematical

abilities, learning skills, and

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they've also found that mouth breathing

showed lower blood oxygenation to.

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The hippocampus, brainstem, and cerebellum

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for children.

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Studies have also shown lower achievement

of academic skills in mouth breathers

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compared to nasal breathing children.

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EEG brain studies have shown that

mouth breathers had decreased

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theta and alpha waves at rest.

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And during various mental tasks

compared to nasal breathers.

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And nasal breathers have also shown

increased neural integrations for things

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like self-awareness and consciousness.

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And lastly, nasal breathers have

also shown improved reaction time to

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fearful stimuli, as well as increased

accuracy in visual object recognition.

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For respiration and breathing,

oxygen saturation and respiratory

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rates significantly decreased during

mouth breathing compared to nasal

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breathing, which might lead to

postural deficits we see for mouth

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breathers trying to get more oxygen.

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As we can see, a lot of it has to.

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To do with how much oxygen we're

actually able to get to muscles and

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then also to our brain and the pathways

that we're able to receive that oxygen

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either via the nose or via the mouth

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in order to successfully breathe.

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So lastly, when it comes to posture

and your pelvic floor goes into that,

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of course mouth breathers typically

have that forward head posture because

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, they're trying to shift their actual

structure in order to increase the

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amount of oxygen that they're able to

intake via their mouth, because that

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is their preferred way of breathing.

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So forward head posture, which

means they oftentimes have

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overuse of the neck muscles.

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A lot of people with neck pain.

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Will often be mouth breathers.

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This is a generalization, but we always

check how they're breathing in order to

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tell are they overusing some of those

neck muscles or are those neck muscles

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super tight because they're having to

position their head in such a way to

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breathe through their mouth, which is

the way that they prefer to breathe.

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Because of that forward head posture,

they also can have poor efficiency

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of their overall breathing muscles.

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So if you guys have listened to

our episodes before, you know that

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breathing a lot of the time is.

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Focused on the alignment of your rib

cage over your pelvic floor, how the

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diaphragm's able to descend, how the

pelvic floor is able to descend in order

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to create this like coordinating system

for respiration, for bowel movements,

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for a lot of different things within

that like thoracic and abdominal cavity.

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And if your head's forward, that's

automatically throwing the system

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off so you can have poor diaphragm

function and coordination in addition

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to poor pelvic floor function and

coordination, when your head's forward.

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That's typical of people

who mouth breathe.

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Mouth breathers are often also chest

breathers, meaning forward with the

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chest, and , using some of those

accessory breathing muscles rather

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than the primary breathing muscles

in order to accomplish that goal of

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respiration and getting enough oxygen.

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But with chest breathing, we're limiting

that expansion of the diaphragm.

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We're limiting that expansion of

the pelvic floor we're just having

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an overall poorer musculoskeletal.

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Coordination of respiration, that's

going to lead to things like possible

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neck pain, possible low back pain.

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So not only is it affecting the brain,

your working memory, your reaction

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time, but it's also affecting some

of the like physical symptoms that

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you're getting when it comes to pain.

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And then lastly, mouth breathers

often use those accessory breathing

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muscles more because , a lot of

the time that position is off.

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And so they're forced to use things

like their sternocleidomastoid,

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that really big muscle in the front.

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They're forced to use some of

these intercostals, that these

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accessory breathing muscles are

utilized during laughing and

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coughing and heavier, forceful.

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Tasks for breathing heavy exercise.

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It should not be your primary

way of breathing when it

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comes to breathing at rest.

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And people who mouth, breathe or oral

breathe oftentimes use these accessory

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muscles when they don't really have to.

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So that can create a lot of tension

in different areas that don't

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necessarily need to be having tension.

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So now we are all a little hotter

and smarter now that we know

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the benefits of nasal breathing

and how mouth tape can help.