The amount of benefits of using the nose for what it has been created is enormous. Dr. Maurice Cottle, who founded the American Rhinologic Society in 1954, said: «your nose performs at least 30 functions, all of which are important supplements to the roles played by the lungs, heart, and other organs». Let’s focus on the main ones.
The 9 Main benefits of breathing through your nose
Number 1:
The nose is warming and moistening the air for your lungs, and it also assumes the role of a filter by blocking big particles. If you breathe through the mouth, you will lose a lot of moisture. Your airways will dry and constrict. Your nose will become stuffy. That is why you are maybe waking up with a super dry mouth in the morning.
Number 2:
The nasal stuffiness triggered by mouth breathing will affect your sleep. Because your nose is blocked, you will switch to mouth breathing all the time, and everything will slowly fall apart. You will be more disposed to snoring and sleep apnea. You cannot have a good night’s sleep if you breathe all night through your mouth. By the way, your partner either if you snore all night. Suppose your sleep is affected, as your day. You will never feel refreshed.
Number 3:
Mouth breathing causes constriction of the blood vessels by flushing out too much carbon dioxide out of your body. The blood flows with less efficiency in smaller veins, leading to poor oxygenation. By breathing through your mouth, you are failing your heart, brain, and all your organs.
Number 4:
The dry mouth results in bad breath. It changes the pH of the mouth, resulting in dental cavities and gum disease.
Number 5:
By breathing through your nose, you will slow down your breathing. The nose is imposing 50% more resistance than the mouth. The air is coming into the lungs at a slower pace. The Oxygen transfer has more time to take place. It results in 10-20% more oxygen uptake. Breathing slowly through the nose is the key. This is important in everyday ordinary life, especially during your physical activity, especially during stressful situations.
Number 6:
The mouth breathing is ventilating mainly the upper part of the chest. The left lung counts two lobes. The right one counts three lobes. The blood in the lungs is concentrated primarily in the lower lobes (because of gravity). If you breathe with your mouth, you are taking air mainly in the upper part of your lungs.
Nose breathing is connected to the diaphragm. It will carry the air deep into your lungs, where the exchange with your blood can be done efficiently.
Can you take a deep breath?
There is a big misunderstanding about «deep breath.» Deep does not mean big. People think that to take more oxygen, they need to take a big breath with their mouth, expanding their upper chest.
At rest, your blood is 99% saturated with oxygen, so it is pointless to take an enormous amount of air to «fill a cup already full.» A deep breath is taken through the nose, moving down the diaphragm to send more air to the lower part of your lungs.
Number 7:
We need to preserve the proper oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange during respiration. If you breathe through the mouth, you will lose too much carbon dioxide leading to poor oxygen absorption.
Number 8:
Nose breathing triggers the parasympathetic nervous system through diaphragmatic breathing and helps you go into the »Zone.» Mouth breathing/chest does the opposite.
Number 9:
Nitric oxide is a molecule made in the nasal cavities, and it is considered one of the most essential molecules in the human body. Nitric oxide regulates many essential cell functions like healthy blood flow, healthy blood pressure levels, and the communication between cells in the brain.
It plays an essential rôle in the respiratory system. It is sterilizing the air; it is a bronchodilator and a vasodilator.
You have a factory of nitric oxide in your nose, not in your mouth; use it. If you are breathing slowly through your nose, you are carrying a higher concentration of nitric oxide into your lungs, and it is opening your airways. Do you remember I told you the lower lobes of the lungs are richer in blood? The gas exchange there is more efficient. The NO will help redistribute the blood from the lower part to the upper part of your lungs. Nose breathing associated with diaphragmatic breathing brings the air from the upper to the lower part of the lungs, and nitric oxide brings the blood from the lower to the upper part of your lungs. The exchange of gas is optimum.
