Nasal Breathing:
Why & When?
Nasal breathing and mouth taping have recently been gaining mainstream popularity. Maybe you’ve seen them on social media or maybe you’ve seen professional athletes practicing with their mouths taped shut.
Today we are going to dig into the benefits of nasal vs. mouth breathing, as well as realistic strategies for incorporating nasal breathing into your life.
First let’s first dive into the benefits of nasal breathing:
Unlike mouth breathing, nasal breathing filters dust, bacteria, and viruses. Reduce our chances of getting sick - we’re in!
Nasal breathing humidifies and warms air, reducing the incidence of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction which is often associated with shortness of breath, tight chest, coughing, asthma attacks and decreased endurance.
Nasal breathing can improve oxygen exchange by warming, humidifying, and pressurizing air.
Nasal breathing increases nitric oxide concentrations, which in turn dilate blood vessels, once again helping oxygen uptake. Another bonus of blood vessel dilation: it can help lower your blood pressure!
Nasal breathing has been shown to improve physiological economy without compromising maximal oxygen consumption. Bonus: the 2018 Study looking at this was performed with recreational runners!
How to realistically incorporate nasal breathing into your life:
Evidence suggests that we should be able to perform high intensity exercises with nasal only breathing without changes in power output or performance measures. Realistically, that is not something you can just do one day! In all the studies we looked at, all of the participants assigned to nasal breathing had been practicing nasal breathing for months.
Most of us have developed the habit of mouth breathing for various reasons, but thanks to neuroplasticity, we do have the ability to change this! The first place to start is to recognize whether you are nasal breathing or mouth breathing at rest. If you habitually breathe through your mouth, you’re not alone, work on nasal breathing at rest. Pretty straight forward there…
Next, try to gradually work on nasal breathing during zone 2 cardio - slow, steady cardiovascular activities. Think walking, slow steady biking, rowing, elliptical or jogging. Unfortunately we couldn’t find studies looking specifically at Zone 2 nasal breathing, but we can deduce from other studies that incorporating nasal breathing more than you already are can help with your aerobic fitness through improved oxygen exchange, along with all of those other positive benefits listed above. Remember, you theoretically should be able to receive just as much oxygen with nasal breathing, but this is something most of us are not accustomed to. It is common for athletes to complain of feeling congested or thirsty for air when they start incorporating nasal breathing - this is normal, just start gradually.
Lastly, mouth taping at night is another way to reap the benefits of nasal breathing. The theory behind this is tapping into neuroplasticity to help train yourself to nasal breathe, with minimal effort or thought being required. Another bonus: research suggests a profound increase in obstructive sleep apnea in mouth vs nasal breathers. From our research, the most comfortable method for this appears to involve placing a piece of tape perpendicular vs parallel to your lips. (We DON’T recommend trying this when you’re sick!)
In Conclusion:
Who would have thought the average 20,000 breaths we take a day could have such an impact on our health?! We hope you join us in challenging yourself to make an effort to increase how many of those breaths are through your nose!
Breathe Easy,
The BPT Team
PS - Want to nerd out a little more? Check out the 2020 NYT Best Seller book “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nester.
References:
Dallam, G. M., McClaran, S. R., Cox, D. G., & Foust, C. P. (2018). Effect of nasal versus oral breathing on Vo2max and physiological economy in recreational runners following an extended period spent using nasally restricted breathing. International Journal of Kinesiology and Sports Science, 6(2), 22-29.
Recinto, C., Efthemeou, T., Boffelli, P. T., & Navalta, J. W. (2017). Effects of nasal or oral breathing on anaerobic power output and metabolic responses. International journal of exercise science, 10(4), 506.
Fitzpatrick, M. F., McLean, H., Urton, A. M., Tan, A., O'donnell, D., & Driver, H. S. (2003). Effect of nasal or oral breathing route on upper airway resistance during sleep. European Respiratory Journal, 22(5), 827-832.