Photo taken inside the Eisriesenwelt ice cave, Austrian Alps
Lost Art
At first glance, I didn’t understand what was so important about breathing exercises. While I can’t remember the exact moment I first heard about them, I do recall familiar sensations of absurdity and ridicule toward the whole idea.
I mean, seriously—breathing? How dysfunctional must we all be to even need a reminder about something so basic and essential to our existence? Little did I know, however, that my snap judgment on the topic could not have been more wrong.
Nowadays, and in various areas of our lives, it’s not uncommon to come across the phrase: Don’t forget to breathe. As crazy as it sounds, we all take part in plenty of activities on a regular basis that have an undeniable impact on our breathing, including poor posture, long periods of hyperfocus, and doomscrolling.
“Screen apnea” refers to the experience of constant scrolling that leads to shallow breathing or unconsciously holding your breath while using computers or phones, and holding video calls. Another phenomenon worth learning about is the science behind the negative effects of mouth breathing and its consequences to our well-being in more ways than we might realize.
In Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor shines a light on this topic with case studies and self-experimentation, advocating for the benefits of exclusive nasal breathing. I personally found this fascinating and life-changing, which is why I put together these insights below on why we should stop mouth breathing altogether.
1. Reduced Oxygen
Unbeknownst to some of us, our noses process air differently than the way our mouths do. When we breathe through our mouths, we absorb less oxygen because the air we take in at the moment bypasses the nasal cavity.
In contrast, nasal breathing allows us to produce nitric acid, a gas that improves oxygen absorption efficiency by 18%. This can only happen through using our sinuses, allowing our blood vessels to expand and significantly improve our oxygen uptake.
2. Poor Sleep Quality
Another area that mouth breathing causes damage to is the quality of our sleep. According to health experts, it leads to fragmented, reduced periods of proper rest from drying out the throat, which can bring about snoring and sleep apnea over time.
This, unfortunately, creates a cycle of sabotage since frequently waking up during the night only gives you sleep deprivation and ultimately, daytime fatigue. Needless to say, this doesn’t exactly lend itself to a mental and physical capacity where you are ready to take on the challenges of the day.
3. Oral Health Problems
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons to quit breathing through your mouth is that it has a direct effect on your dental health. I was surprised to find out that chronic dryness reduces your saliva, a natural defense the mouth needs to neutralize acid and kill bacteria.
It only gets worse from there since, without saliva, harmful bacteria can thrive and lead to rapid teeth decay. When left unattended, this can turn into increased plaque buildup, higher cavity risk, enamel erosion, and so much more.
4. Weakened Immune System
Another key finding that left me dumbfounded is how mouth breathing affects our immunity. Results from scientific studies reveal that this happens because when we refuse to breathe through the nose, we bypass its built-in functions for filtering, warming, and humidifying, all of which protect pathogens and pollutants entering our lungs.
Nasal breathing provides us with a natural defense system while using cilia and mucus to trap bacteria and allergens. This also ties back to the nitric acid it naturally produces, as it is antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial, which bolsters our immune system to fight off infections.
5. Facial Development Issues
I was also taken aback to learn how the way we breathe directly affects our facial features and jaw alignment. According to experts, chronic mouth breathing can cause facial development issues like “long face syndrome” or “adenoid facies.”
These issues stem from constantly keeping your mouth open and a low tongue posture, which changes the natural shape of the jaw, chin, and face with less defined structure. For children, this is especially problematic, with some cases highlighting how it can lead to disrupted jaw growth, crowded teeth, and poor posture.
6. Dry Mouth
Last but not least, another reason we should stop breathing through the mouth is that its dryness leads to reduced saliva production. This is harmful for all sorts of reasons because saliva is essential for washing away food particles and bacteria with neutralizing acids.
In more ways than one, it serves as a cleaning agent that keeps our oral environment in good condition. Moreover, with insufficient saliva, odor-causing bacteria can thrive, leading to gum disease, tooth decay, and bad breath over time.
Inherent Value
Never in a million years would I have guessed how a topic like breathing could spark my interest in such a personal way. But the more I read about it, the more I find out just how much we collectively seem to underestimate its inherent value to our lives.
While it’s not exactly a topic I’d describe as complex, I still find it so intriguing and compelling regardless of how simple it appears on the surface. Thankfully, with so much research and information out there, it’s interesting to know that I’m not the only one leaning toward it with deep curiosity.
