Very much appreciate the notion of, "if you’re stressed over finances, you probably need to create a budget before you worry about nasal breathing." I think we all want easy solutions to tough problems. I'd freakin' love being able to tape my mouth shut rather than actually working on stressful things in my life ;) We should probably be skeptical anytime anyone claims, "all you have to do is X, and it's VERY EASY, and all your problems will be solved!"
Great article, Michael! One breathing technique that has drastically relaxed me over the years has been the 4-7-8 breath, made popular by Dr Andrew Weil. Here is the link:
Back at it again with the appropriately nuanced health opinion! My extended family recently got into the mouth-taping thing and I had no idea what it was all about. My first instinct was to make fun of it (lol) but it's interesting to see that it actually holds some merit. Don't think I'll be trying it but at least I know they aren't crazy, at least, not for that reason. Haha.
i have mixed feelings about the whole mouth breathing vs nasal breathing debate. from a dentist's point of view, i have seen mouth breathing cause some nasty sh*t in people's mouths. mouth breathing, when combined with poor diet, bad oral hygiene and gum recession, is not a good thing to be doing, especially when sleeping. but just because someone has a mouth breathing alone does not mean their teeth will be doomed. i used mouth tape with my cpap while sleeping and it does make my sleep quality that much better to where i don't want to sleep without it. i always have been perplexed by the whole box breathing and 4-6-7 breath pattern while meditating. and i pretty much always have to breathe through my mouth when doing heavy exercising.
i did read james nestor's book "breath" and found it to be really informative. i liked how there were a lot of correlations to dentistry and breathing which really increased my awareness on that topic.
One more note- people who have a lot of systemic health issues and take multiple medications have increased risk for dry mouth (it is a common side effect of medications) and the mouth breathing will really have a significant negative impact when combined with this. People who are very healthy and have a lot of saliva won’t be affected as much when it comes to their oral health.
During sleep is the only time I’m intentional about nasal breathing (with mouth tape) and man does it make a big difference. I always thought I slept fine before, but since starting with mouth taping I stopped snoring (according to my wife), I wake up during the night far less often, and I don’t wake up with a dry mouth. And I absolutely notice the difference when I don’t use tape, like if I forget it while traveling.
That's great to hear! Thanks for weighing in. It's good to hear that you're a case where you thought you were sleeping fine, but learned otherwise. I appreciate the input.
Timing of this article is impeccable…I just bought the book Breath, by James Nestor last week. About a quarter of the way through it. Very interesting to observe people in the day to day on whether they are nose or mouth breathers. Not during workouts, but just normal living. As always…this is a great common sense approach.
I’m my experience consciously altering your breath pattern is useful for (1) free diving (2) bracing during a heavy lift, (3) intentionally limiting your aerobic output (we do this during jiu jitsu sparring to regulate intensity). Everything else seems like a mental exercise that has little to do with physical training. That being said, if it works for your keep doing it.
Very much appreciate the notion of, "if you’re stressed over finances, you probably need to create a budget before you worry about nasal breathing." I think we all want easy solutions to tough problems. I'd freakin' love being able to tape my mouth shut rather than actually working on stressful things in my life ;) We should probably be skeptical anytime anyone claims, "all you have to do is X, and it's VERY EASY, and all your problems will be solved!"
I’m glad you appreciated that! :)
Great article, Michael! One breathing technique that has drastically relaxed me over the years has been the 4-7-8 breath, made popular by Dr Andrew Weil. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRPh_GaiL8s&t=189s
Back at it again with the appropriately nuanced health opinion! My extended family recently got into the mouth-taping thing and I had no idea what it was all about. My first instinct was to make fun of it (lol) but it's interesting to see that it actually holds some merit. Don't think I'll be trying it but at least I know they aren't crazy, at least, not for that reason. Haha.
"at least, not for that reason." haha!
i have mixed feelings about the whole mouth breathing vs nasal breathing debate. from a dentist's point of view, i have seen mouth breathing cause some nasty sh*t in people's mouths. mouth breathing, when combined with poor diet, bad oral hygiene and gum recession, is not a good thing to be doing, especially when sleeping. but just because someone has a mouth breathing alone does not mean their teeth will be doomed. i used mouth tape with my cpap while sleeping and it does make my sleep quality that much better to where i don't want to sleep without it. i always have been perplexed by the whole box breathing and 4-6-7 breath pattern while meditating. and i pretty much always have to breathe through my mouth when doing heavy exercising.
i did read james nestor's book "breath" and found it to be really informative. i liked how there were a lot of correlations to dentistry and breathing which really increased my awareness on that topic.
I think the link to oral health and breathing is really interesting.
One more note- people who have a lot of systemic health issues and take multiple medications have increased risk for dry mouth (it is a common side effect of medications) and the mouth breathing will really have a significant negative impact when combined with this. People who are very healthy and have a lot of saliva won’t be affected as much when it comes to their oral health.
During sleep is the only time I’m intentional about nasal breathing (with mouth tape) and man does it make a big difference. I always thought I slept fine before, but since starting with mouth taping I stopped snoring (according to my wife), I wake up during the night far less often, and I don’t wake up with a dry mouth. And I absolutely notice the difference when I don’t use tape, like if I forget it while traveling.
That's great to hear! Thanks for weighing in. It's good to hear that you're a case where you thought you were sleeping fine, but learned otherwise. I appreciate the input.
Timing of this article is impeccable…I just bought the book Breath, by James Nestor last week. About a quarter of the way through it. Very interesting to observe people in the day to day on whether they are nose or mouth breathers. Not during workouts, but just normal living. As always…this is a great common sense approach.
Fantastic. Great timing.
I do think mouth breathing ALL the time is probably associated with some negative outcomes!
Andrew Huberman discusses a lot of breathing techniques on his podcast, Huberman Labs. He gets into the science behind it as well.
I’m my experience consciously altering your breath pattern is useful for (1) free diving (2) bracing during a heavy lift, (3) intentionally limiting your aerobic output (we do this during jiu jitsu sparring to regulate intensity). Everything else seems like a mental exercise that has little to do with physical training. That being said, if it works for your keep doing it.
The free diving breathing methods are wild. Really interesting world!
I agree about 2 and 3 as well. And I especially agree with "if it works for your keep doing it." Amen.
Great piece. Thanks for cutting through the hype!
2% Sanity Sauce!
Keep bottles on hand.
Use liberally!
DAWN lol. This killed me. So good.
"2% Sanity Sauce!
Keep bottles on hand.
Use liberally!"