{"id":84102,"date":"2022-11-11T06:13:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T10:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=84102"},"modified":"2022-11-23T10:06:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T14:06:44","slug":"breathe-through-the-nose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/breathe-through-the-nose\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Breathe Through the Nose, Not the Mouth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is nose breathing better than mouth breathing? How can you habituate yourself to breathe through your nose<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your nose and sinus cavity are specifically designed to process air in ways your mouth can\u2019t. Breathing through the nose strengthens your airways, regulates your metabolism, and even has a positive effect on your brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s why you should try to breathe through the nose instead of the mouth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Breathe Through Your Nose<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you begin to breathe through the nose instead of the mouth, the tissues in your sinus and the back of your throat will cease to atrophy from lack of use. As with muscles, the sinus and throat will grow stronger with exercise; they will soon function better and allow for a healthier airflow. Meanwhile, the nose\u2019s cilia (fine hairs) and turbinates (boney structures) heat and clean the air you inhale so your lungs can extract more oxygen from it. The sinus also releases nitric oxide into the body, which widens blood vessels and increases circulation. In the author\u2019s self-experiment, when he unplugged his nostrils, in only a few days his blood pressure went down and his blood\u2019s carbon dioxide returned to normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The anatomy of the nose and sinus cavity<\/a> is even more complex than Nestor\u2019s description indicates. It\u2019s an ornate structure of cartilage, bone, skin, fatty tissue, three pairs of turbinates, and four pairs of sinuses. In addition to the infections and congestion Nestor warns of, it\u2019s also vulnerable to nosebleeds, cancer, injuries, and genetic disorders<\/a>. While scientists confirm Nestor\u2019s assertion that nitric oxide is crucial to supplying oxygen to the body, it\u2019s still not fully understood how<\/a> or where<\/a> it\u2019s produced in the nasal cavity, though current evidence points to the paranasal sinuses<\/a>, which were long considered to be unimportant organs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not just the act of breathing that does this. Nestor writes that there is a nasal cycle in which the right and left nostril alternate to control body temperature, blood pressure, and brain chemicals<\/strong>. (If you notice from time to time that one nostril congests while the other stays open, and then they mysteriously switch later on, this is the nasal cycle in action.) When breathing through your right nostril, your pulse, blood pressure, body temperature, and cortisol levels increase. Breathing through the left nostril has the opposite effect, and cycling between the two maintains your body\u2019s balance. Breathing through your mouth<\/a>, on the other hand, disengages the nasal cycle completely, depriving you of its body-regulating benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the nasal cycle helps regulate the brain. The right nostril is connected to the sympathetic nervous system, raising alertness and logical thinking. Likewise, the left nostril is linked to the parasympathetic nervous system, affecting creativity and abstract thought<\/a>. By switching the breath back and forth between the two, the body maintains mental equilibrium between states of relaxation and alertness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nasal Cycle<\/strong>

It\u2019s not accurate to describe the nasal cycle as \u201cbreathing through one nostril at a time,\u201d when in fact the distribution is closer to 75% through one and 25% through the other<\/a> at any given period, nor is it true that everyone has a nasal cycle at all. It\u2019s only observed in 70-80% of the population<\/a>, and in only half of those is the cycle truly periodic. 

The nasal cycle is present in<\/a> all<\/a> mammals<\/a>, not just humans, and is powered by asymmetrical blood flow to the sinuses<\/a>. Studies confirm a loose correlation between the dominant nostril and the opposite hemisphere of the brain<\/a>, but other research suggests that the cycle\u2019s function in the body is to allow cells on either side of the nasal passage to recharge<\/a> while alternating between air-conditioning and mucus-clearing processes.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is nose breathing better than mouth breathing? How can you habituate yourself to breathe through your nose? Your nose and sinus cavity are specifically designed to process air in ways your mouth can\u2019t. Breathing through the nose strengthens your airways, regulates your metabolism, and even has a positive effect on your brain. Here’s why you should try to breathe through the nose instead of the mouth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":57693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,160],"tags":[805],"class_list":["post-84102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-science","tag-breath","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy You Should Breathe Through the Nose, Not the Mouth - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The nose is specifically designed to process air in ways the mouth can\u2019t. 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