Momentum Issue 29: Nasal breathing
Momentum Issue 29: Nasal breathing
This week, we’re learning about nasal breathing and how to start incorporating this type of breathing into our lives.
Nasal breathing comes with a host of benefits, and its opposite, mouth breathing, has a lot of detrimental effects on our health.
Importance
“No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly.” - James Nestor
Learning to breathe properly is crucial if we want to improve our health. And a great place to start is with nasal breathing.
Mouth breathing can lead to:
Increased feelings of anxiety
Increased blood pressure and heart rate
A chronically activated sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system
A cramped mouth and crooked teeth
Fatigue
Nasal breathing, on the other hand, has myriad benefits:
Increased efficiency of oxygen uptake: Breathing through your nose drives oxygen into the lower lobes of the lungs, meaning all 5 lobes are utilized rather than just the top 2, and the air stays in the lungs for longer, increasing the efficiency of oxygen uptake.
Increased parasympathetic activation: The lower lobes of the lungs have more parasympathetic nerve receptors that calm the body and mind, compared to the upper lobes of the lungs which trigger sympathetic symptoms such as our fight or flight reaction.
More carbon dioxide expelled: As air drives into the lower lobes of the lungs where there is more blood, carbon dioxide is taken out of the blood more effectively.
The lymph system flows more effectively: Nasal breathing leads to full activation of the ribcage which helps with lymph flow. This is important as unlike the cardiovascular system, the lymph system doesn’t have its own pump and relies on the action of our muscles to pump lymph around the body.
Decreased breathing and heart rate: Nasal breathing leads to a reduction in the number of breaths taken as well as a decrease in heart rate, which is crucial for good health.
Increased alpha brain waves: Breathing through the nose increases alpha brain waves. These are the brain waves that lead to increased concentration and focus.
More fat burned: Nasal breathing during exercise increases fat burning compared with breathing through the mouth. Turning fat into energy requires oxygen, and because nasal breathing increases the efficiency of oxygen uptake, we are able to burn more fat.
Implementation
Increase your awareness of how you are breathing throughout the day. Regularly check in and notice when you are mouth breathing, and try to switch to nasal breathing.
Try nasal breathing during exercise or any time when your heart rate is elevated. You need to start slow, and only work with what you can handle. It might take weeks to build up a tolerance, but it will be worth it.
Tip: Exercise at a pace that allows you to keep breathing through your nose. If you feel yourself wanting to take a breath through your mouth, slow down until you’re comfortable again. You can slowly increase your pace each week until you can nasal breathe at the full pace of whatever exercise it is you’re doing.
Resources
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
This is an eye-opening book into the impact of mouth breathing and the powerful benefits of nasal breathing.
This book goes well beyond nasal breathing, and I can confidently say reading this book will change the way you breathe forever.
How to Improve Exercise Performance: The Importance of Nasal Breathing
Here is an article of mine where I cover nasal breathing in more depth.
Shut your Mouth and Change your Life
This is a great TED talk by Patrick McKeown, author of The Oxygen Advantage.
Articles I published last week
21 Healthy Habits to Adopt In 2021
A Busy Person’s Guide to Exercise Consistency
3 Easy Ways to Boost Your Motivation to Exercise
10 Simple Practices That Will Help You Get 1% Better Every Single Day
This is the first issue in a 3-part series by Momentum. This week covered nasal breathing, which is a simple but powerful introduction to using our breath as a tool in improving our health. The second issue, which will come out next Monday, will delve further into breathwork, and the third issue will cover how we can improve our heart rate variability (HRV) and how to improve our vagus nerve function. I hope this will be an informative journey into how we can utilize our own physiology in promoting better health, especially for those dealing with stress or anxiety.