Nasal Breathing

topic

Nasal breathing (versus oral breathing) provides multiple physiological advantages — filtering and humidifying air, producing nitric oxide in the nasal sinuses (which dilates airways and blood vessels, improves oxygen uptake, and has antimicrobial properties), slowing breathing rate relative to oral breathing (producing less hyperventilation), warming air for optimal pulmonary gas exchange, and supporting the CO2 tolerance that chronic oral breathing reduces. Habitual oral breathing is associated with elevated stress reactivity, impaired sleep (particularly sleep-disordered breathing), and the hyperventilation syndrome that many anxiety sufferers experience.

Role

Nasal breathing restoration is one of the most consequential but least recognized breathing interventions available — with James Nestor's research and the work of Patrick McKeown establishing that the epidemic of mouth breathing in modern populations (produced by structural airway changes from soft food diets, chronic nasal congestion, and cultural preferences) is producing a chronic state of mild hyperventilation that elevates stress reactivity, impairs sleep, reduces athletic performance, and compromises cardiovascular efficiency. Most people with anxiety are hyperventilators — chronically over-breathing in ways that reduce CO2 below optimal levels, activating the sympathetic nervous system and producing the physical sensations of anxiety that they then experience as psychological symptoms.

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