Every breath you take

 Just notice, is your mouth open or closed as you breathe right now?

If you are in the clinic space with me, one of the many things I take note of is how you are breathing. It says so much about your general health and well-being, your emotional state and the systems in your body that might be restricted or under pressure.

Around 50% of the population are ‘mouth-breathers’ and although the prevailing belief in Western medicine is that this doesn’t really matter, there is a movement in integrative health that suggests that it does. There have been quotes and studies to this effect going back to ancient Chinese medicine but more recently, doctors and scientists have been saying the same thing. Breathing through the nose is good, breathing through the mouth is not.

But why?

When we breathe through our nose, not only is the air filtered and warmed, it is forced against the soft tissue at the back of the throat and this increased pressure serves to keep those tissues ‘toned’. This in turn keeps the airways widened and it is easier to breathe. When we breathe through an open mouth, the pressure decreases and this tissue gets loose, narrowing the airways and making breathing harder.

Even if we don’t think we mouth-breathe during the day, we may routinely do so at night as gravity takes effect. Over 40% of adults in the UK regularly snore and 1 in 10 suffers from sleep apnoea where breathing repeatedly stops and starts.

I see this happening on my treatment couch at least every week.

Typically, people who have sleep apnoea get poor quality sleep every single night whether or not they realise it. This means that as soon as they relax, they fall asleep as a way of trying to catch up. They rarely feel refreshed.

So, if you snore or have sleep apnoea, or even mouth-breathe a lot, what do you do about it?

The very first step is awareness. Simply by noticing that you are regularly breathing through your mouth, you begin to tune in and may be able to take the choice to breathe through your nose . For some people, mouth breathing is a habit. For others, chronic congestion or other obstructive issues make nose breathing feel impossible.

In his illuminating book Breath James Nestor explores the often-overlooked science and looks at possible solutions. One simple exercise that he experiments with and which is gaining popularity amongst health professionals and fitness experts is mouth-taping.

Dr Ann Kearney from Stanford Voice and Swallowing Center used this with her patients after seeing incredible benefits for herself. Even, and in fact especially, people with chronic congestion benefit from mouth-taping. Although it may feel impossible to start with, patients report an increasing ability to breathe through a once-blocked nose, with many avoiding invasive procedures when they persisted for a number of weeks. It seems the key is not to give up at the first hurdle, and simply experiment for minutes at a time to begin with, continuing daily to allow the nasal structures to recover.

 I myself, experimented with this (much to the bemusement of my husband, Anders!) using a small square of micropore tape in the middle of my mouth, to close my lips before sleeping. I don’t snore and generally have no problems breathing through my nose, but even so, I woke up feeling more refreshed and well-rested every time I tried it.

If we can improve our health simply by taking this small step, I’m sure it’s worth it..