Nasal breathing - What is it? And why should we be doing it to improve our health?

I’m sure you’ve heard someone say, a life is made of a finite number of heart beats - but have you ever heard someone assimilate one’s lifespan with the number of breaths they take? If this is true, that means by actively controlling our breathing by reducing the number of breaths we take in a day, we could hypothetically live longer! So how do you take less breaths - particularly during exercise, when the body is screaming for increased oxygen, and as a result, increased frequency of breathing? Well, part of the answer lies in actively telling our brain to breathe less breaths.

And what if I told you that by changing the WAY you breathe, you could not only help control how often you breathe, but also improve your sleep, reduce common allergic reactions, improve your breathing and oxygenation, and reduce anxiety in your life - all by making small modifications to your normally involuntary breathing - would you try it? This method of breathing is known as ‘nasal breathing’, and is a simple, small modification to your regular breathing, that when incorporated into your healthy lifestyle, can reap large health benefits.

In an average day, humans take approximately 25,000 breaths [1]; and on average 12-20 breaths/minute. Anything less than 12 breaths/min is called bradypnea, and in the medical world is often associated with drugs, and obstructive sleep apnea; or in the sports world with well-trained elite athletes. Anything greater than 20 breaths/min is known as tachypnea, sometimes associated with infections (eg. pneumonia), dehydration [2], or increased cardiorespiratory demand during exercise. As we can see, both decreased and increased breathing can be associated with either pathological or healthy processes in the human body.

In this article, we will focus on reduced respiratory/breathing rate (RR) in the context of healthy bodily adaptations (ie. nasal breathing) to potentially increase life expectancy, and improve your general health.

Nasal breathing (NB), as it sounds, is breathing through your nose/nostrils, rather than breathing through your mouth (ie. your mouth is closed the entire time you inhale and exhale each breath). NB can improve one’s health, partly due to the unique structure of the nasal septum, which has three unique over-hanging ‘awning-like’ structures on each side, called 'turbinates' (see Images 1-3), which create turbulent air, forcing the air and bacteria to come into contact with nasal hairs, which improves our ability to filter dust, allergens and bacteria.

The nasal septum can also warm and humidify air heading into the lungs better than through our mouth (as we lose moisture when mouth breathing), and increase oxygen uptake relative to mouth breathing. Improved oxygen uptake is a result of NO (nitric oxide) release, triggered by NB. NO is a gas released from the endothelial cells lining the nostrils, which causes surrounding blood vessels to dilate, and thus become more saturated with oxygen. Studies report that NB improves ‘oxygen load’ to the prefrontal cortex more than mouth breathing [3]. The prefrontal cortex by the way, is the “personality centre” of the brain, involved in planning, complex cognitive behaviours and decision-making (an area I would like to keep well oxygenated, personally!).

In contrast, ‘mouth breathing’, may contribute to some individual’s developing asthma, halitosis (ie. bad breath), tooth decay, OSA (obstructive sleep apnea), etc., as your mouth is unable to filter inhaled air or bacteria, and dries out the mouth/airways more easily. By NB - even at night - you can improve the previously mentioned health conditions - halitosis, OSA, asthma, etc.

Research suggests NB can help alleviate stress and reduce blood pressure, as it triggers certain hormones to be released [1]. When in an anxious state, we are activating the SNS (sympathetic nervous system), which naturally causes us to breath more rapidly and shallower, and often via mouth breathing. Yet, if we focus on intentionally, or actively ‘deep’ breathing through our nostrils, we lower our diaphragm further into our abdomen, allowing more oxygenated air to fill our lungs, while also taking fewer breaths, and switching the body’s sympathetic system “off”. Exhaling initiates our parasympathetic system, so logically, if we are now taking deeper/longer inhalations, we are also taking longer exhalations, and allowing the body to move into a state of relaxation.

So how often should one nasal breath? Ideally, all the time, but the reality is we all get sick at certain times of the year, which causes our the tissue in our nose and sinuses to become swollen, congested, and difficult to breath through. 

• A good starting point is 20-minutes of focused nasal breathing during the day (at rest). During your 20-minutes of nasal breathing, focus on intentionally breathing deeply from the diaphragm, and slowly exhaling to activate your parasympathetic ‘relaxation’ system.

•  When you are comfortable Nasal Breath at rest, then challenge yourself to NB during exercise: at first, for 5 minutes, then try to increase to 10 minutes, and so on, as far as you are able to sustain it.

• Finally, intentionally NB when you go to bed, until you fall asleep. Ask your spouse if you snored the following morning. If you are NB throughout your sleep, then you, by virtue, should NOT be snoring, as snoring results from a loose “floppy” airway, producing turbulent and noisy airflow through the mouth.

I have been practicing and experienced my own health benefits from nasal breathing over the last year. I’ve been focused on NB during intense exercise (to improve my endurance and energy preservation), but particularly at the end of exercise, when I am exhausted and most tempted to mouth breath. I practice it as much as I am aware during my sleep, and have found it has also improved my TMJ (joint pain, secondary to grinding teeth, usually in the context of stress).  

So, why not give nasal breathing a try today, and leave feedback about your own personal experience!

In wellness and health,

Dr. Kristyn Bell

References:

1. Gross, T. NPR website. [Online]. 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/27/862963172/how-the-lost-art-of-breathing-can-impact-sleep-and-resilience

2. Brinkman, J. E., et al. (2021). Physiology, respiratory drive.

3. Sano M, Sano S, Oka N, Yoshino K, Kato T. Increased oxygen load in the prefrontal cortex from mouth breathing: a vector-based near-infrared spectroscopy study. Neuroreport. 2013 Dec 4;24(17):935-40. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000000008. PMID: 24169579; PMCID: PMC4047298.