Perhaps this is a bit of a weird topic.
Who knew how you breathed was so important!
The way you breathe overall is linked to your posture and core engagement.
But whether you breathe through your mouth or nose has far reaching impacts on your body and health as a whole!
If you’re breathing through your mouth most, or all, of the time then it’s really worth trying to change that.
Mouth breathing is simply not optimal for your body. Of course, you can get air in quickly through your mouth, but it just doesn’t support your physiology as effectively as nasal breathing. People who breathe through their mouth are more likely to develop sleep disorders like sleep apnea.
Your nose works as a filter, humidifier and heater or cooler of air – your mouth does not.
If you’re able to breathe through your mouth most or all of the time, you’ll see an improvement in your heart rate variability (which is a way to track stress levels), your sleep quality, energy levels and even your dental health.
And of course, the downstream effects of being less stressed, more energetic and better rested are huge!
So, how can you start to breathe through your nose rather than your mouth?
Well, first you can work on your tongue posture by suctioning your tongue onto the roof of your mouth, which will encourage you to breathe through your nose naturally.
If you’ve got a stuffy nose, fixing that might well fix the issue. Nasal strips can be really effective, or if you’ve got allergies which are causing your nose to be blocked, you could work on these too.
You could also try mouth taping. It’s definitely a bit of a peculiar look, but by taping your mouth closed when you go to bed, you’ll force nasal breathing. It should be noted that this does not improve breathing patterns for everyone – and that if you have a blocked nose, you should, obviously, not tape your mouth shut!