A Love Letter to Your Nose

Because breathing automatically doesn’t mean you’re doing it right

How to Breathe Optimally at Any Given Moment (It’s Simpler Than You Might Think)

I’m no psychic, but I’m going to make 3 super-scientific sounding hypotheses about you right now.

First – you’re breathing. (I know, I know! Go me, I’m already on a roll here 👏) 

Second – you weren’t thinking about it until I said that. 

Third – you’re probably doing it wrong. Over half of all adults do, per The National Center for Biotechnology Information. 

Now if it sounds crazy that something we are born doing, that is completely instinctual and automatic and necessary for survival can be done incorrectly…

I couldn’t agree more!

But it turns out that super common ways of breathing – like over-breathing (taking in more air than we really need) or using your mouth to breathe – can have negative health consequences for you both physically and mentally. 

Author James Nestor had his nose plugged and taped to do research for his book, Breath (that’s an affiliate link). After 5 days of breathing exclusively through his mouth, his blood pressure had skyrocketed 13 points, his heart rate was higher, his body temperature lower, and he felt like garbage.

After another 5 days, his nose was completely blocked, he developed a bacterial infection, and his sleep patterns were out of whack. 

That’s after just 10 days… 

Can you imagine what the effects could be after, say, 10 years? 😱

This is why, if I could give you only one piece of advice about how to breathe to feel your best at any given time, it would be:

Mouth closed - breathe through your nose.

It’s simple enough advice for me to tell you… and I realize that if you’re a hardcore mouth breather (this used to be me!), it might not be an easy habit to change. 

But it’s worth training yourself to use your nose as much as possible, and there are kind of a surprising number of reasons why. 

First, your nose was purpose-built for breathing. (Your mouth was purpose-built for eating.)

This doesn’t sound particularly earth shattering, but it’s important because it means your nose has a whole bunch of breath-related features your mouth can’t possibly live up to.

Your nose filters out all kinds of things – not just irritants like dust, pollen, and other allergens that trigger sneezing fits, but also invisible germs. (If only it would filter out the scent of patchouli as well.)

Your mouth does none of these things and basically just serves as an expressway between your lungs and the outside world. So if you breathe through your mouth, you inhale far more toxins… and are likely to get sick more often.

Plus, um, you’re actively swallowing toxins! 🤢

Meanwhile, your nose doesn’t just protect you from these alien invaders. It also warms up and humidifies the air you’re inhaling, which allows your lungs to work more efficiently. 

And here’s something kinda wild – nasal breathing creates a chemical compound called nitric oxide, which widens your blood vessels. This improves the flow of blood throughout your body and can help increase the circulation of oxygen as well.

Now let’s talk mouth-breathing… DUN DUN DUN. 

Mouth breathing offers exactly zero of those benefits. In fact, it’s got some unpleasant side effects, including bad breath and dry mouth…

Also, over time IT CAN ACTUALLY CHANGE THE SHAPE OF YOUR FACE.  

In Breath, James Nestor shared about an experiment with monkeys in the 1970s where their noses were plugged for two full years. (I agree, it sounds cruel and inhumane but it happened.)

The monkeys’ dental arches narrowed, their teeth grew in crooked, and the entire shape of their faces changed. But 6 months after the plugs were removed, their faces started returning to their former state. 

Nestor’s research led him to discover that humans used to have bigger faces too. But once they started eating softer, more processed (i.e. cooked) foods, their brains started growing faster and commanding more real estate within their heads.

This forced our ancestors’ mouths to start to narrow. There was no other way to make room for those bigger brains! 

And as the mouths narrowed, their roofs grew higher… interfering with the development of the nasal cavity and even shrinking it.

The result? Less airflow and more stuffiness for humankind.

So if you want to use air as efficiently as possible, reduce your chances of illness, and keep your breath from offending people in the near vicinity… 

Mouth closed. Use your nose!

Even if you hate it, even if you think it’s way too pointy or porous or shiny or bulbous or long – your nose is there to protect you. So take advantage👃

Now There’s a Thought…

"What so many people never consider is the nose’s unexpected role… How it can trigger a cavalcade of hormones and chemicals that lower blood pressure and ease digestion… How it regulates our heart rate, open the vessels in our toes, and stores memories. How the density of your nasal hairs helps determine whether you’ll suffer from asthma.

Few of us ever consider how the nostrils of every living person pulse to their own rhythm, opening and closing like a flower in response to our moods, mental states, and perhaps even the sun and moon.” ~ James Nestor

Any thoughts of your own after reading this? Leave a comment below!