Key Takeaways...
Did you know that you can improve your health and get better sleep by nasal breathing using mouth tape when you go to bed at night?
I first heard about this concept years ago from Patrick McKeown who is the man behind what’s called the Buteyko Clinic.
Essentially he teaches the opposite of the Wim Hof method. The Wim Hof method teaches more shallow breathing with quicker inhales and exhales. I’m not a fan of the Wim Hof method for general living.
If you’re about to go on stage and give a keynote presentation and need to get in “the zone” then it could be extremely helpful. If you’re dealing with a stressful crisis in the moment, then I recommend the Wim Hof method.
Mouth taping is just one of the many things I do to make sure I get optimal sleep each night.
For general living I highly recommend nasal breathing doing the techniques taught by Patrick. I’ve been doing it during the day for years and it also translates to using mouth tape at night.
You might be thinking what if I have a cold? What if my sinuses are congested?
These are legitimate questions and concerns. I don’t recommend people get mouth tape and use it without first doing the Buteyko method for a few days leading up to using the mouth tape.
Your body will adjust to this altered breathing method.
We were really never meant to breathe out of our mouths. Our mouth is for eating and drinking. Our nose is for breathing. Sounds like common sense until you go out into the world and see how many people breathe through their mouths all day.
What is the science behind nasal breathing you might ask.
Konstantin Buteyko theorized that hyperventilation, or over-breathing, was the main underlying cause of many diseases, including asthma and sleep disorders. He suggested that this hyperventilation leads to hypocapnia (a decrease in blood carbon dioxide levels), triggering bronchospasm in the case of people with asthma.
Here’s an excerpt from their website:
The Buteyko Method first arrived to Australia and the UK from Russia in the early 1990s. Early on the method was popular with adults and children suffering from asthma. Over the past number of years, the Buteyko Method has shown to be efficacious in helping improve a number of breathing related problems including:
- Respiratory: asthma, rhinitis, hay fever
- Neurological: Anxiety, stress and panic attacks
- Childhood development: dental health, craniofacial development and ADHD
- Sleep disordered breathing: insomnia, snoring, central sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea
# 1 Nasal Breathing Regulates Blood pH
When you over breathe it reduces carbon dioxide in your blood which prevents oxygen being released from hemoglobin to tissues (Bohr Effect). Carbon dioxide has been demonized but if you reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood by breathing too often and too shallow, you prevent oxygen from being released from hemoglobin. If the blood is too acidic with low oxygen levels, then it will cause a stress response in the body. In order to regulate the pH of the blood it’ll pull calcium from bone in order to do that.
Your blood has a tight range of pH that it must keep or else you will die. We also know that acidic blood could lead to diseases like cancer. But getting back to sleep, you want to have a nice calm alkaline blood environment that holds lots of oxygen.
The way you do this is by breathing through your nose while you sleep. Mouth tape is an excellent way to “force” your body to nasal breathe.
I do want to warn you though, to talk with your doctor first and follow his advice.
I personally did not do that, I had been doing the nasal breathing for years prior to trying mouth tape.
I noticed waking up feeling more refreshed and energetic. It made a huge difference in my energy levels the next day.
#2 Nasal Breathing Improves Lung Health
Nasal breathing not only helps regular blood pH and cortisol levels, but it also help protect the lungs. When you breathe through your nose the little hairs called cilia inside collect toxins that are in the bedroom preventing them from reaching your lungs.
Do you think there could be a connection between decades of mouth breathing (allowing chemicals and toxins in our ambient indoor environment) and lung cancer? I haven’t seen any research or studies on that but my suspicion says yes.
A side benefit of nasal breathing is that it increases nasal nitric oxide concentration, enhancing oxygen uptake and sterilizing inhaled air which is also extremely beneficial for lung health.
#3 Nasal Breathing Calms the Nervous System
Breathing through our nose is normal and natural. Not only that but its in alignment with our physiology. If you’re trying to fall asleep fast and your heart is pumping and your mind is racing it probably means your blood pH is acidic and your nervous system is on high alert.
Nasal breathing engages your upper and lower diaphragm and engages it in a rhythmic way. Breathing like this with your diaphragm engages activates your parasympathetic nervous system and allows you to calm down and turn your mind off so that you can fall asleep.
Conclusion
There are many other benefits to nasal breathing using mouth tape that I didn’t get into in this article but I’ll do that again. I noticed that when I started using mouth tape, it becomes almost addictive.
Breathing through your nose or having the tape on your lips isn’t addictive. In fact when you first start doing it, you might feel the urge to take it off. I felt that way. But after a few nights the addiction is how good you feel when you wake up.
If you use an Oura Ring, you can test how much deep sleep you got and how much REM sleep you got with the mouth tape verses without it.
If you are intrigued but concerned or have health conditions like sleep apnea, always talk with your sleep doctor about doing something like this.
I for one am a big fan and highly recommend it to all my friends and family.
Questions…
- How often do you catch yourself mouth breathing during the day?
- Does mouth taping sound interesting to you?
- Do you think it would work for you?
- What are your concerns about nasal breathing in general and mouth taping in particular?
Comment below and let me know.
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