5 ms·

Sadly, people with allergies and/or deviated septums often breathe through their mouth. Also... breathing through your nose increases nitric oxide in the upper

Sadly, people with allergies and/or deviated septums often breathe through their mouth. Also... breathing through your nose increases nitric oxide in the upper airway.

canadianfella 4y ago
[dead]
adaml_623 4y ago
Reading through this article and comment thread makes me feel like I should be using a throwaway account to admit that I've been worried for years about the proportion of time I breath through my mouth due to feeling that I don't get enough air through my nose. This sentence, "Every participant practiced becoming familiar with oral breathing until the participants could naturally switch their breathing pattern from nasal breathing" made me feel like I must be an alien. I will say however that there are a fair number of comments in this thread that are not really up to the standard I'd expect from HN. I'm quite intrigued to see "mouth breathers" referred to in such derogatory terms. What kind of social indoctrination has triggered that response?
- loopdoend 4y ago
  The book Breath by James Nestor really sparked a popular awareness about breathing.
  - adaml_623 4y ago
    That was published in 2020. It doesn't feel like the root cause of the opinions being voiced in the comments.
  - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
    I read this few months ago. I did not like it.
tapia 4y ago
I am (was) one of those people (allergies and slightly deviated septum). I started to really breath through my nose about two years ago. I always thought that it would not be possible, because I felt that I could not get enough air. I started practicing while cycling to work everyday. At the beginning it really felt super hard (especially since I have to ride up the hill, about 200m altitude difference), but after a few days of this, it was not hard anymore and I started to breath exclusively through my nose without problems. I think that allergies, although still present, are less intense and it doesn't impair me to breath properly. So, just try.
- ranger47 4y ago
  What opened things up for you? I suffer from allergies, and have a slightly deviated septum, and I've tried so many sprays (caused dependency), breathing strips (falls off in the night), and even 3D printed a small cradle that would force my nose to open wider as I slept, which proved to be nothing short of annoying. I'm always open to trying new methods.
  - brigandish 4y ago
    It sounds like you need a CPAP machine or the like.
    - touisteur 4y ago
      CPAP is nice, but it can be a pain in the ass ; 9 months in I'm still struggling to use it consistently, with heavily deviated septum, allergies, seasonal sniffing. When I can consistently keep the mask on (nose) without feeling like I'm drowning, for at least a week, I get quite the refreshed feeling. Quite rare though... Tried all possible machine tunings, products, herbs, massages, activities... Still not there yet. And the surgeon isn't convinced I'll get better sleep even with deviated septum surgery, says he'd need to correct stuff 'behind' too. There's the 'mouth and nose' mask option but that leaks far more and is even more harder to sleep with... Seems if you breathe from your mouth when you grow up, your tongue isn't parked up, pushing on your palate, and your jaw and face bones don't grow up correctly and it's very hard to correct as an adult. I get bone and articulation pains with the CPAP machine, since my tongue is now parked correctly it pushes hard... Get your kids looked at. It's all hereditary for me (deviated septum) and I regret no-one telling me to get it looked at seriously when younger.
Reason077 4y ago
> ”Also... breathing through your nose increases nitric oxide in the upper airway” But that’s a good thing, right? Nitric oxide being a vasodilator and bronchodilator, it promotes and regulates good respiratory function.
vitaflo 4y ago
I haven't been able to really breathe through my nose my entire life. I've really never had any negative effects from it. Not cognitive (that I know of), top of my class, now a SWE. Not dental, haven't had a cavity in 40 years. Not physical, I used to run track in HS/College and often got on the podium. Nor illness, I haven't had any sinus infections. It's possible I just don't know what I'm missing, but (highly anecdotally) I haven't felt I've suffered having to breathe thru my mouth at all. Maybe it'll take me out when I get older, but I also don't know the difference.

Sadly, people with allergies and/or deviated septums often breathe through their mouth. Also... breathing through your nose increases nitric oxide in the upper airway.

canadianfella 4y ago

[dead]

adaml_623 4y ago

Reading through this article and comment thread makes me feel like I should be using a throwaway account to admit that I've been worried for years about the proportion of time I breath through my mouth due to feeling that I don't get enough air through my nose. This sentence, "Every participant practiced becoming familiar with oral breathing until the participants could naturally switch their breathing pattern from nasal breathing" made me feel like I must be an alien. I will say however that there are a fair number of comments in this thread that are not really up to the standard I'd expect from HN. I'm quite intrigued to see "mouth breathers" referred to in such derogatory terms. What kind of social indoctrination has triggered that response?

loopdoend 4y ago
The book Breath by James Nestor really sparked a popular awareness about breathing.
- adaml_623 4y ago
  That was published in 2020. It doesn't feel like the root cause of the opinions being voiced in the comments.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  I read this few months ago. I did not like it.

tapia 4y ago

I am (was) one of those people (allergies and slightly deviated septum). I started to really breath through my nose about two years ago. I always thought that it would not be possible, because I felt that I could not get enough air. I started practicing while cycling to work everyday. At the beginning it really felt super hard (especially since I have to ride up the hill, about 200m altitude difference), but after a few days of this, it was not hard anymore and I started to breath exclusively through my nose without problems. I think that allergies, although still present, are less intense and it doesn't impair me to breath properly. So, just try.

ranger47 4y ago
What opened things up for you? I suffer from allergies, and have a slightly deviated septum, and I've tried so many sprays (caused dependency), breathing strips (falls off in the night), and even 3D printed a small cradle that would force my nose to open wider as I slept, which proved to be nothing short of annoying. I'm always open to trying new methods.
- brigandish 4y ago
  It sounds like you need a CPAP machine or the like.
  - touisteur 4y ago
    CPAP is nice, but it can be a pain in the ass ; 9 months in I'm still struggling to use it consistently, with heavily deviated septum, allergies, seasonal sniffing. When I can consistently keep the mask on (nose) without feeling like I'm drowning, for at least a week, I get quite the refreshed feeling. Quite rare though... Tried all possible machine tunings, products, herbs, massages, activities... Still not there yet. And the surgeon isn't convinced I'll get better sleep even with deviated septum surgery, says he'd need to correct stuff 'behind' too. There's the 'mouth and nose' mask option but that leaks far more and is even more harder to sleep with... Seems if you breathe from your mouth when you grow up, your tongue isn't parked up, pushing on your palate, and your jaw and face bones don't grow up correctly and it's very hard to correct as an adult. I get bone and articulation pains with the CPAP machine, since my tongue is now parked correctly it pushes hard... Get your kids looked at. It's all hereditary for me (deviated septum) and I regret no-one telling me to get it looked at seriously when younger.

Reason077 4y ago

> ”Also... breathing through your nose increases nitric oxide in the upper airway” But that’s a good thing, right? Nitric oxide being a vasodilator and bronchodilator, it promotes and regulates good respiratory function.

vitaflo 4y ago

I haven't been able to really breathe through my nose my entire life. I've really never had any negative effects from it. Not cognitive (that I know of), top of my class, now a SWE. Not dental, haven't had a cavity in 40 years. Not physical, I used to run track in HS/College and often got on the podium. Nor illness, I haven't had any sinus infections. It's possible I just don't know what I'm missing, but (highly anecdotally) I haven't felt I've suffered having to breathe thru my mouth at all. Maybe it'll take me out when I get older, but I also don't know the difference.