These days are breathing is obstructed do to improper breathing. Many of us are breathing incorrectly do to various reasons. We are breathing through our mouths most of the time. When breathing through the mouth, you are breathing unfiltered air. This can cause an all manner of issues. The structure of your face can change in a negative way when mouth breathing. Chronic mouth breathers have a collapsed pallet, and smaller mouths because of collapsed air ways. This is a big reason for crooked teeth. Here is a powerful study to prove it: Grippaudo C, Paolantonio EG, Antonini G, Saulle R, La Torre G, Deli R. Association between oral habits, mouth breathing and malocclusion. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital. 2016 Oct;36(5):386-394. doi: 10.14639/0392-100X-770. PMID: 27958599; PMCID: PMC5225794. No other animal, or our ancestors had crooked teeth. This only started occurring in the past two centuries. Another factor in that is processed sugar. The tongue is supposed to sit on the rough of the mouth, but when your mouth is open then the tongue will go back, and will cause a lax jaw. Mouth breathing activates the barrel reflux in the chest, activating the sympathetic nervous system because you only can breathe shallow. When breathing through the nose, you have many structures that the air passes through in order to get filtered, and go to the lungs. When breathing through the nose, your able to get the air much deeper in the lungs, where the receptors activate relaxation. Nose breathing produces six times more nitric oxide than breathing through the mouth. Nitric oxide has been proven to protect from viruses. Here’s a great study on NO: Adusumilli NC, Zhang D, Friedman JM, Friedman AJ. Harnessing nitric oxide for preventing, limiting and treating the severe pulmonary consequences of COVID-19. Nitric Oxide. 2020;103:4-8. doi:10.1016/j.niox.2020.07.003

Breathing exercises

Alternate nostril breathing

Every 3o minutes to 3 hours, one of our nostrils dilates, and one constricts. Breathing through the left nostril while activate the parasympathetic nervous system, while breathing through the right will activate the sympathetic nervous system. To practice, cover the tight nostril, and breathe through the left nostril. Then cover the left nostril, and breathe out through the right nostril. Hold this same position, then breathe through the right nostril, and out through the left. Check out this study on ANB: Telles S, Verma S, Sharma SK, Gupta RK, Balkrishna A. Alternate-Nostril Yoga Breathing Reduced Blood Pressure While Increasing Performance in a Vigilance Test. Med Sci Monit Basic Res. 2017;23:392-398. Published 2017 Dec 29. doi:10.12659/msmbr.906502. If your confused, check out this demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqsxNMoLYKY.

Box breathing

Box breathing is a technique that the navy seals use before they go on a mission. it’s designed to decrease arousal, and improve focus. Simply breathe in for a count of 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, and hold for 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZzhk9jEkkI

Carbon dioxide training

Most of us breath way to much, carbon dioxide training will help us breath less. When your exhale is longer than the inhale, you will increase relaxation, and increase carbon dioxide, which improves circulation. Simply breathe in for the count of 3, and breathe out for the count of 6. Do some variation where the exhale is twice as long as the inhale. Breath holds are also a great way to improve carbon dioxide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCLDHEtL4F8