Best Kept Secret: Nose Breathing vs. Mouth Breathing, Palate Expanders... and How it Can Save You Time.
- Heather Maidat
- Sep 24, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 29
You know I love to save you time. Well, over years, I've learned about something, and I'm going to save you (and if you have kids - them) tons of it. The sooner you do it, the sooner you get the advantages and also avoid the time undoing any problems later from not doing it.
First, I have to add this disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or health-professional, and every individual is different. This is general information that I learned from my own experience and want to share with you so you can ask the questions you need to and do the research to come to your own decisions. This is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
But it is really fascinating and makes-sense-kind-of-stuff that a lot of doctors didn't tell me about. It's about breathing properly.
You might be thinking: "That's ridiculous. Breathing is automatic." Well, our bodies are so smart that if something's wrong in one area (even with breathing), you'll automatically compensate without realizing it. And then after a while, it feels normal.
If your core isn't strong, your lower back might take on the heavy load for years and then eventually you'll feel back pain. If your adrenals are burnt out, your system will borrow from elsewhere and it'll affect your blood sugar later. If you hurt one arm, your other arm will compensate. Your hips, shoulders, your feet, will all do what they can to support that arm to keep things going. The airway is so important, we'll do what we have to, to compensate, and then, after a while, it feels normal.
Here are the breathing things that might seem normal but are symptoms: Snoring, sleep apnea, odd sleep positions, big tonsils, frequent colds, frequent illness, crowded teeth/an overbite, lots of cavities, red-ish lips, excessive drooling, rounded posture (with head jutted forward), asthma, tics, stress, anxiety, allergies, gets tired/can't run long, not growing, picky eating, mood swings, mouth open, bottom jaw hanging down.
Highlights of what I've learned:
(Then below, the Top 5 Resources for next steps.)
Overall: Nose breathing wins over mouth breathing.
The Ultimate Solution Summed Up: Breathe through your nose. Lips closed when you're not using them. Tongue lives on the roof of the mouth. Breathe from the diaphragm.
1) People say: "My nose is stuffed so I have to breathe through my mouth."
Your nose is stuffed because you breathe through your mouth. It's a cycle that continues. If you keep mouth breathing, your nose stays stuffed up. (Nose clearing resource below.)
2) With nose breathing, there's more time for the oxygen and carbon dioxide to work properly in your body.
With mouth breathing, carbon dioxide is exhaled too quickly which doesn't give the organs, blood, and immune system what they fully need. With mouth breathing there are too many breaths per minute, almost like hyperventilating, which keeps the body in a stressed state. The smaller size of our nostrils facilitates slower, fewer - and therefore more efficient - breaths per minute for a much calmer and healthy body.
3) Nose breathing regulates the temperature of the air as it enters, which is better for your lungs.
4) Nostrils are made with nooks and crannies that filter bacteria and viruses. (And other things?!)
With mouth breathing, the first line of defense is the tonsils - so you get large tonsils.
5) Sleeeeeep.
This is where nose breathing really struts its stuff. Nosebreathing during sleep strengthens the immune system, helps regulate moods during the day, and helps facilitate physical growth, brain function, and memory. The brain does a kind of "carwash" during sleep too, so we need quality sleep here. People say "I get enough hours!" But are they getting enough quality hours? If there's mouth breathing, snoring and/or apnea, there's not enough deep sleep for everything to function as it needs to.
6) Keeping the tongue at the top is nicknamed "nature's retainer".
Why? Because it keeps your palate wide enough for the teeth to take their places, and keep them there. If there's a narrow palate, there's likely crowded teeth and/or an overbite. Not to mention a more restricted airway.
7) Nose breathing calms the nervous system.
There's this thing called the vagus nerve and it connects the brain to the gut. The tongue at the top of your palate activates the vagus nerve and calms the body. One theory states that's why some kids suck their thumb - because their tongue isn't going up to the palate, they activate the vagus nerve by using thumb pressure on the roof of their mouth when they need to calm themselves. Kids are so resourceful and they don't even know it.
8) Mouth breathers frequently breathe from the upper chest and not the diaphragm.
Upper chest breathing keeps the body in a stressed state and doesn't properly use the muscles that promote healthy posture. Breathing from the diaphragm also moves the lymph system. The lymph system cleans things up in the body. Diaphragm breathing is also connected to good pelvis health!
In case you were wondering... Breathing from the diaphragm goes like this: When you breathe in, belly and ribs expand out. When you breathe out belly and ribs come back in. When I started doing it, it helped to think of it like blowing up a balloon. (When you fill a balloon, it expands.) Breathing from the upper chest, which is not what you want, looks like the shoulders going up and down. (More about this in the resources below. See #2A.)
If this all resonates with you, check out these resources!
Amazing Resources
1) Dr. Barry and The ALF Palate Expander.
Palate expanders widen the roof of the mouth so the tongue can go up and the teeth can get into place. There are different kinds. We did the ALF which cues the body to do what it was supposed to do - it's gentle, no key or breaking of the bone. The expander is a light wire behind the teeth and it gets adjusted periodically.
The person who invented the ALF had a cranial sacral therapist working on patients at the same time. We did cranial sacral therapy a few days within the time of each adjustment. What that does is keep the skull, muscles, and fascia flexible and able to move with the changes, to kind of "accept" the changes.
We also did the Myobrace at night which is like a mouthguard that keeps the tongue in place. The Myobrace program includes tongue exercises to get it stronger and physically able to go to the top. (The tongue is a muscle - can you believe it?!)
This "alignmine" link is to brilliant, insightful, and truly caring Integrative Orthodontist Dr. Barry. He knows his stuff, is always learning the latest, and works as a team with patients. Even if you don't live in the area, looking at his website will give you direction. It took me three years and many doctors before I found him.
2) Diaphragm Activation Coach and Breath Learning: Jenn.
I wish I found Jenn years ago. She's incredible. She teaches breathing to kids, adults, and pro-athletes! She can do appointments over Zoom.
We learned how to activate our diaphragms (listen up concussion friends - apparently diaphragms can pause on doing their jobs after concussions - but you can reactivate.) It just took a few appointments and easy breathing exercises every day to achieve changes.
2A) A fantastic article from Jenn that breaks down dysfunctional ways we might be breathing and the ideal way we're aspiring to.
3) Book: "Breath" by James Nestor.
If you don't believe me about nose breathing yet, the author experimented on himself with nose vs mouth breathing. The book is fascinating, validating, entertaining, and inspiring. (Gold-winning Olympic athletes being the only team to not use oxygen tanks after learning how to breathe? A choral director who healed Emphysema patients by teaching them how to breathe? The key to longevity discovered?) This book helps it all make sense.
His website: https://www.mrjamesnestor.com/breath-book/
4) Buteyko Breathing.
The Buteyko Breathing method teaches breathing, and especially appealing to me: how to unblock your nose. There are videos online even geared toward kids like "Unblock a child's nose in 3 minutes using the Buteyko Breathing method." There's also a book called Close Your Mouth by Patrick McKeown who teaches Buteyko Breathing worldwide. In the book he mentions how he's cured many asthmatic patients by teaching them how to breathe properly.
5) "Open Wide".
This is a Documentary about Dr. Mew and the trend called "Mewing". It's validating if you're on this journey that nose breathing - instead of mouth breathing - will also make you look good. He knows the major health benefits but found people were interested in it because of the beauty angle.
To wrap it on up, I hope this all helps you and yours breathe easier. (And be healthier, and de-stress, and have fewer to no respiratory illnesses, and have better posture, and sleep well, and have more stamina, and be more grounded, and more confident, and have more time!)
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