High Importance of Nasal Breathing

Of course breathing is all important - we do it between 12,000 and 25,000 times per day and we don't live long if we quit this activity. But after reading numerous works (especially James Nestor's Breath book), I have taken away a new sense of the importance of nasal breathing. 

When I was younger, I would regularly have some sinus issues and breathe through my mouth. Generally, it was not a good look - inviting me to be included in the "mouth breather" group. But even at home, I couldn't relax into breathing through my mouth. When I did so, my father would chastise me and I bitterly resented it. It was so difficult to breathe through my nose but he forced the issue - fortunately as it turns out. 

Researchers have discovered dramatic systemic differences when we breathe through our noses as opposed to breathing through our mouths. One study found that people tend to inhale just before a cognitive task — and that doing so tends to improve performance. But they have found that it is only breathing through the nose that has these effects; breathing through the mouth does not.

Another study found it can affect people’s performance on tasks involving emotion and memory. In an experiment researchers monitored subjects’ respiration and asked them to identify the emotion expressed by people in a set of photos developed by psychologists to test emotion recognition. Subjects were quicker to identify fearful faces when the photo appeared as they were taking a breath compared to during exhalation. In a different test, subjects more accurately remembered whether they’d seen a photo previously when it was presented as they inhaled. Again, the effects were strongest when subjects breathed through the nose.

I was fortunate that later as an adult I worked with a doctor who discovered that repeated cases of sinus affection had created scarring that made nasal breathing really difficult and prescribed a daily regimen of spraying with saline solution to keep nasal passages open. So even when it's difficult and I'm tempted to breathe through my mouth, I focus on relaxing, reassuring myself that I'm getting adequate oxygen and keeping my big, fat mouth shut!