The Importance of Nasal Breathing For Asthma

There are several reasons why the nose is designed for breathing through, compared to the mouth. There are both several positives for nasal breathing and several negatives for breathing via the mouth.

It's now understood that mouth breathing can contribute to involuntary hyperventilation, i.e. that is breathing more air than you require, and this can cause asthma. Not only will it cause asthmatic symptoms, but it is known also to cause many other health concerns which include: high blood pressure & could even cause heart disease and possibly numerous other health issues.

If you're a mouth breather, you'll need to retrain the way you breathe so that you are breathing via your nose 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week if you want to lead the healthiest and longest life that you can, along with being asthma free. This may seem very difficult when you first start out and try to change a life long bad habit. You may be only able to do it for small periods of time when you are focused and find yourself slipping back into mouth breathing when you are not focused.

But don't worry; it will take some effort to correct a bad habit you have developed over your entire lifetime. The good news is it will soon become normal and second nature for you to breathe through your nose and will require no effort at all. Your nose is a filter and air conditioner for you lungs!

Your nose is a perfectly evolved appendage which filters the air you breathe from dust, pollens, bacteria, pollutants and any other foreign matter before it reaches your lungs. Your lungs like clean air. These things can cause severe health problems if they are allowed into your lungs and your nose is your body's best defence against them. If you breathe through your mouth, you will bypass this defence mechanism and make it much more likely for yourself to become sick or allergic.

Your nasal passage takes the air you breathe on a longer delivery path to your lungs; therefore it arrives at your lungs at a temperature more consistent with your body temperature. Your lungs do not like extreme changes in temperature. Nasal breathing also increases the humidity of the air that reaches your lungs. Your lungs like humid air. Dry air causes dry lungs.

Another reason why nasal breathing is healthier and better for asthma sufferers than mouth breathing is because it is much harder to hyper-ventilate with nasal breathing. Not impossible, but much more difficult. That's simply because your nasal passages are much smaller, therefore the volume of air you breathe will be much less. It also slows the escape of air on the exhale creating back pressure, so that the lungs have more time to extract the oxygen and retain carbon dioxide. Contrary to popular belief, carbon dioxide is not a waste product. If carbon dioxide is lost in larger than required quantities as it is with mouth breathing, oxygen absorption is decreased.