In a past life, I smoked cigarettes. With each inhale, I’d experience a second or so of what felt like relief, but which I now understand to be a momentary drug-induced habitual suppression of anxiety. Fast forward to today: I haven’t smoked in years, I meditate, cross-train with a running coach and practice yoga. But even with intermittent exercise and a regular sleep schedule, I’m stuck in stress loops, and I’ve plateaued in my athletic performance. (A citywide natural disaster in my home city of Los Angeles isn’t helping, either.) I had a sense that my solution was simple yet elusive when I started reading about nose breathing.
Nose breathing is, loosely speaking, a self-care practice that has long been embraced by woo-woo spiritual seekers in meditation and by performance athletes for increased endurance. Now it’s being recognized as a practice that is helpful for a wide-range of positive mind and body outcomes, including improving sleep and eliminating snoring. It sounds like baby steps, but when I started paying attention to my breath, I was shocked by how regularly I sucked in air though my mouth. “Start with an awareness, an understanding that you should be breathing throughout the day through your nose, except for eating and talking or extreme zone 4 and up exercise,” according to Todd Anderson, the co-CEO of Dream Performance & Recovery, a company that makes mouth tape, nasal strips and other accoutrement meant to improve sleep and well-being.
Anderson told me that not only could nose breathing help me run longer and faster, it could help me think more clearly and sleep better. He made the practice sound like such a panacea I half expected him to tell me I’d magically become a fluent French speaker, too. Sadly non, but he did give me a few facts on why the simple practice of shutting my mouth and making a concerted effort to draw in and exhale out through my nose was a game-changer:
- It enhances performance
When you feel like you’re out of breath, your body is struggling to take in more oxygen. However, breathing through your nose helps your body use oxygen better—it’s linked to a higher oxygen uptake (that's VO2 max, according to a recent study), and that's super important for keeping you going longer. Athletes call it intermittent hypoxic training, where they practice breathing in certain ways, like nasal breathing, to boost the body's ability to do aerobic activities and improve overall endurance. - It helps you focus
Fast nasal breathing has been shown to stimulate the parts of the brain that are responsible for alertness and concentration, according to a 2018 study. - It is relaxing
Take in a slow deep nasal breath for four seconds, then out for six seconds (part of the Okinaga breathing practice). Repeat a few times. It can prove to you instantly how relaxing nasal breathing is. (That’s basically the methodology and conclusion of one 2018 study.) - It helps your heart
Filed under Who Knew? Biology—I learned that nasal sinuses produce nitric oxide, an important chemical gas that infuses the air you breathe in and helps your body absorb more oxygen—10 percent more than breathing through your mouth, according to one 1996 study. - It improves sleep
Mouth taping, which increases nasal breathing, has been shown to lessen sleep apnea, reduce snoring and increase deep REM sleep.
