Nasal breathing: advantages and pathology. Why should you breathe through your nose? Learning to breathe through the nose

The human body is an ideal machine. Everything here is provided to the smallest detail. If there is a nose, then you need to inhale and exhale through it. In this article, I would like to tell you why it is harmful to breathe through your mouth and how you can deal with this problem.

Reason 1. Dust

There are many different reasons why mouth breathing is harmful. At the very beginning, it must be said that there are many small hairs in a person’s nose that provide a useful service to the body. They serve as a so-called dust collector. Those. all the air that a person inhales through the nose goes through several levels of filtration. Various microbes and substances harmful to the body settle on the same hairs. If you breathe through your mouth, the air does not receive such filtration and enters the human body contaminated.

Reason 2. Warmth

The next reason why it is harmful to breathe through the mouth is that in this case cold air can enter the human body (typical for late autumn, winter and early spring). If it passes through the nose, it warms up there, moisturizes. Here we can even say that normal nasal breathing is an excellent prevention of a variety of colds.

Reason 3. Change in the shape of the skull

The following reason why it is harmful to breathe through the mouth is also very important. So, it concerns mainly children. If the baby inhales air with his nose all the time, the so-called can gradually form. In this case, the child’s sinuses narrow, the bridge of the nose becomes wide, the infraorbital region flattens, and this can also disfigure even the most beautiful baby. These changes are practically non-refundable.

Reason 4. Speech

I would like to say a few more words about children. Why is it so harmful for them to breathe through their mouths? And all because at an early age the dentoalveolar system and speech of the baby are formed. If the child breathes through the mouth, the balance of the facial and jaw parts is disturbed, their imbalance occurs. In this case, the child's tongue may protrude slightly forward and lie between the dentition. And this is very ugly. In this case, narrowing of the jaw rows can also occur, which will lead to great problems and difficulties in the eruption of permanent teeth.

Reason 5. Development of the respiratory system

Is mouth breathing bad for babies? Of course! This can lead to multiple problems. So, I would like to say that if a small child cannot breathe through his nose, his nasal passages can become very narrow. They also remain underdeveloped. Further, this can lead to a narrowing of the upper jaw of the child. At the same time, the front teeth are crowded in one place, crawling on top of each other. Again, this is ugly to say the least. In addition, it is fraught with frequent colds in the future.

Reason 6. Lips

The next reason why breathing through the mouth is harmful concerns women first of all. So, while breathing through the mouth, a person’s lips will certainly dry up. Therefore, many try to lick them as often as possible. And this, in turn, leads to chapping of the lips, the lip border can also stand out strongly (it becomes bright red). It's not beautiful. In addition, it is also not easy to cope with the problem of dry lips. And for the fair sex, it also has a negative aesthetic effect.

Reason 7. Various diseases

Doctors say that mouth breathing is harmful. And it is right! After all, this condition can lead to the emergence of many diseases (especially in the cold season). At the very least, colds. In addition, during mouth breathing, the air that enters the body is uncleaned. In this condition, the supply of oxygen to the cells of the body also deteriorates significantly. The brain, which is the most important coordination center of the human body, suffers from this.

Reason 8. Sleep

The next reason why you need to breathe through your nose is that only in this case can a person rest normally. Only when breathing through the nose, the cells of the body are fully supplied with oxygen, which gives the body the opportunity to have a normal and high-quality rest. Otherwise, a person’s sleep will be intermittent, restless.

What to do?

Having considered the main reasons why you can’t breathe through your mouth, I also want to say that you need to start dealing with this problem as soon as possible. Since the cause of such a condition is often precisely (in particular, a stuffy nose), in this case, the patient should immediately go for a consultation with a doctor, laura. If it is not possible to visit a specialist, you need to cope with a runny nose on your own as soon as possible. For this, it is good to use rinsing. You can also use various nasal sprays. For example, it can be a drug such as Vibrocil or Nazivin. Often it becomes difficult for a person to breathe through the nose due to the dry air in the room. In this case, the mucus dries up, which prevents normal breathing. Dealing with this problem is also easy:

1. I need to clear my nose.
2. Be sure to humidify the air in the room, otherwise the problem will return. This can be done with a special humidifier. If not, you can put a small bowl of water near you.

How to deal with the habit?

It often happens that with a prolonged cold, the patient already develops the habit of breathing through the mouth. So, it is worth saying that this must be fought. First of all, you need to think about the fact that it looks very ugly from the outside. And if children can do at least some concessions, then adults with an open mouth look, to put it mildly, not very attractive. If you cannot cope with the problem on your own, you can use specially designed aids for this (most often they are used for advanced cases of oral breathing in children). These trainers are designed to simply retrain or re-teach a person to breathe through the nose. Principle of operation: something like this is inserted into the mouth. This device makes you inhale air through the nostrils, which subsequently develops a new habit - to breathe through the nose.

Advice for parents

Why is it necessary to breathe through the nose?

The air inhaled through the nose passes through the nasal passages and ducts, is moistened, dried, warmed and cleaned of dust remaining on the small hairs of the sinuses. At the same time, receptors involved in the regulation of blood flow and brain activity are irritated.

It is precisely because of disturbances in the state of these receptors that children with difficulty in nasal breathing often experience a state of anxiety or depression, sleep disorders. In addition, free nasal breathing is necessary for normal blood gas exchange, since when breathing through the mouth, the amount of oxygen entering the human body is only 75% from its normal volume. A prolonged lack of oxygen in the body leads to inhibition of the development of the body and anemia.

The habit of breathing through the mouth appears in children, as a rule, in connection with frequent colds. Therefore, it is very important to teach the child to use a handkerchief in a timely manner, to blow one's nose in turn with each nostril. Parents should also pay attention to the child's breathing during sleep. With difficulty breathing through the nose, he sleeps with his mouth open, sometimes snoring. This is a wake up call. If a child often breathes through his mouth, the oral type of breathing is likely to become fixed in him as a bad habit, which is extremely difficult to get rid of.

With oral breathing, the nasal passages narrow in a child, which leads to underdevelopment of the maxillary sinuses and a slowdown in the growth of the bone structures of the upper jaw. And that ruins the sound. The low position of the tongue, its displacement down and back, as well as the weakening of the diaphragm of the oral cavity, contribute to impaired articulation and nasality.

In children with habitual oral breathing, as a result of a weakened tone of the circular muscle of the mouth, it is difficult to close the lips. This delays the development of the lower jaw. Due to the balance instinctively maintained by the body, the posture of such children is characterized by an anterior tilt of the head, which over time leads to an overload of the temporomandibular joint, facial muscle pain, and a violation of posture.

It has long been noticed that people who do not breathe through their nose are mentally retarded, they have worse memory, all life processes are reduced, an ugly complexion, sagging skin. This is because breathing through the nose is the natural state of the respiratory system of the body (a person does not breathe through the nose only in case of illness). The functions of the nose are varied: smell, cleansing the inhaled air from dust and warming it in winter, fighting harmful microflora. The air inhaled by the nose meets a number of obstacles, therefore, when breathing through the nose, a significant vacuum of air is created in the chest cavity. This facilitates the work of the heart, improves the outflow of venous blood from the head and thereby reduces the prerequisites for the occurrence of headaches. Therefore, it is important to monitor the use of nasal breathing by the child in everyday life, with minor physical exertion.

Very often, at low temperatures, we see how you, dear parents, cover your child's mouth and nose with a scarf. How do you think you are doing the right thing? Must disagree with you. The fact is that by covering the child's mouth and nose with a scarf, you, in your opinion, insulate the respiratory organs so that he does not "grab" the frosty air. But do not forget that according to the law of physics, when warm and cold air come into contact, moisture is formed, which accumulates in your case on a child's scarf. And he breathes not warm, as it seems to you, air, but even colder in comparison with the surroundings, because moisture enhances the cooling effect. When the nose is closed with a scarf, the flow of air into the body is difficult, so the child opens his mouth. The air does not warm up and leads to cooling of the respiratory tract, which causes colds.

Why should you breathe through your nose and not through your mouth?

1. Passing through the nose, the air is warmed and purified, but when inhaled through the mouth, this does not happen.
2. There are villi in the nose that trap bacteria, and unwanted bacteria will enter through the mouth, you can get seriously ill
3. you need to breathe through the nose, because firstly, heat regulation of the air, secondly, cleansing, and thirdly, it’s more convenient and exhale through the mouth
4. Because there are villi in the nose that filter dust, and the mucous membrane "sorts out" with any other rubbish. There is only a tongue with teeth in the mouth - they won’t catch much ....
5. To not post guts
6. In order for us to catch a cold, the causative agents of acute respiratory diseases need to get into the upper respiratory tract and gain a foothold on the mucous membrane there. About one of the ways to lock the entrance gate for infection.
   - The most important thing is to prevent hypothermia of the upper respiratory tract, the whole body. To do this, train yourself to always breathe through your nose. If something interferes with this (for example, a deviated nasal septum), then the cause must be eliminated with the help of physicians.

   The fact is that when breathing through the nose, the air warms up much better than when breathing through the mouth. So, if the air temperature outside is one degree of heat, then passing through the nose, it heats up to 25 degrees, and when breathing through the mouth, only up to 20.

   In other words, in the first case, there is less danger of causing hypothermia of the upper respiratory tract, which reduces the body's ability to resist infection.

   If hard physical work, outdoor training requires mouth breathing, you need to press the tip of your tongue to the sky. Then the cold air, flowing around the obstacle, will warm up more. And give up the habit of talking loudly and eating ice cream in the cold.

7. And when is the cold? ? Plus your mouth was sealed with duct tape? And you have to breathe with your ears ...
8. Less stuff gets into the lungs through the nose than through the mouth.
9. in winter, the air in the nose warms up and does not lead to diseases of the throat, and in summer the dust is filtered by the nose
10. Passing through the nasal passages, the air has time to take the optimum temperature, the villi in the nose act as filters.
11. Because that's what the nose is for. And there are hairs in the nose that act as a filter and prevent dust and other rubbish from entering the lungs.
12. Cold air warms up in the nose, but not in the mouth, and the throat may ache.
    And in general - the nose is to breathe, and the mouth is to eat.
13. Because the air is warmed, moistened, purified, and only then enters the larynx
14. Because if you breathe through your mouth, especially in winter, then this is the shortest way to catch a cold or get bronchitis.
15. Because the nose is a filter.
16. Because passing through the nasal passage, the air is warmed and cleansed. That is why the impossibility of nasal breathing leads to various diseases of the upper respiratory tract.

How to breathe, so as not only not to harm your health, but also to get the maximum benefit from the breathing process?

The human body is designed in such a way that it has the ability to breathe to both nose and mouth. No animal on earth makes a choice in the way they breathe. Nature clearly delineates the functions of these organs: the nose is for breathing, the mouth is for eating. And only man, spoiled by the fruits of civilization, began to use his mouth not for the intended process: for breathing.

The way we breathe directly affects our health.

Let's try to figure out why breathing through the nose is good for our health, while breathing through the mouth causes significant harm to it.

What happens to the air entering through the nose?

First, the air enters the natural filter formed by the hairs and nasal mucosa. In it, the air, as it were, is “sifted”, cleared of various particles of dirt and dust. The mucous membrane of the nose is simply dotted with the thinnest blood vessels, so all the conditions are created in it for the cold air to warm up or vice versa, the hot air to cool down before continuing its way to the bronchi and lungs. Also, this rather long path makes it possible to humidify dry air or remove excess from too humid. In addition to the above, breathing through the nose serves as a barrier to many types of infections.

This is how carefully and carefully Nature designed the way that is meant for breathing.

Now let's see what happens when we breathe through our mouths.

Unpurified, cold (or hot and dry) air rushes in through the mouth (it does not draw in through the narrow nasal passages, but it rushes in) and, without encountering any obstacles for dust, dirt and infection, rushes into the throat, bronchi and lungs and, through the esophagus, even into the stomach. Here you have the first "bouquet" in the form of various diseases of the throat, bronchi, lungs from colds to infectious diseases.

This alone can take a toll on our health. And if we take into account that only when breathing through the nose we can fully receive Prana, it becomes clear that not only the physical, but also the mental and mental health of a person depends on the way we choose to breathe.

We have forgotten how to breathe properly, and even if most of the time many people breathe through their nose, then during physical exertion, talking, expressing strong emotions, we begin to breathe through our mouths, thus instead of helping in stressful situations, only preventing our body from working normally.

That is why, first of all, it is necessary learn consciously breathe through the nose.

Yogis pay a lot of attention to learning how to breathe through the nose.

But it seems to me that for us ordinary people, before we begin to study the exercises practiced by yogis, we need to learn conscious breathing through the nose in order to bring this way of breathing to automatic, unconscious.

I found simple exercises that help to achieve this goal very quickly.

Learning to breathe through the nose

1. Exercise "Counting".

It is advisable to perform the exercise in front of a mirror so that attention is fully concentrated on the breathing process both at the physical and visual levels.

The exercise is very simple: you need to slowly, calmly count aloud from one to one hundred.

The difficulty lies in breathing.

• First, you need to inhale only through your nose. Inhale to do calm, smooth and inaudible. It will help a lot to inhale the reception of vocalists in this way: the inhalation is done on a smile. Smile with an inner smile. At the same time, your eyes will smile, the tips of your lips will smile, your face will smooth out and your nostrils will expand. Now inhale - the breath will be free, smooth and silent. Interestingly, with such a breath, you can trace the incoming air very well.
• Secondly, such a breath must be taken after every five numbers. We count: one, two, three, four, five. We stop and take a breath. We continue to count to ten. Again we stop for a breath.

An exercise is considered learned when you can count from one to one hundred at least three times in a row in this way.

2. Exercise "Poems".

You can proceed to this exercise only after the first one is performed easily and freely. Everyone spends a different amount of time and effort on this.

Which poems, and perhaps songs, will be chosen depends on your taste and your preferences. If you are unable to freely read by heart without being distracted by remembering the text, you can keep the text in front of your eyes. But a prerequisite is a breath, as in the first exercise. Inhalation must be done at semantic stops, always with a closed mouth and only through the nose.

Be sure to read calmly, without rushing. Also, breathe in calmly, and then the air will be enough until the next stop.

When you feel that such breathing no longer requires vigilant attention from you, begin to include it in your ordinary life. You will feel how your speech becomes calmer and more convincing. Yes, and you yourself begin to radiate calm and confidence. And all this is due only to the fact that your breathing began to be carried out in the way provided by Nature.

Taking care of your nose health

It is very important that the nose is always healthy.. This requires very little of our effort. A very good way is to wash the nose. Yogis do it like this: they pour water into a cup, lower their face into it and draw in a small amount of water through their nose.

But for ordinary people, this method is not suitable. Westerners who begin yoga practice use special small teapots with a narrow, long spout. Water is poured into the kettle. The head is slightly tilted and turned so that one nostril is higher than the other. The tip of the teapot spout is inserted into it and water begins to pour in, while this water flows out of the other nostril.

This is a simple technique that works almost immediately. Several goals can be achieved by such washing. First - a good cleansing of the nasal cavity. Secondly, the possibility of hardening the nose, especially if it is weakened and prone to colds (you need to start with warmer water and gradually, over time, bring it to a cool wash). Thirdly, a cold nose can be cured. To do this, you can add a little salt, ordinary or sea, to the water. Of course, sea salt is better, but do not take it in pharmacies, since the salt sold in them is intended for baths and usually contains various additives that can harm the nose. I prefer to use edible sea salt.

Well, after the way of breathing through the nose becomes ordinary and familiar, you can begin to study exercises that will help replenish Prana and cope with many health problems of our body.

Walking in the yard, we will definitely hear how adults make comments to their children, forcing the latter to breathe through their noses. Of course, parents are right when they tell their kids: “Shut your mouth!”, “Don’t swallow cold air!”

However, mothers and fathers, grandparents themselves do not always follow such recommendations. Therefore, "nasal problems" haunt not only the children's population, but also bring a lot of trouble to the rest of the inhabitants of the planet Earth.

If a person in the winter or autumn-spring period prefers to swallow “cold” with his mouth, then he is forced to “reward” his body with a portion of burning air that does not have time to warm up in the upper respiratory tract. But each of us is created in such a way that all the "evil spirits" in the form of dust, gases, cold or burning air, harmful bacteria and microorganisms do not get into our body. To do this, there is a kind of filter in the nose, consisting of a huge number of tiny hairs. This is where they do the hardest work. It is on these villi that inhaled dust settles, small insects that get into the nose “lose their bearings”. Then a winding path begins, lined with a mucous membrane for air to enter. Here it is not only cleansed, but also warmed.

In addition, there are other organs here that can not only recognize pathogenic bacteria, but also start fighting them at the right time. Unfortunately, all these “necessary devices” are absent in the mouth. As a result of such improper breathing, not only inflammatory processes occur, but there is also an “excellent” opportunity for direct entry of various pathogenic bacteria into the body.

There are many reasons for difficult nasal breathing. The culprits of trouble can be adenoids, deviated septum and sinusitis, allergic rhinitis and other diseases. In some cases, a person acquires difficulty in nasal breathing after surgery or conservative treatment. Accustomed to breathing through the mouth, he refuses to inhale air through the nose by force of habit. The consequences of such breathing can be very unfavorable.

Experts say that ten times more pathogenic bacteria enter the body through the mouth than through the nose. In the case of a "direct hit" in the upper respiratory tract, microbes do not linger on the nasal mucosa, but immediately begin to take on their "harmful" work, causing acute respiratory diseases. In addition, in people who constantly breathe through the mouth, the facial skeleton is deformed, the voice changes, nasality appears, sometimes intracranial pressure rises, and persistent headache occurs.

It has been noticed that those who are forced to breathe through their mouths get tired quickly, it is difficult for them to concentrate and keep their attention on a certain type of work, their memory deteriorates noticeably.

Nose exercises

To begin with, it is important to accustom yourself to close your mouth "to the castle." The mouth of a child or an adult is simply clamped by the palm of a nearby person. The sufferer is first forced to breathe through the nose in a lying or sitting position, and then a similar exercise is done already in motion during physical exertion or walking.

You can accustom yourself to nasal breathing with the help of special gymnastics. It is very easy to perform, such exercises do not require any special skills. You can do this exercise both outdoors and at room temperature in a well-ventilated area. For those who have difficulty in nasal breathing, any vasoconstrictor drops should be instilled into the nose before exercising. You can perform gymnastics in any position: standing, sitting and even lying down. During an exacerbation of various diseases, SARS, influenza, fever, you do not need to perform exercises. They usually resume classes 2-3 days after recovery.

So, first, calmly and evenly begin to breathe in both halves of the nose for a minute. (Repeat this after each subsequent exercise.) Then press the right nostril against the nasal septum and breathe evenly, calmly with the left half of the nose for a minute. Next, press the left nostril against the nasal septum and repeat the previous procedure. If you find it difficult to breathe from time to time, periodically inhale the air through your mouth. As soon as nasal breathing improves, move from a calm and even rhythm to the so-called forced breathing.

Make the muscles of the neck, shoulder girdle and even the chest work at the same time. Be aware that forced breathing can cause dizziness and even headaches. This is due to the increased flow of oxygen to the vessels of the brain. At these moments, there is a re-irritation of the nerve endings embedded in them, and as a result, a spasm of the blood highways occurs. Therefore, after taking 2-3 forced breaths, immediately switch to normal breathing.

During classes, you can take chewing gum in your mouth, and then you will involuntarily breathe through your nose. To control the effectiveness of "nasal gymnastics" after 2-3 weeks after the start of classes, you need to bring a mirror to the tip of the nose. A foggy spot should form on it, by the size of which you can judge how you performed breathing exercises. If the spot is smaller on the left or right, it means that this half of the nose was not actively involved in breathing. Keep practicing until the sweat spots are the same size on both sides.

Special breathing exercises have proven themselves well, helping to regain nasal breathing. Shut your mouth. Slowly inhale and exhale through your nose for five minutes. At the same time, place the brushes on the back of the neck or upper abdomen. Calm walking in place, a few light squats, squeezing the ball will help to positively affect the worsening sense of smell.

Regular exercise, intense, controlled exercise will help a person suffering from nasal problems to gain free nasal breathing. Such gymnastics should be practiced several times a day for 2-3 minutes at a time. You need to do gymnastics until you begin to constantly breathe through your nose, excluding your mouth from this process. Read more aloud in order to strengthen the muscles of the mouth, throat and nose. In the process of reading, pronounce the words clearly and clearly, paying special attention to consonant sounds. Do not forget that in case of impaired nasal breathing, it is necessary to protect the nose from sharp, unpleasantly smelling substances, because they injure the receptors of the olfactory analyzer.

Remember that properly perceived odors and breathing through the nose can not only positively affect the human body, but also prevent a huge number of diseases. No wonder they say that good nasal breathing is the key to the health of each of us.