OverbreathingUpdated 25 days ago

Yes, you can breathe too much

Let us explain. Intake opens your nose so you can take advantage of the many benefits of nose breathing and breathe correctly. But most people don’t know why that matters. Here are some of the reasons you have to be careful how much breathing you do, and why mouth breathing could be affecting your health and fitness.

Your breathing habits directly affect your body. In today’s world, we are simply forced to have unnatural breathing patterns. Between talking all day, sitting at the office, lack of movement, and daily stress, we all have work to do in this area of our lives. Poor breathing can lead to weight gain, lack of sleep, chronic respiratory conditions, heart disease, anxiety, fatigue, and asthma.

The Science

Most simply put — you can over eat, over drink, over exercise (the list goes on). Too much of a good thing is still too much. Overbreathing is pretty much synonymous with mouth breathing. The science behind breathing can get pretty complicated, so here’s the short version.

Overbreathing causes your airways to narrow, making it difficult for your body to move oxygen. Mouth breathing causes reduced blood flow throughout your entire body… your heart, your muscles, and your brain included. This affects you whether you are working out or not.

But you said we need more Oxygen? Yes, BUT… the amount of Oxygen you inhale doesn’t always affect the amount that your body can use. It’s called the Bohr Effect. It describes how Carbon Dioxide (formerly known as the waste gas that you exhale) and Oxygen need one another. CO2 delivers Oxygen through your body. When you mouth breathe, you are releasing that CO2 too quickly and it doesn’t have time to deliver the Oxygen you just inhaled. Nose breathing slows the inhale and exhale process so Oxygen can get to where you need it. You take fewer breaths, but your body uses more Oxygen.

What’s this nitric oxide stuff? Did you know that NO was only discovered as the third gas involved in the cardiovascular system in 1998!? This discovery won the Nobel Prize. NO is a vasodilator, which means it opens your blood vessels. Nose breathing releases NO, which increases CO2 in the blood, which is what carries your Oxygen.

Wrapping It Up

Nose breathing is vital to your health. Whether you choose Intake to help you accomplish your nose breathing needs or not, we want you to have the knowledge of its importance. If you’re interested in learning more, we highly recommend reading The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown and Breath, by James Nestor.