Just breathe….through your nose

Recently, I’ve been working on recovering strength and building new stability that had been lost during lockdown. It is an effort that was incredibly difficult to simply begin but now I am thoroughly enjoying the process. The program has required me to break up my runs with short walking intervals. I despise walking for the sake of walking. It feels impatient and boring if I’m alone with no one to converse with. “Let’s just hurry up already!” is what every nerve in my body says on these walks.

I noticed that during these walking intervals, my squirrel-brain would wander, and I would grow irritated with how long it was taking. Such is the healing process. (more on that next week!) Today, I decided I could do something about it. Instead of just waiting for the interval to be over so I could be off running again, I remembered that I used to practice nasal breathing whilst running. These days, I’m in no shape for that, however, it occurred it me I could practice this during these infernal walks. Oh, what a mental delight! Not only was this actually challenging but it engaged my brain in a much-needed way, bringing me into the present moment, focusing on the length of my exhale and inhale. 1-2-3-4…1-2-3-4, even matching it with my music, like I used to do.

“Oh, what a mental delight! Not only was this actually challenging but it engaged my brain in a much-needed way, bringing me into the present moment, focusing on the length of my exhale and inhale.”

Now, beyond my own personal adventure with this today, why even pay attention to nasal breathing?

For centuries, cultures have recognized our breath’s capacity to heal and transform both our physical and mental states. “..breath has played an essential role throughout history and the word ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’ share the same origin in many languages. Breath-centered practices and meditations can be found in many ancient cultures and religions including Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Yoga, Qigong, Shamanism, Sufism, and martial arts. Many of these cultures and religions used breathing techniques for similar reasons as Modern Breathwork – to alter consciousness for spiritual purposes, self-discovery, and healing.” [1] Over the last century, the Western world, having forgotten this important aspect of health, has revived its attention on breath through the meditation movement. The work of Dr. Stanislav Grof and Leonard Orr has helped many discover breathwork as a central part of longevity and wellness.

More recently, especially with the emergence of C*VID-19, there has been a massive growth in the “breathwork” space, including the Wim Hof method, researchers and guides like James Nestor and Patrick Mceowyn.

Out of this surge of research has emerged the study of mouth breathing versus nasal breathing. It has been shown that mouth breathing has many negative outcomes in human health, from dental health, respiratory health, sleep, immune and so much more. Nasal breathing has also received wide attention in the world of endurance exercise performance. In 2018, George Dallam, a triathlete and professor of exercise science, conducted a study showing how nasal breathing during exercise improved what is called physiological economy, another words, metabolic efficiency. [2]

Intentional air hunger?

Air hunger is a condition we normally associate with asthma, allergies, or even mold toxicity. In these cases, it is an adverse symptom to be mitigated. When it comes to breathwork, nasal breathing and improving endurance and even immune response, inducing an air hunger state with nasal breathing actually has benefits. This type of training shifts the body’s “setpoint” of tolerance to low oxygen states, causing it to extract more oxygen from the air. At elite levels, this is achieved by using elevation training masks or simply training at higher elevations.

Some benefits of nasal breathing…

Improves heart rate variability (this is…
Improves oxygen efficiency/advantage
Improves breath odor (balances oral bacteria)
Increases nitric oxide levels, thereby improving blood flow
Provides more protection of the airways/lungs
Improved periodontal health
Supports balance between parasympathetic and sympathetic response, “rest and digest vs fight or flight”.

For those of us who put their pants on one leg at a time and are just looking for how to incorporate this amazing research into our lives; there are so many ways to begin!

You could do what I did today and just try breathing through your nose while walking
If you struggle to breath through your nose at rest, start focusing on sinus and gut health!
Begin daily breathing practices. These can be 2-3 minutes long to begin with.
Alternate nasal breathing is a great beginning method.
Keep small sips of water in your mouth while walking.