And breathe

Hello again, I hope you are well and Happy New Year. I hope you had a great Christmas and it wasn’t too hectic. So, another year is here already. It seems to go faster and faster. May be a good time to just sit down, reflect and breathe.

It’s Not About The Mouth

We all take breathing for granted as it happens automatically. You don’t have to actively think about it for it to happen. It’s a good job or we wouldn’t get anything else done. However, there are health benefits to breathing a certain way over another so it would be beneficial to take some time thinking about breathing and training ourselves. It needs some effort as changing habits is hard to do and can take months.

What am I rambling on about? Well it’s nose breathing. Nose breathing and keeping our mouth closed and tongue up is healthier. It’s healthier in a number of ways relating to air quality, the oxygen our tissues get, reduction in snoring, and also development of the face and jaws to improve the airway (preventing snoring and sleep apnoea, improve head posture, and lead to straight, un-crowded teeth). Wow that seems a lot of stuff.

Natures Inhaler

It is natural to nose breath, we are designed to do it. The nose filters (there are hairs in it), warms and moistens the air. If we breath nice and slow it releases Nitric Oxide (NO) which is bacteriostatic (prevents the growth of bacteria). It increases the CO2 in the blood. Oh no I here you cry. This is a good thing. Increased CO2 in the blood stream acts to stabilise smooth muscle and

preventing it going into spasm. Pretty much any type of tube structure in the body (blood vessel, airway, bladder) are made of smooth muscle. So, this can be helpful in asthma, high blood pressure and bed wetting in children.

Now This Sounds A Bit Mad

Having more CO2 in your blood stream will mean more oxygen available in your tissues and cells. Huh?? How can this be? Well, a bloke called Bohr won a Nobel Prize figuring this out. He worked out the haemoglobin oxygen dissociation curve. Haemoglobin is the molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen around the body. With more CO2 in the blood the haemoglobin releases the oxygen more.

Why?

I’m such a geek, I know. However, we do anti-snoring therapy with laser that’s works well. I am looking at ways to maximise the outcome and to look at ways to prevent it in the first place especially with children. Getting deep in the basics of why really helps. More on this in the future. Oh, and look up Buteyko breathing online/you tube. It’s really good for clearing the nose.

Not A Great Look

I’m at it myself training to nose breath and even taken to taping my mouth shut whilst I sleep. I use 5cm micropore tape. Definitely do not use cellotape or duck tape!!!

Until next time. Take care and be good