Shut Your Mouth
When people hear that I sleep with my mouth taped shut, they laugh. Then they ask why I don't tape it shut during the day!
When James Nestor’s book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art came out in 2020, I read it from cover to cover, completely engrossed, my mouth hanging open.
Nestor paints a grim picture for people who breathe through their mouths: from sleep disturbances and low energy to anxiety and heart problems. His main point is that mouths are for eating and noses are for breathing.
After reading his book, I started taping my mouth shut at night. (A small piece of medical tape placed vertically over the lips works well,) I noticed results immediately. Being claustrophobic, I thought it would be impossible to sleep with my mouth taped. But I started thinking about Ruben, my youngest dog, who is fearful of the vet. If we put a sling over his mouth to hold it closed and a mask over his eyes, he calms down immediately. Sleeping with the tape and breathing through my nose had a similar effect on me. I slept better, my mouth wasn’t dry nor breath stinky in the morning, and I had more energy during the day.
According to Nestor, when we breathe through our mouth, the muscles in the cheeks work harder and become tauter, causing an external force on the jaws. In children, this can lead to crooked teeth, poor growth, and mouth-breathing face, an elongating of the jaw and chin, and a narrowing of the mouth, which can result in crowding of the teeth and tongue.
A common problem for adults who mouth-breathe is that the gums and tissues lining the mouth dry out, leading to bacteria growth and resulting in gum disease and tooth decay. Breathing open-mouthed when sleeping can also cause the tongue to slip back in the mouth, obstructing the airway.
Our noses are designed to filter, heat, and treat the air we breathe. Our tiny nose hairs, called cilia, help prevent us from inhaling allergens, dust, pollution, and even small bugs! Our nose heats the air we take in, bringing it closer to our body temperature, allowing the tissues to absorb it more efficiently. Lately, I think of this when I’m doing chores. If I run around on frosty mornings breathing through my mouth, my throat gets sore. Letting my nose do its job of warming the air I’m inhaling by as much as 40 percent makes a noticeable difference.
Bony structures in the nose, called turbinates, keep the air we inhale moist, so our tissues incorporate the air more efficiently and our lungs and throats function better. Nestor says if athletes breathed through their noses they wouldn’t need to carry water bottles. He calls nose breathing the secret key to better performance.
Nestor goes on to say 75 percent of people, including him, have a deviated septum. Many have the surgery and live happily ever after, but some don’t get the results they hope for. Nestor chose not to have the surgery and instead worked on changing his breathing skills. Cat scans from before and after show remarkable changes. He feels it’s the same for people who struggle with congestion. Changing their breathing habits often clears up the situation.
With nasal breathing, the lungs absorb more oxygen and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, aiding in stabilizing the heart rate and decreasing spikes that lead to increased oxygen consumption. For me this has been a game changer. Last year, I started hiking in the hills to prepare for a backpacking trip that would be physically taxing. Learning to breathe through my nose as I exercise was a challenge. By paying attention to my breath while hiking and leading fitness classes, I’ve been able to retrain myself to use my nose. I’m unable to nasal-breathe 100 percent of the time, but I’m more aware of when I’m mouth-breathing. I’m inspired by a friend who has trained herself to run around Sidie Hollow Lake twice (4 miles) while breathing only through her nose.
Nowadays, my interest in nasal breathing goes deeper. In interviews and in his book, Nestor links heart problems, anxiety, and even ADHD with open-mouth breathing. After Dane’s recent widow-maker heart attack, we were surprised when the cardiologist asked about his sleep patterns. Upon finding that Dane breathes through his mouth at night, the cardiologist explained the association between poor sleep, heart disease, and heart failure. He then scheduled a sleep evaluation appointment for Dane.
Nestor once did a breathing experiment with a friend. They each spent ten days with their nose plugged, and another ten days with their mouth closed. All other factors remained the same—what they ate and when, how much they exercised, when they slept. The results were astounding. Nestor doesn’t mince words when describing how awful they felt when breathing only through their mouths, and the scientific research they derived from recording their stats three times each day.
Most astonishing was the high level of stress and anxiety they experienced with their noses blocked for ten days. That alone makes me want to continue this nose-breathing journey. The idea that people crippled by anxiety might be helped by changing the way they breathe is promising. After the trauma of Dane's heart problems, we both could benefit from breathing exercises to help deal with the anxiety of lifestyle changes.
For now, I’m committed to continuing to work on keeping my mouth closed . . . while breathing.