In this article, you’ll learn two breathing mistakes you’re probably making that put your body under chronic stress, diminish your mental sharpness, and invite a host of health problems. You will also learn a simple remedy. It is so easy that you can put it into practice while reading this.

Have you paid much attention to how you breathe? Perhaps you have done it during meditation, in a yoga class, during exercise, or when you were congested. For the most part though, you probably take breathing for granted. It is something that your body does naturally, on its own, without your conscious participation. It’s nice, and amazing, how your body takes care of itself without you having to pay attention to this basic life-sustaining action.

On the other hand, your body can fall into poor breathing habits, and this sets you up for:
• anxiety,
• insomnia,
• brain fog,
• asthma,
• inflammation,
• hypertension,
• heart disease,
• COPD,
• weight gain,
• indigestion,
• Chronic low energy…

two breathing errors

Did you know that your body can be making two breathing mistakes without you realizing it? These mistakes can lead to this whole series of seemingly unrelated symptoms, including anxiety, insomnia, brain fog, asthma, inflammation, high blood pressure, heart disease, COPD, weight gain, indigestion, and chronic lack of energy. Do you suffer from any of these? If you haven’t already, would you like to prevent them?

The two errors are “mouth breathing” and “excessive breathing.” By mouth breathing I mean inhaling and/or exhaling through the mouth and by overbreathing I mean breathing too much or too many times.

Now this may sound counter-intuitive. Aren’t you supposed to take big, deep breaths and exhale through your mouth to release carbon dioxide? In yoga class, you may have been told to take a “cleansing breath” in which you exhale forcefully through your mouth to release tension. Aren’t these good ideas?

It turns out that, like normal clothes, they are not healthy. Here’s why: When you exhale through your mouth regularly, you exhale too much carbon dioxide. Breathing too much and too often exacerbates the situation.

Why is this a problem?

It turns out that having a certain level of carbon dioxide in the blood is necessary for the delivery of oxygen from the blood to the cells, as well as for the dilation of blood vessels and airways and the regulation of body pH. (Source: “The Oxygen Advantage”, by Patrick McKeown, 2015, p.28). Carbon dioxide is necessary to ensure that the oxygen you breathe reaches your cells. Without enough carbon dioxide in your system, your body runs out of oxygen.

When your body feels like it’s starving for oxygen, it signals that you’re breathing more and more through your mouth, making the problem worse and worse, eventually leading to all those health, energy, and mental acuity problems mentioned above.

(If you want more information and research on this, I highly recommend “The Oxygen Advantage” by Patrick McKeown. He travels the world educating doctors, athletes, and patients about these breathing errors and offering a simple remedy and exercise series. . put into practice).

The remedy

So what is the remedy?

Nose breathing and smooth, full breathing. Nasal breathing means breathing in and out through the nose only. Full, smooth breathing means taking in only the amount of air you need and allowing your breath to completely fill your lungs from the bottom up.

Nasal breathing is important for numerous reasons. First, breathing in and out through the nose warms and cleanses the air as it goes in and clears the nostrils as it leaves. Second, nasal breathing stimulates the production of nitric oxide, which dilates your blood vessels and airways, allowing for more blood and oxygen flow.

Nasal breathing also limits the output of carbon dioxide, so you retain more CO2 in your system. CO2 stimulates red blood cell production and is necessary for oxygen-carrying red blood cells to deliver oxygen to cells. The end result is increased oxygen delivery to the entire body.

practice

To practice nasal breathing, simply close your mouth as you breathe. You can start doing this right now as you read.

You can practice allowing your breathing to become smooth and full by placing your hands on your abdomen and chest and noticing a slight expansion of your abdomen and then your chest as you inhale. Apply light pressure with your hands so that your breathing is full, but minimal. This will ensure that you are taking deep breaths, but not overbreathing.

Once you are comfortable practicing smooth, full nostril breathing while sitting up and relaxing, try it as you go to sleep. (McKeown actually has his clients tape their mouths over their sleep in order to reset their bodies to nasal breathing.) Finally, try it while he’s walking, then work on doing it during more vigorous exercise. This will take some practice and should not be forced. Allow your body to gradually acclimate to nasal breathing through constant progressive practice.

My experience

I first learned this breathing style in Qigong Meditation years ago, however, until I read McKeown’s book, I was unable to apply it more widely. As a result, for years I was chronically over-breathing and through my mouth. In my fifties, this led to trouble sleeping, low energy, more aches, tension, and inflammation in my body, and trouble catching my breath during exercise. I found myself sighing, yawning, and taking a lot of really deep breaths. My metabolism was also slowing down and I was getting colder. These are all signs of chronic mouth breathing and excessive breathing.

When I initially tried to breathe through my nose during exercise, I had to reduce my exercise intensity to about 50%. It took me about 3 months to retrain my body to breathe through my nose at maximum intensity. It takes time for your body to get comfortable with more carbon dioxide.

Now, I am breathing through my nose all the time and notice that I have much better energy, I generally sleep better, my exercise is stronger, and my meditations are deeper. I am more relaxed and at ease throughout the day. My head is clearer, my body is warmer, and I have much less aches and pains.

I encourage you to experiment with full and gentle nostril breathing and see what it can do for you.