Mouth is for eating nose is for breathing

skedaddle

Barefooters
Sep 3, 2011
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I'm trying to get my breathing under control through nose breathing but am kind of in a catch 22 situation.

My nose is always stuffy, i assume from a lifetime of mouth breathing and hyperventilation which makes it hard to maintain proper nose breathing.

I have to breathe or i'll die, i worked that one out;) and i can sort of maintain nose breathing under light load but as soon as i hit the hills its all goes south and i turn purple:arghh:

My questions to the nose breathers are- Does it get better over time? Do air passages in the nose get larger and adapt? Does the stuffiness clear eventually? Do you also resort to mouth breathing when under load?

I really want to stick with this, i can see the logic and the benefits, so any help would be appreciated.
 
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Do you have allergies? If so, maybe allergy medicine would help. I nose breathe, but I guess I always have. A stuffy nose isn't from a lifetime of mouth breathing/hyperventilating. If your nasal passages are narrowed it is from inflammation from some stimulus (allergen, virus, etc.) and not from a lack of use.
 
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Do you have allergies? If so, maybe allergy medicine would help. I nose breathe, but I guess I always have. A stuffy nose isn't from a lifetime of mouth breathing/hyperventilating. If your nasal passages are narrowed it is from inflammation from some stimulus (allergen, virus, etc.) and not from a lack of use.


Thanks ST barefoot

I get hay fever and remember something about dust allergies in my youth so that may be the culprit.
I'm not really a medication kind of guy but i'll look into some dietary remedies, i'm sure there must be some out there that could help.

I do breathe from my diaphragm which is a plus but am wondering if my posture needs opening up a little on hills where i tend to lean into them.

Do you breathe in from you nose and out through your mouth, or everything through your nose. I've been trying the latter and not sure if that's correct.

Thanks.
 
I don't like pills either. I tell people that I went into medicine to stay out of it. With that being said, I live in a very high pollen zone. I do get mild allergies maybe twice a year. Occasionally I'll break down and take some claritin or zyrtec for a couple of weeks. It does seem to help, but does make me feel a little fatigued for the first couple of days. My wife likes flonase, too, especially for nasal symptoms. At rest, I breath thorough my nose 95% of the time, at least. I hate breathing through my mouth, it dries it out. I think while running I breath in from my nose and out my mouth. Good luck with the homeopathic approach. I haven't had much luck, but I do eat a lot of raw, unboiled honey.
 
Hi Skedaddle,
I had the same problems like you for a long time: hayfever and a chronically stuffed nose, which caused mouth breathing. I've still got hayfever in summer, but I got rid of the stuffy nose and now I breathe in and out only through the nose (sometimes it drops due to allergy but if I just let it drop without blowing it, it stays free - in my case blowing the nose into a handkerchief does block it immediately) The following exercise did the trick for me:
The guy explaining the exercise also has a website which is all about the Buteyko breathing method:
http://www.normalbreathing.com/
 
Thanks everyone :)

Its really helpful to see how others deal with this issue, three different solutions already opens my options up.

I'm going to take some wasabi peas on my run tomorrow, i know horseradish always clears my pipes at home so this might work.

Lol Hobbit
I was only watching another video by the crazy Russian doctor this morning, looks like our hooters sniffed out the same trail.;)
 
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I can rarely nose breath running - perhaps on a cool day at a warmup pace. I do have some alergies but also I just feel like they are always constricted and have been told my voice is somewhat 'nasaley'.

But does it really matter how we get air to lungs? IMO a nose is for smelling, beyond that I'm not to worried as long as I get air to my lungs!
 
I can rarely nose breath running - perhaps on a cool day at a warmup pace. I do have some alergies but also I just feel like they are always constricted and have been told my voice is somewhat 'nasaley'.

But does it really matter how we get air to lungs? IMO a nose is for smelling, beyond that I'm not to worried as long as I get air to my lungs!


From what i understand breathing from your diaphragm through your nose brings more oxygen to the lower lobes of your lungs, which in the long run is more efficient. Mouth breathing tends to be shallow, more erratic, less controlled.
 
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From what i understand breathing from your diaphragm through your nose brings more oxygen to the lower lobes of your lungs, which in the long run is more efficient. Mouth breathing tends to be shallow, more erratic, less controlled.

Is this something trainable though? I feel like I can get a fuller deeper breath by deep breathing through my mouth than I can through my nose and also a fuller exhale.

Anyway, I also have a much more challenging time nose breathing here than I did in the desert. I often have to supplement breathing out through my mouth, like 3 nose 1 out of mouth to help. I also blow my nose regularly throughout the ride/run.
 
Is this something trainable though? I feel like I can get a fuller deeper breath by deep breathing through my mouth than I can through my nose and also a fuller exhale.

Anyway, I also have a much more challenging time nose breathing here than I did in the desert. I often have to supplement breathing out through my mouth, like 3 nose 1 out of mouth to help. I also blow my nose regularly throughout the ride/run.


I'm not sure Abide, i think it must vary from individual to individual, i know a lot of distance runners adopted the technique.
Managed 7 miles this morning but i'm not sure i enjoyed it, and i definitely slowed, i shall persevere for a while and see if things improve.
It would be nice to here from a MD if nose breathing is trainable or not, it's definitely a conscious switch so i assume different muscles would be used which may take some adaption.
 
I like using a Neti Pot before I run in the Spring when my grass allergies kick up... provides some relief...might be worth a try skedaddle
 
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Just to make clear, it's the nasal sprays that contain phenylephrine or oxymetazoline that can cause "addiction" when used for too long, though the term usually used is "rebound".

Nasacort, as the name implies, has cortisone in it (which has its own set of risks or difficulties), but rebound is not one of them.


Never snort anything you can't pronounce ;)
 
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On another note, I have noticed that my sense of thirst goes up dramatically when I run with an open mouth. I think we've turned the corner into Fall now here in my neighborhood, but when it was hot (last week) I believe it made a big difference to conserve moisture with a closed mouth.

I run most of my runs with my mouth closed except for the very steepest grades, when I compete with myself to see how high I can get before I have to take in air through my mouth. I'm then keenly aware of how quickly my breathing reverts to manageable via nose only.
 
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