Asthma - Why Breathing Through Your Nose is So Important

We all have one, some of us like them, some not, but they all provide the same function.

But do you use yours?

As time has moved on a lot of people have moved away from using their nose to breathe through in favor of using our mouths.

Big mistake!!

Why? You may say "But the air is still going to my lungs...so no harm done, right?"

Actually yes, you can damage your lungs by not using your nose, the reason being that you're bypassing the natural protection of the nose.

The 3 functions of the nose.

The nose provides a 3 different functions.

o Warming the air.

The air should be warm on entering the lungs as the lungs can work better with warm air than cold air. Try going out on a cold morning and gulp down a few mouthfuls of air into your lungs and you'll soon find a tightening and sore sensation in your lungs.

If you have ever seen any pictures of ancient Stone Age man you'll have noticed that he had a very wide and flat nose. The reason for this being that he had a bigger surface area so he could heat up the cold air of those times before they entered his lungs.

o Filtering the air.

We all know the importance of reducing the amount of dirt and debris entering the airways, especially if you have asthma. Any foreign bodies entering the airway can irritate your lungs and airways and could trigger an attack so the less entering the better.

The inside of the nose is covered in thousands of both visible and invisible hairs who's function is to catch any small pieces of dirt or anything else that it comes in contact with. To back up this system the nose also produces a coating of mucus to catch any debris that the hairs haven't caught.

o Regulating the intake of oxygen.

Because of the difference in size of the openings in the nose compared to the mouth it's also very important to breathe through the nose, as mouth breathing can cause an uncontrolled level of oxygen to enter into the body, compared to the level of carbon dioxide. The levels have to be kept in the balance or a feeling of nausea and dizziness can happen.

We may think of Carbon dioxide as just a waste gas that's expelled after breathing and that it has no other purpose other than for plants and trees.

But because people with asthma usually a bad breathing technique and have a tendency to breathe shallowly and very rapidly (up to 12 breaths in one minute) this actually causes the levels of carbon dioxide to drop.

The body then responds by narrowing the blood vessels and airways to try to cling onto any carbon dioxide that's left and thus making it harder to breathe which then could bring on an asthma attack.