Our mouth should be used for three things only –
Eating and Drinking…
Talking…
Kissing…
For years I was a mouth breather. I was the one that fell asleep in a car or on an aeroplane and my friends would take a really unattractive photo of me whilst I was soundo with my mouth gaping open catching flies! I never realised the negative health effects it could cause until about a year ago when the subject became more publicised.
If you are breathing through your mouth at night when you are sleeping, you are using your sympathetic energy system, (which causes anaerobic breathing at a cell level) rather than using your oxygen energy system.
If you’re not familiar with the sympathetic nervous system, it’s the ‘fight or flight’ response – a physiological reaction occurring in response to a perceived harmful situation, which for example, in years gone by could have been running away from a bear. Although this particular nervous system can be beneficial at times, we don’t want to promote it while we are sleeping as we want to relax and achieve a deep sleep state in order to encourage the relaxed, para-sympathetic nervous system to switch on and create a natural auto-regulation.
When we nose breathe, it helps to create a regulation within the nervous system and promotes the circulation of nitric oxide. This is important since it creates vasal dilation which encourages oxygen to get into the cells, tissues, muscles and lungs. Nitric oxide is also anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-bacterial: important factors to help the immune system fight off infection or pathogens.
If you continuously breathe through your mouth, you will change physiologically and bio chemically speaking. Continuous mouth breathing will lead to your nose drying out, and if the mucosa is dry, this can result in the job of filtering not working as well as it should do.
Cavities in teeth, coated tongue, bad breath and snoring can all result from mouth breathing too. Stomach acid can be affected, causing GERD and other stomach complaints, as well as dysbiosis within gut bacteria. Over time sleep apnoea can develop. Mouth tape may help reverse this but as with all serious medical conditions, always seek medical advice.
If you mouth breathe it is more than likely that (such as myself), you have done it for years – probably since you were a child. Research shows that children who mouth breathe and whose faces haven’t yet fully developed can go on to develop longer faces, an overbite of the teeth and of course very poor sleep quality (which in itself over time will create sleep disorders and perhaps less energy in general).
What’s the answer if you’re a mouth breather?
In short, mouth taping! The good news is that if you can coach your body and start breathing through your nose, you can re-train all these systems that have adapted. Over time, as the flora re-boots within the nose, it will become easier.
I have been mouth taping regularly for the past year and although pregnancy has caused a few hiccups with my sleep, I would definitely say that my sleep has improved and I have achieved a deeper sleep state. I have also found that if I don’t put on the mouth tape for just one night, I probably won’t sleep with my mouth open (which is great), but if I leave off the tape for several consecutive nights, the bad habit starts to kick in again. This results in me waking several times throughout the night with a wide open mouth.
Very few medical studies have been done on the benefits of mouth taping but having used it successfully on myself, I have recommended the technique for several clients and they report that it has really helped. Before you try mouth taping for the first time, please seek professional medical advice to ensure that your body can cope with the potential for decreased oxygen whilst you sleep.
If you want to give mouth taping a try, I highly recommend the following tape
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=somnifix+mouth+tape&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
I have tried several different brands of mouth tape but this is my preferred brand as this tape stays on throughout the night and I like the fact that it entirely covers my lips.
If you read this blog and decide to give mouth taping a try, I’d love to hear from you.
As with all underlying health issues, please seek professional or medical advice before taking matters into your own hands.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Kate