Why It’s Important to Breathe Correctly While Sleeping 

If you’ve been told you snore, if you frequently wake up with a sore throat, or if you feel as tired when you wake up as you were when you went to sleep, it is possible you are breathing through your mouth or, in other words, incorrectly. In addition to looking and sounding very unattractive, breathing through your mouth can cause a variety of health issues.

Here are some of the reasons why you should breathe correctly during sleep.

Your nose is a filter

There are tiny hairs inside your nose called cilia and their primary function is to filter the air you breathe in before it gets to your lungs. This is very important for people with allergies, considering your nose traps a good part of the dust, pollution, or allergens in the air, preventing them from reaching your lungs. In time, these particles get pushed into your throat and you swallow them, which sounds disgusting, but your stomach can handle it. Your lungs may not, which makes mouth breathing a bad idea, since that way you don’t filter your air at all.

Your own little air conditioner

The above-mentioned miniature hairs also serve as a type of air conditioners. This means that they make the air warmer or colder, which depends on the temperature around you. Since the temperature is usually below our body temperature, the nose consequently warms the air more often than cooling it. When breathing through your mouth, this conditioning doesn’t happen and the cool air can irritate your throat and airways.

Your private air humidifier

This is another important thing your nose does for you. Since your throat, lungs and bronchial tubes don’t really tolerate dry air, it is important to breathe through your nose, for it humidifies and moisturizes the air that goes through it. When you breathe through your mouth during the night, your throat might feel dry and sore in the morning.

A quiet night is a good night

When you sleep and breathe through your mouth, you are more likely to snore, breathe irregularly and even suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. All of these could be prevented by breathing nasally. The reflex nerves which control how we breathe need to be stimulated. This occurs when the air goes through the nasal mucosa, which only happens when we breathe through our nose. Breathing through the mouth completely skips the nasal mucosa part and creates breathing problems during our sleep.

Don’t be sleepy after sleeping 

If you experience fatigue and drowsiness, even after a whole night of sleep, these might be signs of irregular breathing patterns during sleep. This is another problem that may be avoided by breathing nasally. Nasal tubes are tight, so breathing through your nose is slower than breathing through the mouth. This is important, because, while exhaling, it gives your body a bit more time to absorb oxygen. If your body doesn’t get enough oxygen, you can feel dizzy or even faint.

Sometimes people breathe through the mouth because their nose is congested. In this case, it may help to try nasal irrigation, or more precisely, a Neti pot. This therapy flushes out the passages in your nose using saline and water solution and might improve your breathing significantly.

Use your nose for good oral health 

Mouth breathing has been known to dry out your gums and boost acidity levels in your mouth. This could lead to cavity or gum disease, which may be prevented by breathing correctly. Plus, breathing nasally makes your teeth straight and helps your face develop properly. When your mouth is closed and your tongue in its place, your jaw is more likely to grow enough for all your teeth to be in their rightful position.

So, if you’re a mouth breather, you have an important task ahead of you. You need to learn how to breathe through your nose all the time, especially at night. It should be your imperative if you want to improve your overall health and avoid problems caused by irregular breathing.

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