Solution's to the mouth breathers pollution

It only takes a small gap and separation of the lips to switch the central nervous systems (CNS) role from a balanced nasal breathing condition, to a highly stressed, perceived state. Like wise, acute or chronic exposure to allergens, hyperventilation or poor blood sugar regulation, will trigger the CNS to open the mouth in order to get sufficient fuel IN to deal with the demands.   


Practice correct tongue positioning:
Not many are aware that the finely tuned palate of the roof of your mouth is slowly formed through the first few years of life to accommodate the tongue. Most will have an arch and with the correct oral posture during infant development, the tongue at rest, should fit easily and with ease to the roof of the mouth just behind (though not touching) the top front teeth. Now if you've been a chronic mouth breather for years, the likely hood of your tongue sitting comfortably to the roof of your mouth is going to be slim, you'll likely find the floor of the mouth is more popular, along with the open mouth and separated teeth. You can purchase oral appliances to assist its position, though again with constant awareness and reminders (sticky notes etc..) you'll soon find the position. (tip: swallow, and the tongue should end up on the roof of your mouth, thats your position of which it should be in at rest and during resistance training (<85%), always).

Avoid all known allergens and listen to symptoms:

Labeled as "foods", highly inflammatory
products that have never really been
optimal for human physiology!

Most clients and athletes i speak with are completely unaware of how they began mouth breathing, let alone that they actually do so. A common scenario would be at a certain stage during childhood the individual would have likely become exposed to a new pet, exhaustive exercise (LDR), lack of daylight, congested dusty rooms and or food intolerants such as pasteurised dairy, carrageenan, citric acid, aspartame, soya, vegetable oils etc.. of which all would likely have created sudden excito-histamine reactions, disturbing the mucus membrane and the therefore not passing through the intestinal tract smoothly. Leading to runny noses, itchy eyes, gas, bloating, acid reflux, disturbed sleep, sneezing etc… Throwing the nervous system into panic mode, switching off digestion, blocking the nose and causing the individual to have to breath heavily through the mouth. By getting sensitive with the foods you put in and the environment you live in, the prevention of any blockages can be avoided. Try eliminating all foods that you show any inflammatory signs with (listed above) for 1 week and one by one, add a certain group back in, if you show any symptoms as before, then its clear, that food is not compatible with you!    

Technique to enhance your controlled pause: 
This one carries over smoothly with the above. Heres a quick technique you can apply acutely, whenever that runny nose shows up and that mouth is trying to open up, try this: Take in up to 5 deep diaphragmatic breaths (ideally nasal), on the 5th breath once you've fully exhaled, close the mouth, intentionally block the nose and hold your breath. This can be seen as your control pause, the amount of time taken between each breath, a healthy control pause is considered to be 40-60seconds when at rest (most mouth breathers and asthmatics are usually around 5-12 seconds between breaths). Once your body begins to trigger for the need for oxygen, inhale deeply through your nose. This routine may take up to 2-3x for your nose to become completely clear. You'll also notice that a lot of mucus needs clearing, but the science behind this technique is so that your body retains the carbon dioxide sufficient enough to dilate the blood vessels to allow the oxygen to become transported and utilised by the cells.    

Posture effects everything, correct it: 

Correcting the static posture and how
you hold yourself must be the priority,
before trying to progress dynamically.

If the head sits forward of the centre line, your going to experience many times the weight of the cranium impacting segments of the vertebras and impacting the individual during movement. You'll also see that the greater the head translates forward, the narrower the airway will become, overtime and with a combination of faulty tongue positioning and allergenic exposures, the mandible (lower jaw) will be forced down and back, creating that elongated structure and reliant open mouth posture. Posture can be corrected and coupled with conscious decisions, the faulty oral posture will correct. Its quite common to find the forward head/upper crossed syndrome to have highly facilitated muscles and congested fascia surrounding the front of the neck and chest, by releasing these tissues, setting your shoulder blades (scapula) in and increasing the length between your rib cage and pelvis on a regular basis, your going to help decompress the spine, fit that jaw in place and gradually close the mouth.    

Tape the mouth regularly:

Avoid this common problem, keeping
the mouth closed will only be harder
when resisting against gravity.

Honestly this isn't as weird as you might be thinking. From a personal stand point, this was my biggest help and contributor to sound sleep. As mentioned in a previous blog (Mouth breathing and sleep apnea) mouth breathing is a common root cause of poor sleep (apnea, insomnia). Applying a small piece of medical clear tape either vertically or horizontally across the lips 20 minutes before sleeping is an ideal time prior to help your mind adjust to 100% nasal breathing. Some clients have really struggled apply this technique due to the perceived feeling of 'suffocating' and being a claustrophobic experience. So by applying the tape over the course of 2 weeks during the day when at home alone, doing the general chores, they felt a lot more comfortable transitioning before bed having spent time taped (lol).

Avoid hyperventilating: 

If one struggles to breath comfortably at rest and has a controlled pause of less than 25 seconds, you can bet that they'll experience acute and chronic episodes of hyperventilation (inability to regulate their breath, CO2 deficiency) during 

Movement that doesn't over
tax your respiratory system,
though challenging neurologically!

exertion. By progressively enhancing your controlled pause at rest and participating in movement that doesn't over tax your respiratory system i.e. thai chi, yoga, working-in, resistance training at appropriate intensities, and instead eating the foods that helps create an increased production of CO2 (sugar, fruits, milk) to enhance O2 utilisation and correcting the breath at rest… you'll be taking an holistic approach to your recovery (Considerations for the high intensity addict)   

Invest within yourself (myofunctional therapist or orthotropical practitioners): I have yet to seek one-on-one advice with certain skilled myofunctional/facial practitioners, though i have attended various workshops and seminars, gathering huge amounts of vital information and applying it in order to enhance my own body awareness, the level of individuality you'll likely experience and get from trained therapists would be well worth the investment in your long term health and facial development. 


Keep that rib cage high, look after you, Sans Lena se Nuk ;)


Beatle. 

Gee's photography blogger

The mouth breathers dilemma: The art of symmetry

Most would say that their genetic predisposition, linking to their fascial development i.e. aesthetics, is solely responsible for their "good looks", and the parent would have a lot to do with that outcome.
To some degree, I would agree. But each person has the power to control many of the keys that define beauty. Would you be surprised to know prominent, well-defined cheekbones, a square jawline, hollowed cheeks, and balanced facial features also indicate health? a beautifully developed face pays with enormous health gains.


The importance and understanding of symmetry is represented and seen most noticeably in the wild. For if a male lion is to attract his opposite number and effectively reproduce, he must not only show sexual intelligence and strength, but also present symmetry throughout. A wounded, hungry  under developed lion is less likely to win approval and get the 'thumbs up', if he shows any signs of genetic and aesthetic 'a'-symmetry… Think about it.. in nature there isn't much choice, so by passing on a genetic make-up that lacks stability and immunity, the lower the chances of successful continuation and adaptation..!  

Whilst becoming the greatest
expression of yourself is important,
it may help on all levels.

The modern man still hasn't quite lost his understanding and connection to symmetry and its importance. Early years of bodybuilding always resolved around health, strength, athleticism and balance and even todays bodybuilders share at least one of those skills. The art of 'balance' or symmetry is a key component if one is to achieve the critics and judges vote of approval. So for many years and endless hours is dedicated to balancing and shaping their systems, to what degree? is all individual, but the end product must always be the same. 

Regarding the act of mouth breathing and its role in effecting ones symmetry.  
Before the age of 12, children’s bones are somewhat soft and still very much immature. If a child consistently mouth breathes for any reason, often because of unresolved allergies, exposure to excessive aerobic activity, poor musculoskeletal posture etc.. these habits can create a 3-dimensional facial contraction.

Sisters:

Left: This child generally breathes through her mouth. 

Right: Her sister predominantly nasal breathes. 

Note differences in muscle tension, facial angles, 

 proportion– and beauty.

The face becomes long and narrow, so front teeth crowd. The lower third of the face grows down and backwards, underdeveloped jaws crowd their back teeth and lead to wisdom tooth impactions. As the lower jaw line trends from horizontal to vertical, it inhibits tongue positioning and airway space. The tongue becomes like a "high street towny in rural India"…LOST in space. Not only does this lead to relationship-breakers such as snoring, but also to life-threatening sleep apnea.

Though it is easy to diss and critic the mouth breather, we must consider that a mouth breather must of necessity rest his tongue on the floor of his mouth due to the downward motion of the lower jaw. But if the tongue does not properly lock onto the roof of the mouth front-to-back, the muscles (supra/infrahyoid) do not counterbalance the inward forces of cheek musculature. The face narrows in a second dimension as cheek muscles crush the palate (the arch formed by the roof of the mouth). Front teeth also crowd, further constricting tongue space, obstructing nasal breathing. They also subtract from sinus and eye orbit space, leaving the cheekbones underdeveloped and sunken. 

If a person continues to mouth breath
throughout life, all airway spaces will
continue to decrease, forcing them
to need to mouth breath
 (viscous cycle)

High, defined cheekbones are key to beauty and health. Jaw width and upper jaw position create cheek fullness. The maxilla bone is one of the crucial elements in facial beauty. Anatomically it makes up one third of facial structure, provides the support for the mid-face and if it is forward then the patient will have 'good bone structure' and attractive eyes!

But if for some reason the individual has promoted vertical (long) growth and the tongue has been forced out of position during any prolonged stages of development, it will give the patient a sleepy look and some of the white sclera of the eye may be visible below the iris. This always looks unattractive and is a reliable sign of severe faulty 'maxillary-posterior-positioning' (down or back).

Below is an extremely interesting and all to common case study presented by Dr Mews, a highly respected orthodontist of which his work has become popular due to the non surgical approaches to restructuring individuals cranial features all throughout the 1900's. (Many other case studies can be found at the first link below)

Dr Mews patients

Over the past few decades, Dr Mews assistant has taken a photograph of the face of every child that Dr Mew has treated.

This ten-year-old boy is a nose breather and has a good-looking, broad face with everything in proportion. In other words, everything is in its right place. The boy exhibits well-defined eyes, cheekbones, lips and chin.

On the boys fourteenth birthday, he was given a gerbil as a present. Soon after, his nose began to block, causing him to breathe through his mouth. Within three years, his face had changed its shape considerably.

The above photograph is of the boy at age seventeen. Because he kept his mouth open from the ages of 14 until 17, his face grew downwards instead of in width. His face became narrow and long. His jaws are set back from their perfect and natural position. He now has a double chin and his jaws come back on his airways, resulting in smaller airways. This creates health problems such as sleep apnoea. His nose looks far bigger because his jaws do not come forward enough, and his cheeks are sunken as his face drags everything downwards. This face is typical of the  hundreds of thousands of children who breathe through their mouths.

A solution to the mouth breathing pollution will be coming up in full, in a following blog. 

But for now, take the time to understand how your breathing, where your tongue sits 'naturally' and to think twice about solely blaming your parents if at anytime you feel your not as 'good looking' as your best friend…! 

Take control, get pretty, close your mouth..

Beatle.

1. http://www.buteykochildren.com/mouth_breathing_and_facial_development.php
2. http://www.tmj.ro/article.php?art=524124766124496