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).
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)
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:
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!
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| Labeled as "foods", highly inflammatory products that have never really been optimal for human physiology! |
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.
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:
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.
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| Correcting the static posture and how you hold yourself must be the priority, before trying to progress dynamically. |
Tape the mouth regularly:
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).
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| Avoid this common problem, keeping the mouth closed will only be harder when resisting against gravity. |
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! |
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
Keep that rib cage high, look after you, Sans Lena se Nuk ;)
Beatle.
Gee's photography blogger
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