i can understand in ‘through the nose’, since dust and other bits can be blocked by the nose hairs and mucus, and apparently the air is more likely to warm up when passing through the nose first, reducing irritation of the throat.
but what difference, if any, does exhaling through the mouth make?
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I’m pretty skeptical of nearly every explanation that I’ve heard from this. You hear “Breath in through the nose, out from the mouth” constantly. From everyone from Drama teachers to Athletic coaches to Yoga instructors. None of them, ever, offer a satisfying explanation for why they want us to do this, or what it does. Often there’s some pseudo-scientific statement about that particular form of breathing actually doing something. I don’t buy it.
Except for one: It’s a way of visually demonstrating to the coach that you’re actually focusing on your breathing. It’s the only way they can see that you’re actually thinking about your breath.
When I was an elementary teacher I did this because if my students were upset they were usually a snotty mess, and if I didn’t specify to breathe out through the mouth then *I* would become a snotty mess.
When I was an elementary teacher I did this because if my students were upset they were usually a snotty mess, and if I didn’t specify to breathe out through the mouth then *I* would become a snotty mess.
According to the American Lung Assn, “Pursed lip breathing is a technique that helps people living with asthma or COPD when they experience shortness of breath. Pursed lip breathing helps control shortness of breath, and provides a quick and easy way to slow your pace of breathing, making each breath more effective.”
According to the American Lung Assn, “Pursed lip breathing is a technique that helps people living with asthma or COPD when they experience shortness of breath. Pursed lip breathing helps control shortness of breath, and provides a quick and easy way to slow your pace of breathing, making each breath more effective.”
According to the American Lung Assn, “Pursed lip breathing is a technique that helps people living with asthma or COPD when they experience shortness of breath. Pursed lip breathing helps control shortness of breath, and provides a quick and easy way to slow your pace of breathing, making each breath more effective.”
Breathing in through the nose also allows the air inhaled to be gently moisturised which means your throat doesn’t go dry unlike if you breathe in through your mouth. My wife is a serial mouth breather and it drives me mad because her voice has become weaker and she coughs very often during the night and I’m pretty sure it’s down to breathing in through her mouth nearly all the time
Breathing in through the nose also allows the air inhaled to be gently moisturised which means your throat doesn’t go dry unlike if you breathe in through your mouth. My wife is a serial mouth breather and it drives me mad because her voice has become weaker and she coughs very often during the night and I’m pretty sure it’s down to breathing in through her mouth nearly all the time
Breathing in through the nose also allows the air inhaled to be gently moisturised which means your throat doesn’t go dry unlike if you breathe in through your mouth. My wife is a serial mouth breather and it drives me mad because her voice has become weaker and she coughs very often during the night and I’m pretty sure it’s down to breathing in through her mouth nearly all the time
I’ll answer from a narrow and specific functional perspective. I learned breathing techniques as part of karate training, over about 40 years (I am old). It’s important in karate to engage the abdominal core as part of delivering powerful strikes. Ultimately, this manifests as “kiai”, the shout that accentuates a strike. I can swing a heavy bag pretty hard by just punching it, but add kiai and I can lift it off its chains. It’s also important defensively: I recall my teacher tagging me with a full force punch to the gut, as I issued a defensive kiai shout… my abs were engaged, my lungs empty, he knocked me back about three feet but I came right back at him.
The breathing pattern that leads to this ability is “in through the nose/diaphragm expands” then “out through the mouth/diaphragm contracts” (like rolling up a toothpaste tube). It shows up in a lot of meditation disciplines, too.
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