Nasal Breathing vs Mouth Breathing By Lidio Rainaldi, DDS Way back in the 1830s, George Catlin, an author and traveler in the American West, wrote: “When I have seen a poor Indian woman in the wilderness, lowering her infant from the breast, and pressing its lips together as it falls asleep…I have said to myself, ‘Glorious education! Such a mother deserves to be the nurse of Emperors.’”
Catlin observed that the Native American mothers paid a lot of attention to their infants’ breathing. If at any time the baby opened its mouth to breathe, the mother would gently press the baby’s lips together to ensure continued nasal breathing. Catlin further described how the babies of the European settlers slept with their mouths open, gasping for breath in hot, stuffy, unventilated rooms, and noted that the rate
of sickness and illness among the native Indian people was very low in comparison with European settlers.
Mouth Breathing: Dentists and orthodontists have documented that habitual mouth breathing is a result of narrow jaws, crooked teeth, sunken These were serious cheek bones, and smaller nasal observations at that time, cavities. The airways becomes suggesting that more illnesses so narrowed, the person needs to arise in people who were slack open their mouths for air. jawed or do not routinely keep When people breathe thru their mouths closed. This comes their mouth, their lungs get dry, from his eccentric book, aptly unfiltered air. The air received titled, Shut Your Mouth and is low-oxygen, which causes Save Your Life. heart muscles to work overtime to deliver good oxygen to the brain and other organs. The dry air leads to enlarged tonsils, easily infected with germs, and the person’s immunity is lowered, leading to more colds and sore throats and swollen tonsils. Habitual mouth breathers often suffer from poor energy, a lack of concentration, and chronic illnesses. They are living life exhausted. Nasal Breathing: You were born breathing through your nose, and it has been our primary conduit for breathing for hundreds of thousands of years. The nose and nasal passage is designed to slow down incoming air, and the nasal hairs filter out environmental toxins before they reach the body. As air passes thru the sinuses, it is warmed and humidified, mixed with nitric oxide (Google this), which increases the oxygen intake in the lungs. Nasal breathing is an integral part of every animals’ survival. Ask any farmer, when an animal breathes through its mouth, it is a sure sign of sickness, injury, or
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December 2019
