Inquiry and Insights

Nasal Breathing has greatest impact on your health & fitness sustainability

June 10, 2023 by Shawn M Flot

If you did one thing to dramatically impact your whole body-mind’s health and fitness – make nasal breathing a priority. According to leading experts in the fields of ear/nose/throat, cardiopulmonary, psychiatry and physical rehabilitative health care, nasal breathing is by far the most impactful natural action one can incorporate to positively impact their health and optimize fitness.

Why?

Because over 30 vital actions of the body-mind rely upon proper breathing. If you are concerned for your health and fitness from the food you eat and gut health, sleeping well, sustaining mental capacities, being apart of healthy relationships, ease with sustaining sexual functions, exercise for all it’s benefits, and optimizing your health span, then it’s even more important to realize the only way for this is breathing through you nose during all daily activities* and night.
*exception – high intensity exercise (which is less than 5% of your daily life)

Here are some HUGE benefits of nasal breathing:

Nitric Oxide (NO) is a bio-active gas that is produced by the lining of the para-nasal sinuses. It has a short existence, and is circulated to the lungs, heart and brain for the primary purpose of increasing oxygen delivery. Oxygen availability is the primary necessity of all organs, tissues and cells for healthy function.

Nitric Oxide was discovered in 1992 as a “miracle” substance naturally occurring in the human body that aid in all body function, health and longevity. And in 1998 scientist were given a Nobel Prize in medicine for it’s role in health, and now over 200 discovered benefits are known.

In addition, the benefits of nasal breathing far out-weigh any benefit of mouth breathing. Mouth breathing destroys the internal environment and endothelial layer – a mucousal membrane that hosts the microbiome (beneficial bacteria) responsible for turning inorganic Nitrates from the food we eat, primarily dark leafy green vegetables, into available Nitrite which is converted into available Nitric Oxide (NO) in the digestive tract. So a double benefit of nasal breathing incredibly impacts all organs, tissues and cells for a healthy life span.

AND you need the right amount of oxygen delivered to the blood vessels and organs for Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) to have the transformation for available NO. It’s a two way dependent process. And you need the right amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) to break the bond of Oxygen to Hemoglobin so Oxygen can be released into the tissues for the process. Over-breathing, very likely with mouth breathing, lessens the amount of CO2 for proper Oxygen delivery to the cells. This is respiration, cellular respiration, which is the life giving process and sustainability for health, fitness and performance.

Check out this article for more on Nitric Oxide.

The nose has an incredible innate immune capacities to ward off and mitigate incoming pathogens (virus and bacteria) and environmental toxins through its series of channels and membranes before reaching your lungs. There are many envelopes that have a specialized lining to help move and take care of things that come in that are not for you. The passage of air and particulates has a long ways to go before it hits the back of your throat, and is lined with the best defense for your health. It requires a healthy membrane, endothelial membrane, for these functions to be a full capacity.

Also your immune system is supported with the circulation of Nitric Oxide that is produced in the para-nasal sinuses. NO has significant viral and pathogen mediation properties, as well as inflammatory responses (which go hand in hand with immune function). See Nitric Oxide above for more information.

Hydration is important for a robust immune system. Nasal breathing has its own way of warming and moistening the air coming in. And you don’t get dehydrated as you would breathing through your mouth. In addition, to have resilience against environmental stressors – hot, cold, dry, smoky, pollution, etc. – the nasal membranes must be supported. See this article on Nasya practices, a 3000 year tradition daily health practice.

Your diaphragm is the most important muscle. Not only for respiratory function, or breathing, it is the nexus in all movement. And it is most effective when using the nose to breathe. Mouth breathing is primarily upper chest breathing for highest intensity activity, or maximal, breathing. Whereas nasal breathing because of the resistance in the nasal cavity engages the diaphragm more effectively thus accessing the lower lobes of the lungs for greatest oxygen carrying capacity. There is also better coordination of movement when the diaphragm is taking part in all functional movements.

Lower chest/lung breaths are most important because the majority of the gas exchange of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) occurs in the lower lobes of the lungs. The use of the nose to engage the diaphragm the best also helps to mobilize the tissues and fluids of the lower lung chambers (pneumonia often exists in the lower lobes and is often seen greater in people who primarily breathe in their upper chest).

Not only for breathing, the diaphragm functions as a suspender for all the abdominal organs and tissue below, therefore it assists in:

optimizing digestion of food and water,
core strength and spinal health,
moving fluids back up to the heart (including venous blood and lymph),
massaging and mobilizing the organs for proper circulation to and from organs,
regulating pressures,
regulate fluids to and from the brain,
and more – see this article for more on diaphragms’ role in health and fitness.

Nasal breathing has an overall calming affect when the breath is soft, quiet and regular rhythm. Breathing through the nose allows for a depth of the breath, accessing the lower lobes of the lungs, producing a grounding, centered feeling that gives feedback to the brain of ease and calm. On the other hand, upper chest breathing (and mouth breathing) signals to the brain as state of alertness, fixation, tense feelings, and unable to rest and recover.

Nose breathing provides best function with the diaphragm created more of a balanced state in the nervous system. Many will tell you it stimulates the vagus nerve. This may be true, and what part of the vagus nerve is being stimulated? I believe it brings back a state of balance, where the body-mind complex has more options and less reactivity to any experience. It can aid in the vehicle, your body-mind complex, not speeding on high RPMs all day long diminishing any chance of accessing your healthy capacities. Nasal breathing allows for a slower, smoother and more rhythmic state of being that open the range of possibilities for your health.

If you have any interest in eating well, absorbing nutrition, eliminating waste, sexual function and reproduction potentials, mental capacities for success in school or work (or play like succeeding in a game requiring strategy and thinking on point), memory, sleep and more the daily active life balancer within the autonomic nervous system will support these very important functions. My teacher always said “you can eat, pee, poop, or make love when you are running from the tiger.” Stimulating the vagus nerve helps regulate the systems that rely on the autonomic nervous system. Your body is connected and inter-dependently supported in more ways than we can realize.

When you breathe through your nose easily you feel begin to feel an downward movement of support. You will feel the lower ribs move as you engage the diaphragm with nasal breathing. This massages the organs where emotional and mental stressors are stored. It mobilizes the spine in a snake like motion, giving the regulator in the brain a sense of connectiveness and access to all limbs for optimal movement in daily life. Stress creates withdrawl of vital circulation (and oxygenation to our furthest points) often resulting in cold hands and feet, thus giving information to the brain of an unsafe environment which then creates a cyclic downward spiral in one’s health – stress kills.

With a downward feeling, it produces a dropping down of your low center of support. This has it’s own inherent medicine that stabilizes many functions of the body. It gives feedback to the brain and nervous system as a true supportive center. It is the best counter-balance to stress, helping you to lessen the tendency to react intensely with uprooted-unsupported feelings that create more stress responses with your life.

Here is a recording of a public talk I gave from the Ashland Food Co-op’s educational event.

Article by Shawn M Flot, MPT. He is an experience Certified Oxygen Advantage® Instructor. Combined with his 30 years of experience in Exercise Physiology, Physical Therapist for health and performance, and a dedicated Yoga practitioner is making for a power-house to help many people succeed in re-discovering their own health and healing, being optimally fit for their adventures and living well.

Warning! Trying to get fit is now a health risk.

March 10, 2023 by Shawn M Flot

Don’t get me wrong. Physical Activity and Exercise have incredible benefits…..when done in synch within your capacities to respond and adapt positively to a demand, or load (used in scientific literature as a measure of “workload”).

The benefits of physical activity and exercise are well documented as investigators compare these to inactive, or sedentary, lifestyles. Across the board there are great improvements in health markers. And most of these references are from very controlled physical activity environments and variables, for a short period of time. It isn’t til recently have there been long-range observations of populations and lifestyles to really see what happens outside the short time in a laboratory setting. And these are highlighting the great benefits of physical activity.

Notice I say – physical activity.

Physical Activity is often defined in general populations as not sedentary. Each person observed had a regular walking activity during each day of the long-range time observed. They participated in regular physical activity – walking, gardening, dancing, and other outside activities involving their joys of moving about on their feet. This is physical active, NOT exercise.

Many confuse the two terms. We as a species, with two legs are built and organized to move….on our feet.

Exercise is a different activity, as defined by the language. It is a load, a stressor, for the purpose of creating a change in the body. The challenge is if there are negative impacts – unhealthy breathing habits, stiff joints, and a driven mind – one can promote a negative outcome to the stressor, and thus leading to strain on the system….ALL systems. The main four that you might begin to experience are:

Muscle, Tendon, Joint – aches and pains, even injury if the accumulation of strain is not addressed.
Cardiopulmonary Malfunctions – heart rhythm issues, shortness of breath, loss of stamina – the main culprit here is too high intensity for too many times. And intensity is not measured by how good you feel after….you need more direct feedback about how the body responded.
Loss of Motivation – often associated with the body-mind’s ability to continue the want because of many factors – not progressing like you want, difficulty in doing, or too much time, and internal brakes that the body is trying to get you to stop strain it that then the mind says “what? why?”
Loss of Sleep Quality – disturbances and lack of good quality are signs the body is too strained.

Good measurable feedback helps you understand yourself better and bring some guardrails to the driver behind the wheel of exercising. It is a major factor in staying healthy is exercising well for what capacities you have. Does not help to stress a stressed body-mind complex.

Why? Because this re-occurring circumstances with the people who seek help and guidance from me are showing this to me. And very often these clients have seen me after being seen by many clinicians and when shown has never been addressed related to their condition, or setbacks in their fitness and performance progress.

It’s been the primary variables I see over and over again that are limiting a person’s potential for healing, fitness and performance. It has not been identified, understood, addressed or placed importance on what I consider minimal standards for real progress and success.

Here are the top 5 variables:

The Ankle, and the Foot (below discussion), are the most important area for proper movement in any shape for health, fitness and performance. The mobility of the ankle in particular have a profound influence on what occurs up the chain of motion….all the way to the head. Good balance strategies, good multi-directional movement, stability and impulses from the huge sensory portion of what the foot feels in relationship to the ground all coordinate on an integrated, beyond attention, the pattern of mobility and motion you accomplish. Your ankle mobility also affects how you sit AND how well you breathe!

In-person sessions can easily identify if this needs to be addressed based on the activities and demands you place on your body for health, fitness and performance.

In all motions, especially ones that you do with walking or use of one hand require a coordination of motion and flexibility to accomplish even simple acts of walking. Then add running, hiking and other more demanding activities and you have the necessity for both capacities. In addition, when you use your hands for any activity, then this same coordination of freedom of movement is essential to promote healthy patterns of movement, instead of deteriorating patterns of movement that lead to illness, injury and degeneration.

And a very simple measure is done in a very safe way to better look into this capacity, and what to address if not in a range for proper movement to the activities you do.

I would say 75% of the people in the last 5 years who have come for help demonstrate a overuse pattern of engaging their core for daily activities, recovery from injury, fitness and recreational activities. And this is because the myth of the core being something one needs to voluntarily contract to prevent something from happening that they are afraid of, or experienced before……..such as back pain.

The message to people from misguidance is the assumption that they are weak at the core. Now, just say that to yourself and what does that really feel like? “You are weak to the core.” In my clinic, and online assistance, I debunk this false belief and embedded concept and replace it will feelings of proper engagement and understanding how each individual can uniquely empower themselves beyond fear, apprehension and un-coordinated mechanical movement to be at their best.

And there is a simple measure, actually three that I use to identify where to link in the true core.

The arrangement of how you use your hands and feet in exercise can impact your core stability, spinal health and your breathing. Especially if when you raise your hands overhead…and notice I guided you right there to raise your hands not your arms (this can have good positive impact on the mentioned capacities).

Do you rise up in the ribs and torso, does your navel lift upward toward your heart when you raise your hands? Not a good way to move. Notice when you raise your hands what the quality of your breath is compared to when you don’t rise out of your base…..naturally, not bind something else like your abdomen to keep from rising!…but rising out of your base what is your breath like compared to raising your hands differently and staying home in your base and legs?

How your breath is driven is from the metabolic process. If there is accumulated strain – or the opposite, congestion and immobility of fluids inside – then the breath is usually faster, louder, heavier and more forceful to get good breath. And the breath often becomes over-breathing when you exercise. The BOLT score, or comfortable pause measure, can give you an indication into the physiological capacities of how your exercises impacts you. It also directly relates to blood pressure, heart rate variability and tissue integrity. This article goes into a bit more detail.

Acquire the right capacities with the right guidance. Your capacities of Moving and Breathing Well will fundamentally support every activity you do for daily life, recovery and healing, health, fitness and performance.

Do you know your breath’s healthy range? It can get better.

February 18, 2023 by Shawn M Flot

Do you believe that your need to breathe is because you need more oxygen?

Well, actually oxygen is so readily available AND your body’s response to low oxygen doesn’t occur until you reach very low levels of oxygen in the blood. The real stimulus to breathe from your body’s intelligence and actions is due to carbon dioxide.

Yes carbon dioxide, CO2. It’s not a bad gas. It’s the by-product of ALL cellular metabolic process in your wonderfully orchestrated body. The signal comes first from the body, the kidneys, and then triggers the diaphragm to begin contracting to take a breath. The most natural way this is experienced is at rest without the mind watching, and controlling the breath…….sleep, so it’s hard to fully grasp what the body is doing. But there are ways to touch into this dynamic.

I’ll explain after I discuss your health and CO2.

Breathing has two phase, the “inhalation” and the “exhalation.” The inhalation is triggered by CO2. Through a lifetime of bodily and mental adaptions, your tolerance to CO2 in the blood lessens. This leads to an increase in your respiratory response to activities often resulting in over-breathing or hyperventilation. Therefore what you experience when you try to slow down the breath is a feeling of breathlessness. This is a significant impact on your health.

Hyperventilation, or exaggerated ventilatory (breathing) response, is a greater volume of air brought in than what your body needs or requires for its metabolic processes. This lessens your health and your healing capacities. And if you exercise or participant and train in sports, you will plateau with your performance to the activities you want to do. Also this affects mental health.

Here is a video explaining your respiratory response to metabolic need and how easily you could be in a hyper-ventilatory, or over-breathing, state during the day, during meditation or breathwork, during exercise, and even…yes even at night.

AND there is good news!

You can train yourself and regain a broader range of reaction to this drive with a tailored program to progressively improve your body-mind capacities. This is done with everyday breathing “exercises” and physiological stressors with recovery (similar to training to be stronger….you do something to stress the tissue and in recovery hopefully the capacity of those muscles, or your cardiovascular health improves).

AND because its intimately tied to all activities, including your sleep, why not weave it into your daily activities for health?

How do you get started in understanding how you relate and respond to CO2? And, more importantly, how do you know where to begin or what “exercises” to do to improve?

You need to know where you are. This simple measure will be very helpful for developing a tailored program and to know where to weave a breathing practice into your everyday life. Everyday breathing patterns influence your exercise AND sleep.

Here is how you can measure yourself: (this is not a test, or performance measure…this is simply to begin to know where you are)

Want to learn more about how you can harness the power behind each breath you take, and how to make the most out of health program that fits what you want and desire in your life? Check out these opportunities.

Article by Shawn M Flot, MPT. He is now a Certified Oxygen Advantage® Instructor. Combined with his 25year experience in Exercise Physiology, Physical Therapist for health and performance, and a dedicated Yoga practitioner is making for a power-house to help many people succeed in re-discovering their own health, healing and well-being.

Inquiry and Insights

Want to learn more about how you can harness the power behind each breath you take, and how to make the most out of health program that fits what you want and desire in your life? Check out these opportunities.

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