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Nasal Breathing has greatest impact on your health & fitness sustainability

June 10, 2025 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.

Want full Confidence With your Capacities?

October 14, 2021 by Shawn M Flot

It’s a given, backpacking and thru-hiking in the wilderness requires a level of being physically fit to feel capable of accomplishing your dream adventures on the trails.

Your adventures also require some mental fortitude. Not the attitude to just keep pushing beyond yourself; that’s violence to one self, and you and your hiking partners will pay for that level of drive and incompetence.

Train smart, hike smart and be the best you can out there!

So let’s get to the missing link in being well equipped for your adventure.

The less understood, and often missing part of a training program, is breathing and how it’s physiological dynamics sustain your physical fitness day in, day out on a multi-day trail adventure.

Yes, breathing.

Breathing over lightweight packs, minimizing base weight, food, footwear, poles and planned itineraries.

If your breathing is not there to support your demands effectively, your body will have to adapt to the lack of support and eventually breakdown – injury or illness could end your trip prematurely.

And as I’ve seen, many people are overlooking the main aspect of breathing. It’s called over-breathing, or hyperventilation. And what you don’t know about hyperventilation will likely create a terrible experience, or at the minimum you’ll be suffering more than you need to.

So let’s talk about why your breathing pattern affects your experience on the trails and what will follow is a series of articles to help guide you in the direction of right breathing and right effort for building capacities and building confidence to go higher, and go further on your adventures.

It is vital to get the most effective access to what the breath can do for you by training smart with the breath.

Hiking smart with the breath entails training intelligently and competently with the breath:

Noticing the inefficient breathing habits that affect your everyday living by learning foundational breathing patterns, often new to most in daily living and during exercise.
Developing a felt sense of how breathing helps you be better in your day – greater flexibility, general ease of posture, increased ability to handle the demands of you day and less stressed, greater focus and concentration, enhanced clarity through the day, more productive, and greater endurance.
Unifying your foundational breathing patterns to yoru training or exercise programs. When you know how to breathe well depending on the demand – for example when you need to keep the mouth closed and when you need to open the mouth dependent on your perceived exertion from the intensity of the activity. Understanding and developing this capacity now will provide you the skillful means on the trails. And this gives you resilience and confidence on your adventure.
Promoting the physiological prowess it takes to travel to altitude, especially if you can’t train at altitude months in advance. You can train at sea level without big expensive technology. Training efficiently for altitude so the altitude doesn’t take you down….down the mountain. Understanding what the body does in it’s adaptations to the lower pressures at higher and higher altitudes (which makes it feel like you don’t have enough oxygen…and then what you do to compensate), and how to simulate this at low altitudes will help you gain the much required physiological capacities to help the most on your adventure.
Getting the most out of your legs by understanding the importance of the diaphragm. It’s a two way, intimately related phenomena between the legs and the breath, more than just what a good cardio routine will do. Also your spine and joint health are integrally linked to the function of the breath.
Gaining control on your breath’s rhythm, volume, force and mechanics as variables change on your adventure. Your mental and physical fortitude is intimately connected to your breath and it’s important you don’t go through your resources you need on your adventure.
Having a good bag of recovery breathing methods that help the body recover some of it’s vital resources for the next day, and the next, and the next.

The extreme value you place on incredible light-weight gear, the right supportive footwear, poles and clothing will only help you as far as your body will support you. By day 3, 4 or 5 is your body capable of continuing the demands to continue, so your mind is happy and satisfied with the experience you are having?

Or are you suffering and wondering about the days ahead? Are you feeling the beginnings of apprehension and concern/worry that your adventure of a life time is turning into a suffer-fest as your joints and spine feel beat up? These feelings are not normal for a multi-day adventure if your mind is questioning your experience.

Your physiology – primarily how you breathe (goes beyond the deep breath idea) determines your condition and your adaptability/resilience on your adventure.

50% of people suffering low back pain were found to have dysfunctional breathing patterns
(Chaitow 2004; Kiesel 2017)

And most people miss this opportunity because they don’t know how to effectively prime their physiology (besides eating good nutrient-dense food that is not heavy!) to be well suited for a long-distance trip.

Want to enjoy your adventure & life-time opportunity?

…….or just suffer through it and minimize the memories and opportunities available to you?

Want to be able to go off trail, off plan with confidence and explore that high peak that has your pulled to explore?

Feel assured you will make it over the high passes and descend with ease and confidence to enjoy that night’s camp?

Waking up the next day inspired for what your journey holds for you?

Being physically fit requires working with your physiological capacities to support the physicality and how you will perform on the trails. To travel in the mountains at altitudes unfamiliar to your mind and body requires adaptability that does not limit you in any way. ; and how your body responds to varied terrain and environments carrying a backpack is essential to a well-accomplished adventure. Do you agree?

Furthermore, your confidence to travel many days in the wilderness & back-country is dependent on how you feel physically and physiologically. Yes, good gear and itinerary are important planning. But without the internal well functioning body, your trip is not going to be worth the time and resources you put into it.

Prepare by training intelligently and you will find great success and accomplish your goals and maybe have the juice to do more while you are out there on your life-time adventure.

Enjoy your Adventure! Enjoy your Life!

Why not invest in how to gain access to your physiology, your capacity for your trip?

Training can not completely prevent illness or injury. Nothing can prevent un-expected challenges. Only the mind can adjust to the challenge that seems daunting.

Your mind affects your physiology. Your mind affects your breath. And the good news is your breathing patterns and function affect your mind.

Wouldn’t you like to know from a trained eye and source of knowledge with 30 years of exercise and physical-physiological capacity and performance?

Most training will focus on you doing miles and strengthening your body to handle the rigors of multi-day adventures; and a handful of them will highly suggest you spend time in the altitudes you plan to travel in.

Did you know that your breathing physiology will determine your capacities for all of these? Your endurance, your muscle power and core strength for spinal support – carrying a backpack on uneven terrain, up & down hills – and be the primary factor for how well you accommodate, recover daily and function at altitude?

I am not talking about preventing acute mountain sickness or other medical conditions.

I am talking about your capacity to be in the mountains with your greatest capacity through training.
I am talking about having the confidence you can access higher terrain with less strain on your body and mind.
I am talking about enjoying your time on your adventure.

And 75% of the people I talk to do not what happens or why they have difficulty with their fitness or body’s capacities when they are at altitude.
And 90% of them do not know there are ways to train the body’s capacities with breathing to be better prepared and confident to go on their adventure.

And you can let go of the false myth that “going to altitude to train will enhance your chances of surviving at altitude”
And you can let go of the false myth that “taking deep breaths will improve your breathing capacity”
And you can let go of the false myth that “having the lightest pack improves your chances at altitude”
And you can let go of the false myth that “taking a drug before you go is your only assurance”
And you can let go of the false myth that “feeling out-of-breath is because you need more oxygen”

These are just not true!

So, why not invest in something so simple as learning to breathe well in daily life and during exercise, and start now with effective means you can do during your regular daily routine to enhance your physiological capacities, develop skillful action and live and adventure well!

And the time you might spend driving to the mountains because you think you can only get altitude training in is by going to altitude…..well let’s give you a more effective way.

Yes, you can read and watch videos about altitude simulation exercises. But do you know if your patterns of breathing now are conducive to engaging in stressor exercises to create the adaptation for altitude performance? Most people I work with are not aware of their daily breathing patterns and how they affect their ability to exercise and their ability to recover optimally during sleep. And most people do not know the trigger that cause them to over breathe that limits their physiological functional capacity and ability to adapt to stressor exercises like hyperventilation and breath-hold exercises.

Wouldn’t you like to know from a trained eye and source of knowledge with 30 years of exercise and physical-physiological capacity and performance?

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