Reading the blurb which the regional hospital sends out, I came across this: Signs of Sleep Disorders !
“mouth-breathing while awake”
Pondering, I looked back ~ For 43 years, I’ve been a mouth-breather. Comes from bad sinuses, I reckon; I’ve never been able to get a good, deep breath breathing thru my nose. Even now, in Yoga class, the instructor says “Now take a deeep breath thru your nose!”
I’m sorry, lady, that *ain’t * happenin’.
My Q: am I hurting something by mouth-breathing? Is it medically wrong? Should I try to train myself to nose-breathe ??? What’s the Dope on this ??
I’m sure most people (or rather, I had always THOUGHT that most people) breath in and out using a combination of both simultaneously, without even realising it.
IF you are breathing SOLEY through your mouth alone, then you will permanently sound like you have a COLD.
My wife is primarily a nose-only breather, and it bugs the hell outa me somtimes - makes so much damn noise, specially when you’re tryin to watch a film or get to sleep.
Personally I use a combination of both, but like you, I cannot take a full deep breath through my nose (I guess my nose is never really totally clear - ever), I always have to ‘finish-off’ with the mouth…
Likewise, in addition to anatomical deformity, looking at any functional anatomy book will show you how the nose and nasal passages are far better adapted for breathing than is the mouth. The mouth lacks any effective anti-particulate and anti-pathogen filtration. Why does the nose get so many infections? Because it’s designed to catch things there, before they get into the lungs. The mouth has no such structures.
I can remember a few times I slept breathing only through my mouth due to a stuffy nose. I woke up with a sore throat each time. that doesn’t happen to you?
I think that the connection between mouth breathing and sleep disorders is likely sleep apnea… the reason is that obstructions in your breathing passages (which is obviously happening to you if you can’t breathe through your nose) can cause you to stop breathing in your sleep…this is obviuosly a bad thing - but what’s not so obvious is HOW bad it can be - it can cause soem serious problems long term if left untreated…not just the risk of not starting breathing again.
there’s soem simple info here on sleep disorders if you want to investigate further, what you don’t find on the site you’ll find through the links page http://www.anchorweb.com.au/sleepdisorders
My wife has had sinus problems since childhood but she sleeps soundly though with some snoring. She is a Polysomnography tech (sleep studies), and is very experienced with the affects of apnea. She however does not have sleep apnea herself.
What you should, assuming you do not live alone, is ask others if you tend to pause in your breathing often while sleeping. Snoring isn’t in itself a sign of a problem but long pauses in breathing can be a very big problem. If you tend to wake up feeling very groggy and tired and tend to fall asleep easily like when watching tv or other moments of inactivity you may be suffering from apnea or another sleep disorder. Typically sleep problems/breathing problems will manifest themselves with daytime narcolepsy and difficult awakenings. Often though there may not be any blatant symptoms of a problem as apnea can be slowly progressive.
I too am a mouth breather. Have been for 22 years (afaik). No problems here (so far), though due to being a mouth breather and a stomach sleeper, I can turn my head further to the left than to the right.
I realized I was a mouth breather a few years ago when the dentist was trying to figure out why the hell my mouth was so screwed up. Apparently, not only does mouth-breathing affect the bone structure of the jaw, but the increased air flow through the mouth can lead to a myriad of other problems, including bad breath, tooth decay, etc…, I assume because of increased bacteria.
It’s also quite a problem when sleeping. It’s physically impossible for me to sleep in a lot of positions, including on my stomach, because I have to keep my mouth open.
I’ve always had nightmares about what would happen if I was kidnapped one day and had my mouth duct-taped shut