How to Stop Mouth Breathing

Mouth Breathing – How to Spot it and How to Fix it

Breathing is essential to life. It is something that happens without being conscious. Yet we can take control of our breathing when we decide to do so.

What is Mouth Breathing?

Mouth breathing is a long time breathing through the mouth. People tend to breathe through their mouth when they find it difficult to breathe through their nose, especially when they have a cold.

Signs that show you are Mouth Breathing

It’s hard to understand if you are breathing through the mouth, especially if it happens in your sleep. Some signs that you can notice yourself to confirm if your breathing is through your mouth are

Dry mouth
Snoring
Bad breath
Hoarseness
Brain fog
Feeling tired and irritated when you wake up from your sleep

How to Stop Mouth Breathing

Tips to stop Mouth Breathing

Doing breathing exercises regularly can help you out of the habit of mouth breathing and breathe through your nose. Following are some breathing exercises you can do.

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1. Alternate Nostril breathing

It’s a common breathing exercise used in yoga. In this exercise, you inhale through one nostril and exhale through the other nostril. You need to close your opposite nostril with your fingers.

This will increase your mindfulness and can help decrease stress and enhance functioning of your lungs.

How to do alternate nostril breathing?

Sit in a comfortable position with your shoulders relaxed.
Keep your left hand on your left knee.
Close your right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale through your left nostril.
To close your left nostril with your right ring finger. Exhale through your right nostril.
Inhale through your right nostril.
You close your right nostril with your right thumb and exhale through your left nostril.
This is one set
You can do this for 5-10 minutes

2. Belly breathing

In this technique, you need to inhale slowly and deeply. You need to fill your belly with air. This can increase your oxygen intake and reduce breathing and heart rate. This reduces your stress levels and increases your mindfulness.

How to do Belly breathing?

Sit comfortably with your shoulders relaxed. You could also lie down with your face up.
You need to keep your mouth closed.
Need to place one of your hands on your belly and the other hand on your chest.
Inhale slowly through your nose. Your belly will rise as it’s filled with air. Your chest needs to be still.
Exhale through your mouth.
Repeat this for 5 -10 minutes.

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3. Breath of fire exercise

This is also known as skull shining breath. This technique involves quick, strong exhalations and normal inhalation. This will help you to improve your concentration

How to do breath of fire exercise?

Sit comfortably with your shoulders relaxed.
You can either place your hands on your belly or place your hands on your knees with palms facing upward.
Inhale deeply through your nose. Let your lower belly expand.
Exhale forcefully through the nose letting your belly move in.
You can progressively increase the speed of the inhales and exhales.
Continue this for 30 seconds.

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Important –

If you are a beginner in doing these exercises, do start slow. Overtime you can improve your speed.

It is beneficial for you to breathe through your nose as they can help filter dust and other allergens. It will help to boost your oxygen uptake and humidifies the air you inhale. On the other hand, breathing through your mouth can cause dryness in your mouth. Increase your chances of bad breath and gum inflammation. It could make you more prone to asthma, cough or other allergies. Thus, doing the breathing exercises might help you to improve your breathing.