I found this video a few weeks ago that I helped me and I wanted to share it, but didn’t get around to it. Then today I saw an episode with Joe Rogan and James Nestor talking about breathing and that reminded me.
They talked about all kinds of things related to breathing: deviated septum’s, athletics, tumo breathing, anxiety, asthma, co2, oxygen, nitric oxide and basically how to breath better.
I found the below video to be quite helpful.
Years ago I had seen some videos of Patrick McKeown and the butego method which is like plugging your nose, nodding your head and holding your breath and then releasing, but that wasn’t that helpful for me.
How to unblock your nose
I found this one and I’ve been doing this daily for probably 2 months or so now. It definitely helps.
It makes more sense to me as you physically manipulating the airways more.
A word of warning…
When you do the last part when you blow hard out through your nose (5 times) you might want to get a tissue beforehand because you are likely to blow snot everywhere :=/.
But I definitely recommend it. I think you will notice a difference. He recommends doing it twice a day for 3 weeks I think. I would do it more than that if needed. I sometimes do it 3 times a day.
I don’t think it has straightened my nose, but it has helped my breathing at least temporarily.
I’ve often thought that if the septum was made crooked by basically being pushed out of shape (struck) then maybe it could be pushed back into shape somehow.
Can you pry it open?
I bought a killian’s speculum about a year and a half or so ago and dabbled a bit with trying to pry my nose open more based on this. But it’s painful and a little sketchy.
I noticed on my right side I can’t insert it as far as I can on the left side.
I remember when I went to the ENT in SF and he used one to look inside my nose and when he did I could instantly breath better. Pushing my nose to my right where it deviates has a similar effect.
Another idea I had was to make some sort of nose guard (out of friendly plastic) at night that would push it back in place or DIY nose dilators. The later would be easier to do
I had surgery (septoplasty) in Taiwan back in maybe 2006, but it wasn’t very helpful. Actually I don’t think it did anything except cause a whole lot of trauma and bloody discomfort following. About 3 years ago I saw a couple surgeons in San Francisco and was considering it again.
One talked about removing a piece of cartilage from my rib or ear to use.
Recently started looking into it again. I remember reading once about using laser to heat and remold the cartilage instead of surgery and found the above video by Austin Goh.
I also learned in SF that I had an allergy to dust mites when I was living in an old apartment with carpets. So if you have an allergy that could affect your breathing problems too. If you have carpets and a stuffed up nose you might want to get rid of them.
Doesn’t matter if you clean them or vacuum.
I don’t think that is going to get rid of them. Dust mites are tiny and it’s not them but their feces that causes the problem so I was told.
I’ve got a crooked nose. How about you?
I broke my nose for the first time when I was 14 years old at St. Johnsbury Academy in VT. There I was standing in line in basketball practice waiting my turn and then suddenly the back of someone’s head came flying into my nose.
Lots of pain, black and blue eyes, a crooked nose and like 30 years of bad breathing habits followed.
Since I’ve had breathing problems mostly in my right nostril. And at least one more broken nose since.
Mouth breathing might have actually changed the shape of my face too and made it longer. I do have a long face. There is research out there that says this happens with mouth breathers.
About 2 years ago or so I started taping my mouth at night time when I sleep.
Research also shows that mouth breathing can also change your teeth, make them crooked, cause an open bite and even affect your posture.
Also as far as sleeping goes it’s better to sleep on your side. Sleeping on your back will make your mouth open or cause snoring.
When I was 25 I started doing something that will help your breathing…
When I was 25 (circa 2000) I started practicing yoga. Initially I trained with several different teachers 3-4 times a week for a year. Then after that I I have practiced it daily for close to 20 years. I do about 15 minutes a day or so.
That helps my breathing, because in yoga most of the time you are trained to breath through your nose not your mouth. Certain positions also open up your chest and airways too.
Then when I was about 32 or 33 I started practicing meditation which was actually inspired from a book I read that talked about tumo meditation mentioned in the Rogan video above.
Simple meditation is to either sit still or lie down on the floor (without a pillow) and breath through your nose and focus on your breathing.
You can try:
- Slow and steady breaths and maybe…
- Holding your breath after you exhale for maybe 5-10+ seconds and then slowly and deeply inhale and continue.
- 6 seconds in 6 seconds out (or vary the number)
I didn’t really learn how to do the tumo meditation, but I have learned some basic meditation practices since and do it everyday for at least 20 minutes. Again it’s breathing through your nose.
Breath through your nose.
Breath through your nose.
Breath through your nose.
One of the things they talked about was that some people may need surgery to correct a badly damaged or deviated septum like Rogan did. But Nestor also had a deviated septum but said he forced it open through breathing.
Bad habits like mouth breathing may shrink your nostrils.
I notice often during the day at times I can walk around with my mouth partly open. It’s a bad habit.
Mewing might also help your breathing
Another thing I’ve been doing is called mewing.
It’s a relatively new thing named by fans of the orthodontist or dentist Michael Mew. It’s basically about changing your posture, head, neck and tongue position.
You can also look up exercises to improve your posture or “text neck”. Yoga includes many of these exercises.
Some basics…
- Look up more
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together
- Tuck your chin
- Do sun salutations
It’s hard to change your habits, but if you do you’ll likely see various benefits. It takes discipline and practice like anything.
Conclusion
To breath better you can…
- Do the exercises above by Austin Goh (you might notice immediate improvements)
- Close your mouth.
- Breath through your nose.
- Correct your posture.
- Get rid of the allergen (mites, pets, food).
- Do yoga, meditate and/or exercise with your mouth closed.
- There are also breathing strips or dilators you could use which I haven’t tried yet.
- Mew: tongue on the roof of your mouth.
- Surgery is an option too, but if you get religious about the exercises then you will likely see an improvement.
I need to practice exercising with my mouth closed more. Bit by bit. Practice makes perfect.